Relationships in a marriage have always been complicated. Every new stage in family life brings up many challenges. Different people with different personalities deal with these challenges in their own way.
Two different couples from ”To Room Nineteen” by Doris Lessing and ”Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway face their problems in a quite contrasting way. Lessing’s couple is a very traditional family. Their marriage started on a very positive note. They got married in their late twenties and had four children. As a family they proved themselves when it came to love, respect and trust. Hemingway’s couple, on the other hand, was a young family that didn’t have time to go through the stages of respect, trust, love and commitment. Nevertheless, they have faced a huge challenge of unexpected pregnancy. Throughout the story they are in a bar in Northern Spain near a train station caught in conversation supposedly about getting abortion.
In both stories readers see couples that were not happy in their relationships, and were looking elsewhere to find contentment. When things get bad in life, it would be natural for people to choose to hang on to a hope. Unfortunately, none of the four characters chooses this path.
In ”To Room Nineteen” at the beginning readers were happy for Lessing’s couple. However, as the story developed, they were able to see a couple that had grown apart from each other “… two tolerably friendly strangers” (The Norton Anthology, 880).
The Dissertation on Marriage, Couple & Family
Counselors face a myriad of issues. Marriage, couple and family counselors are not exempt from such issues. On the contrary marriage, couple and family counselors deal with added stressors and dilemmas. The intent of this paper is to guide a future counselor through the history of marriage, couple and family counseling. While displaying the great need for counseling. As the American family evolves ...
This was a slow, but inevitable process. While husband had an affair, his wife was in denial. In her mind it would be wiser and more practical thing to do. As a result Susan found herself not only very lonely, but also useless “…she was alone, and she had no past and no future” (The Norton Anthology, 883).
Instead of hanging on to a hope and fighting for her happiness, she did just opposite- she gave up. In her vision, it was probably very right thing to do. She rented a room in the city where she could be alone with her thoughts. Instead of getting closer to her family “…when they were really married” (The Norton Anthology, 884), she isolated herself from her family, from her problems. Eventually, it became a daily habit. What happened to the commitment and trust in this relationship?
Hemingway’s story setting proves to readers that this couple has no romance in their relationship. His male character expresses lack of enthusiasm in becoming a father; not to mention, raising a child “…I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else. And I know it’s perfectly simple” (The Norton Anthology, 664).
To him this is not an opportunity that may come only once in a life time, but a threat to his freedom that he is not ready to forfeit. He believes that the pregnancy is “…the only thing that bothers us. The only thing that makes us unhappy” (The Norton Anthology, 663).
Surprisingly to readers, Jig agrees to his pressure. She feels alone in this world and needs him.
Nevertheless, Jig knows that abortion will not turn the time back, and what is more important, will not make them a happy couple once more “…and we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible” (The Norton Anthology, 664).
It is possible that the romance will fade overtime in almost every relationship. Many couples are able to keep their union without being romantic. However, they will not have a chance to survive if they lose respect, trust, and a way to communicate with each other. Unfortunately, both stories demonstrated a tragic failure in communication. It is very sad that in both stories female characters were striving to be needed, but their feelings were left unnoticed by their male characters. Maybe it was their own selfishness, or maybe because it is very difficult to find one person that will stand up by you no matter what, and will know you more than you know yourself. As the result, the miscommunication among these couples left them with many unanswered questions.
The Term Paper on Araby Norton Anthology
Alienation of "Araby" Although "Araby" is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate ...
