Comparative Analysis

Comparative Analysis:
“Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” and “Hills Like White Elephants”
There are a lot of similarities and differences presented in “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” written by Russell Banks and in “Hills Like White Elephants” written by Ernest Hemingway. Both stories have been told in a discreet manner that both couples are dealing with pregnancy. Whether or not the characters should go through with abortion or to keep the child is shown throughout each story.
Banks and Hemingway has told the readers in a discreet way that the characters in both stories are in a situation that their significant other is pregnant. The author does not come out and tell us this, “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”(418). The author did not tell the readers this clearly because the topic of abortion is a sensitive subject with people’s opinions. Some may be opposed of this topic and would make the person not want to continue reading either story. In each story there is evidence that one character wants the child and the other does not. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the man is more opposed with not having the child and the woman wants to keep the child. In Banks’ story the woman does not want the child. There is also proof that she is harming the child by putting tanning lotion on which can have risk on you and your baby in developing cancer. The setting of Banks’ story is set in 1981 so the woman however more than likely does not know she is harming herself and the baby.
In each of these stories the characters are presented with choices. Both of the choices indicate going through with abortion or deciding to keep the child. In the story, “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” the black man and white woman are in the middle of the lake in a rowboat and have a decision of going back to the trailer park or to go to the island. If the two decided to go back to the trailer park it indicates that the two are deciding to go forth with abortion. If they were to go to the island, it indicates that they would not have any worries and would keep the child. The man also referred to the island as it would keep the woman safe. The man said, “I wish I could just leave you here”(66) the man wants to keep the woman safe and wants to have the child. However, the woman wanted to go back to the trailer park.
In the other story, “Hills Like White Elephants” they have a choice between getting on the train or staying at the station. By getting on the train it indicates that they are going to go through with the abortion and by them staying at the station it shows the readers that they are going to keep the child. The man makes it very clear that he wants to get on the train:
“Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want any one else. And I know it’s perfectly simple”(419).
That statement to the woman persuades her to follow and get on the train with him. By the man saying, “I don’t want anybody but you” and “I don’t want any one else” he is discreetly expressing that he really only wants to be with her and he does not want a child at all.
Although both stories show a lot of similarities, there are differences as well in the each story. In Banks’s story there is an interracial relationship between the characters. In his story he has a black man and a white woman. Banks never tells the readers the characters names as well. He just refers to them as “the man” or “the woman”. This could be an example of racial issues with the author as well as, “If Daddy were alive, it would be different, Daddy…. Hated niggers” (64). This quote is another example of racism. The way the author described this issue with the white woman’s family and the black man shows this idea. The white woman’s dad would have strongly disliked the man she was with because of his ethnicity proven by the quote above.
Based on the stories textual part, Banks’s story is by far more detailed than Hemingway’s. In Banks’s story it gives the readers detailed description about what each character is doing, “she examined her light brown skin and stroked it and rubbed the oily, sweet-smelling fluid onto it”(63). This is one example of the description of each character. He continues to go on descriptively throughout the whole story. The readers can also observe this statement in the each title. One is more detailed than the other, that being Banks’ story. In “Hills Like White Elephants” it is very vague. As well with the content, the author is not straightforward in his writing. The characters conversations are even short and not a whole lot to them. This could be because of the authors style of writing or the reason of the shortness to the characters dialogue may be because Hemingway is trying to keep the topic of abortion discreet throughout the story.
In Banks and Hemingway’s stories they present the readers with similar situations and choices that the characters have to make. Both authors discreetly tell the readers that the situation is about pregnancy. Even though the situations in each story are very similar, the characters feel differently about each others views. In the end, they both choose to go through with abortion.

Works Cited
Banks, Russell, “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat”, The Story and
Its Writers, Compact 9th ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 62-67. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest, “Hills Like White Elephants”, The Story and Its Writers, Compact 9th ed. Ann
Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 416-419. Print.