Use Of Cognitive Dissonance In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephant

The year 2014 was the year in which all had changed. I was only a young adolescent girl in the midst of another middle school year, who was getting all of her ideologies, beliefs, and values in place to develop the morals she wanted. However, middle school is not always going to sway with one’s true ideologies. See I had to overcome the thing I feared the most, having to speak on a side of a debate I did not believe in. When you think about it, one might not think it is so bad. However, to us, humans, it is uncomfortable to have to question or even act against what one believes in, so one avoids it. This is what psychologist's called cognitive dissonance, the act of feeling insecure from the actions against your values. The act of accepting …show more content…
Which is about an American and a girl sitting at a train station bar in Spain drinking some beer. In this story, they describe how they always do the same thing together and how everything will be back to normal after the operation for the white elephant. In which the American assures the girl it is a simple procedure. When looking at the story one can see how the American denies information when he states, “ I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It is just to let the air in” (Hemingway 124). Foreshadowing then, that the American is trying to convince the girl the action she is about to do is nothing that would contradict her values because it is something he thinks they both want. However, one can feel the girl's discomfort in this decision to act against her values when she tells him to stop talking (Hemingway 126) and questions if they truly would go back to normal (Hemingway 125). Therefore, she is in discomfort with her inconsistent action because she does not know if she wants to really go back to how things were. She is in the phase of questioning her action, even though the thing is a white elephant. Meaning then that it is a burden or something useless and costly that she does not know if she wants to have because she denies everything will go back to how it was. Therefore, one can imagine that the white elephant, in this case, is a …show more content…
For example, in the article by Daryl R Van Tongeren, he states, “individuals likely lack the social information necessary to justify an inclusion/exclusion decision, resulting in a greater degree of dissonance” (Tongeren 528). This connects with the two short stories in different ways. For example, in the “Hills Like White Elephant” one can see that when it was written abortions were, in fact, illegal and dangerous. Therefore, not accepted by the culture and society. Leading to the women than to feel uncomfortable in accepting her action because it is against her beliefs, causing great dissonance to herself. This shows the inconsistency than between what one would believe and what to do at the moment a situation happens. Another example of this is in “The Birthmark,” because women at that time were only seen as someone who maintains the house and husband happy. Therefore, when Georgiana accepts to do the procedure, she cannot seem to accept it herself because she does not want to conform to the views of society. Even when she is justifying her action to do so with the social norms when it happened. Even in “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, one can see how Mrs. Mallard is grieving in her room as the open window brings the fresh breeze and light of new life (Chopin 287). One can see how she is confused and afraid to accept the happiness that she felt after the death of her husband because she sees it morally