Gender Roles and Choice in Two Romances

This assignment analyzes the portrayal of romantic relationships in Doris Lessing's 'To Room Nineteen' and Ernest Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephants', focusing on the similarities and differences in how women navigate societal expectations and personal choices within these relationships. The analysis examines themes of male dominance, female agency, and the impact of patriarchal structures on women's lives.

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Maninder Kaur
ENGL 1001
August 24, 2017
The Change and Choices in Two Romantic Relationship
The two pieces of writing-Doris Lessing’s “To Room Nineteen” and Ernest
Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” describes romantic relationships prominently and
are chosen for comparison and contrasting. The similarities between the both stories are
highlighted-Susan and Jig was lonely at heart and wished to make decisions about their lives on
basis of their choices. The similarities in both pieces of writing are about the atrocities afflicted
on women by patriarchal society while the contrast is about the circumstances in both the stories.
Readers will be able to learn the dominating role of men in romantic relationships.
In Hemingway’s story, The American man trying to convince Jig with romantic words,
“Well, I care about you… I love you now. You know I love you” (p.644).In Lessing’s story,
Susan and Mathew commend themselves on the fact that they are well matched. They feel that
the reason of this bonding must be their love for each other that holds it all together. “They love
each other? Well, that was nearest it. If this wasn’t a centre, what was?” (p.865).Both stories
depict a similar situation when Matthew asked Susan “I’m not putting any sort of pressure on
you. Are things going to go on like this”? (881). Similarly, In Hemingway’s story, The American
man said to Jig,” I think it’s the best thing to do but I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really
want to?” (644).The quotes portray vividly that both male partners care about their female
partners. Moreover, both women are reluctant to discuss the troubling situation confronted by

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them; Susan tries to avoid confronting by making ‘vague’ and ‘idiotic’ comments, while Jig
requests her partner to stop talking.
In comparison, one significant difference that can be marked in the stories, of course, are
their circumstances such as in Hemingway’s story, Jig and her partner discussing the abortion
and man convinces the woman by saying it’s “Perfectly simple” and everything will be normal
after the abortion. This can be contrasted with the other story- Lessing’s ceases to have a life
besides her family, while the husband stays more absent from home. Matthew returns home late
after a party, confessing that he has slept with a girl. This incidence distanced the couple and
their relationship changed afterward. Susan rents a room in London and tries to find solitude.
Susan makes a decision to kill herself in room 19. In Hemingway’s story, Jig portrays dilemma
about the choice of abortion, when she said, “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be
like they were and you’ll love me?” (p. 644).This quote vividly reflects Jig’s compulsion to
make the decision of abortion just for the sake of her partner’s love. On contrary, Susan says in
Lessing’s story, “I’m a different person. I’m simply not myself. I don’t understand it”(p.871).
These phrases vividly reflect the sharp contrast of the emotional state of both women toward
their partners.

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In Doris Lessing’s Story “To Room Nineteen”, it is clearly depicted that the social
culture in London imposed restrictions on women. Susan went insane when she found that her
husband was having extramarital affairs. Susan’s journey of self- discovery throws light on the
fact that social restrictions on women in London proved to be detrimental for the emotional and
physical well being of women who were compelled to play the role of housewives confiding
themselves to serve the needs of household, husbands and children. Similarly, in the story Hills
like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemingway, Jig is emotionally manipulated by the American
man to undergo an abortion. Jig feels tired of letting his man be his guardian and dictating terms
on her. Her man makes every decision for her and he seems to be quite ignorant about Jig’s
feelings. Both the stories depict the atrocities inflicted upon women by patriarchal society.The
contrast in the stories depicts that dilemma is demonstrated by Jig to make ‘choice’ about
abortion and Susan made a ‘choice’ to attempt suicide. Both the stories ended up depicting the
submissiveness of women and emotional torture of the patriarchal society is also reflected in
both the stories.

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Work Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills like White Elephants”. The Norton Anthology of short Fiction.8th
Ed., edited by Richard Bausch and R.V. Cassill. New York: W.W. Norton & company, 2015.
Print. Pp. 642-646.
Lessing, Doris. “To Room Nineteen”.The Norton Anthology of short Fiction.8th
Ed., edited by Richard Bausch and R.V. Cassill. New York: W.W. Norton & company, 2015.
Print. Pp. 863-886.