Hills Like White Elephants

This short story was very interesting. It was mainly about an American man and a foreign lady who are at a train station in Spain. They both seem to enjoy themselves and the beers that the bartender serves them until they begin talking about an operation that the American man want the foreign lady to undergo. She seems really helpless and indecisive because she acts like she doesn't know what to do, and sort of allows to let the American man choose for her. She even states that she can't decide if she's seen any mountains like the ones she observes, but anyway, in the end the American man stops using so much pressure towards her and lets her know the decision is up to her. In the end, as they are about to get on the train the foreign lady looks at the scenery and just thinks about how her life will end up depending on which choice she will make, going through with the operation, or not having the operation performed at all. The story leaves the reader guessing what she did because it doesn't in the end what happened. I believe the operation was about abortion and that she choose to go through with the operation because she was already drinking alcohol for starters and also being that she seemed so weak minded and just wanted to make the American happy makes me think that to.

The Chrysanthemums

In this short story "The Chrysanthemums", its basically about a husband named Henry and a wife named Elisa that live out in the country and own a ranch. The plot of the story is about Elisa's flowers called chrysanthemums, she is known for being the only person that is able to grow them where they live, because the plants are rare and not many people have that "planter's touch". One day her husband plans for them to go out to dinner when he gets off work later that day, but in the meantime a man pulls up to the ranch while Elisa is outside and tries to encourage her to let him fix a pot, scissors, or a knife because he is struggling for money. At first she is hesitant and denies his request but as they continue to talk she eventually gets lured in by feeling bad for him and gets him to fix two old pans she had found. Summing this story up, Elisa is portrayed as a very strong and independent young woman. It's so ironic because this story was published back in the time period where woman were looked at as fragile and dependent on the men, but not Elisa she was characterized as the modern day woman, nowadays.