Hills Like White Elephants And Ernest Hemingway's A Streetcar Named Desire

Three major writing professionals help to lay sound evidence to support the claim that humans are inherently selfish. Carl Sandburg was an American poet wrote Buttons, a short poem about advancing troops at the start of the First World War. Tennessee Williams was an American author and writer who wrote A Streetcar Named Desire, a playwright about misfortune and love. Lastly Ernest Hemingway was a famed short story writer. These are each very distinctive writers, but all three of them wrote these works and each of the works have the characters displaying egoism and selfish intent, even when dealing with actions which appear to be out of love. In the following works of literature selfish desires are expressed in nearly every action taken by the …show more content…
The American man tries to rationalize an abortion by saying, “You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it” (Hemingway). Hemingway is a very subtle writer and often leaves his works open ended. The American man never threatens the woman or tells her which is the right choice to be made. In fact, he claims he will love her if she has the abortion or if she doesn’t. His superior male ego takes a toll on the woman though, she thinks that having an abortion will allow him to continue loving her. His action of bringing up the abortion in conversation was all a ploy so that in the end she would be the only one in his life. Love may have seemed to play a role, while the woman was contemplating the surgery, but the American knew from the beginning what he wanted and how to manipulate the woman into carrying through with his plan. The Americans egoism is not the only egoism that is shown, the woman displays it too. She is only out to better herself as well, the last line of the story she states “I feel fine” (Hemingway). As the reader, one must decide what this means for themselves, I believe it means she is now fine with the decision to have an abortion. This is egoism in a subconscious way, she is having the abortion not for the American but so that she can be with the American, she is …show more content…
These decisions may be masked by what appears to be love or even just selfless intentions, but subconsciously they are rooted in self-interest. From the General in Buttons, to the woman in Hills like White Elephants, everyone has a choice, it’s the sad reality that the choice make will ultimately be out of egoistic motives. Altruism is the greatest opposition of egoism and the only means to combat it. Altruism is best described as selflessness and is said to be a learned habit, so as long as one breathes they should strive to instill it in their children and their children’s