Religion and Sins

In most of the works we have read so far in the course men, women, and how they relate to one another has been a reoccurring theme in most of them. In some of the short stories, and even in both novels, Hemingway has analyzed what works and doesn't work in the delicate and sometimes turbulent world of male female relationships.

This relationship is examined closely in two short stories. The stories, Cat in The Rain, and Hills Like White Elephants, both show a man and a woman in what seems to be a quite and passive moment. However in both stories, Hemingway carefully uses imagery and subtlety to convey to the reader that the relationship in the story is flawed, and is quite clearly dysfunctional. Both male characters in each story clearly have trouble understanding their women, and it is this inability to see them and what they want that Hemingway is addressing and criticizng. What, in both works, appears to be a quite and passive moment, is in reality a pivotal point in each relationship, and neither man seems to realize it.

For example, Cat In The Rain tells what seems to be a simple tale of an American couple spending a rainy afternoon inside their hotel room. This simple set up serves as a great metaphor for what appears to be the couples relationship. Outside it's ugly and gray. And nothing is going on inside. Form the begging, we can see that their is a well established rift in the relationship between George and his unnamed wife. The woman sees a cat standing in the rain, and tells her husband (who is being non communicative and sits aside reading, the whole time) "I'm going down and get that kitty"(129). Hemingway writes the response of the Husband as '"I'll do it", her husband offered from the bed"(129). The fact that George seems so detached, and makes no effort in even getting up clearly shows us that his "offer" her means nothing. He is simply going through a mechanical motion of seeming to listen and care, with out even bothering to stop reading.

Similarly in Hills Like White Elephants, the man's inability to communicate with his significant other is also very subtle, but in a way much more direct. In describing a line of hills, Hemingway writes, '"They look like white elephants", she said. "I've never seen one,", the man drank his beer. "No, you wouldn't have"'(211). The same thing is being said here, neither man can see what his woman wants, but at least here the girl is acknowledging that blindness.

Cat In The Rain though has some moments that may appear subtle, but are very clear and direct as well. When the nameless American wife does indeed go down and try to retrieve the cat, she is met by the hotel manager, he asks her '"Ha perduato qualche cosa, Signora"'(130). Translated, he is asking he if "She