Comparing and Contrasting Marital and Romantic Relationships

This article compares and contrasts the marital and romantic relationships in the short stories To Room Nineteen and Hills like White Elephants, highlighting the challenges faced and the different approaches taken by the couples. It explores themes of commitment, trust, and communication.

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Comparing and Contrasting the Marital and Romantic Relationships in To Room Nineteen and
Hills like White Elephants
To Room Nineteen by Doris Lessing and Hills like White Elephants by Ernest
Hemingway are stories about two different couples who reveal the complications likely to be
experienced in marriage life and how to deal with them. Essentially, marriage life entails a series
of problems and misunderstandings that ought to be solved if the institution has to last. Every
stage brings forth totally different challenges that need well-calculated solutions. Different
people deal with the upheavals in marriage differently depending on their individual personalities
and the stage in life. The two different couples presented by Lessing and Hemingway are initially
unhappy in their relationships and seek alternative means for contentment. However, Lessing’s
couple appears rather traditional, unlike Hemingway’s couple which lacks commitment, respect,
and trust.
Susan and Rawlings (Lessing’s couple) began their marriage in a very positive note
unlike the relationship between an American and an unnamed girl. The Rawlings entered their
marriage in their late twenties and are already blessed with four children. As a young family,
they showed the world that they were really in love, trusted and respected one another. Even
when Rawlings engages in adultery, Susan understands and finds a place in her heart to forgive
him. Contrastingly, Hemingway’s couple is too young and apparently did not have time to earn
trust and respect to one another before pregnancy. The couple shows little commitment, and the

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unexpected pregnancy proves to be a huge challenge to them. The couple’s supposed non-
establishment is also suggested by the fact that the entire story goes on in a bar and they do not
come up with a clear conclusion on their operation conversation.
In both short stories, it is evident that the couples are not initially content in their
relationship and seek contentment elsewhere. Ideally, anytime when this does not work out as
expected, it is natural to build on hope. Unfortunately, none of the couples or even a single
character chooses to be optimistic. At the opening stages, Lessing’s couple was happy.
Uncertainly, with development in the storyline, Susan and Rawlings part their ways “…two
tolerably friendly strangers” (The Norton Anthology 880). The process though slow was
inevitable for the couple. Rawlings has an extramarital affair, and Susan chooses ti to live in
denial. She feels that this is the wisest and most practical thing but then ends up lonely “…she
was alone, and she had no past and no future” (The Norton Anthology 883). Susan should have
instead fought for her happiness and not giving up. She should have gotten closer to her family
rather than isolating herself.
Hemingway’s couple shows no respect or care at all. The male character lacks the
enthusiasm to father or even raise a child “…I don’t want anyone else but you. I don’t want
anyone else” (The Norton Anthology 664). To the American man, a child is not an opportunity
but rather a threat to freedom. He is not ready to lose this freedom and hence believes that
pregnancy is the only obstacle standing on their path “…The only thing that makes us unhappy”
(The Norton Anthology 663).
In both short stories, the couples really believe that they need one another. Susan in To
Room Nineteen chooses to keep quiet about Rawlings’ affair simply because she wants to keep
him. Similarly, Rawlings sends a spy to investigate Susan’s moves because he believes that he

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still needs her. In The Hills like White Elephants, the American knows that all he needs is the girl
and does not want anything to stand before them. The girl too needs to keep the relationship a
fact that makes her contemplate about abortion when the American man suggests it.
Conclusion
Conclusively, it is possible that love, respect and the trust earned in every relationship may fade
with time. Many couples are able to keep their unions even without the initial commitment. In
the two stories, the collapse of the relationships is greatly hinged to failed communication. The
female characters try by all means to please their selfish male counterparts at the expense of their
own happiness. If the couples had established good relationships at first by building trust,
respect, and love to one another and cultivating the prevailing miscommunication would not
have been witnessed.

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Works Cited
The Norton Anthology. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Abrams. 6th. 1993.