Subject: Hills Like White...
Omlor@aol.com
Date: Wed Sep 26 2001 - 15:34:45 GMT
Hello all,
I know there are some Hemingway fans on this list. And so I offer this
precious and absolutely true story.
Today, at the beginning of class discussion, one of my students offered his
initial reading of the story "Hills Like White Elephants." It was, he said,
a story about a couple trying to decide if the woman should get breast
implants.
His textual evidence for this was the line about how it was a "perfectly
simple operation" and how "they just let a little air in." (Apparently, he
believes that the breasts are somehow inflated during this procedure...)
His other evidence for this, of course, was the story's title.
He was apparently serious at first, until his fellow classmates lost it.
When asked about the time period and history, he said he thought that "back
then it might have been experimental."
I was charmed, if also astounded.
Thought I'd share that, respecting the young man's anonymity, with the gang
here, to make you smile a bit.
>From a damp, drizzly Florida,
--John
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