Short stories and how they are the Devil's children

So I had to read short stories for a class at Columbia last year and then write an essay about it.  Easy right?  Maybe even enjoyable!!!

No, I was dead wrong on the enjoyable part.  I hated, absolutely HATED, the two stories we had to actually read ('Hills Like White Elephants' by Hemingway and 'Lady With the Pet Dog' by Anton Chekhov).  And, since I really don't have much else to write about tonight, I guess I will let you guys enjoy my award winning essay.  Enjoy!!!

 Short stories. There are all different types. Stories that are short, stories that are long, stories that seem to make no sense, and stories that make a lot of sense.

One of the stories that makes no sense is 'Hills Like White Elephants'. I have no clue what was going on in the story. It began with a description of the landscape, and goes on for about a paragraph in that manner. Then, Hemingway dropped almost all description that was not in dialogue form.

After the descriptive paragraph the story goes right into the characters. The woman in the story is worried about some surgery, of which remains nameless, that will “allow air in.” She goes back and forth about needing it, and if her husband or boyfriend or man-friend (the difference being is that one constitutes dating and the other constitutes sex and secretiveness, which doesn't seem very likely) will continue to love her after the surgery.

The man continues to reassure her that everything will be fine. He tells her that he will love her, and the only thing that is keeping the away from being in anymore love would be the ailment or whatever the surgery is going to fix. Eventually, the man tells her that if she doesn't want to go through with the surgery, she doesn't have to.

They are soon told that the train they are waiting for will arrive in the next few minutes, so the man takes their bags to what I can only assume is a baggage dock.

When he returns, I became really confused. He approaches her at a table, where she is just sitting there smiling at him, and he asks “how are you feeling.” She responds with “I feel fine. There is nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.”

What the hell happened to the argument they were getting into. Did she just magically become healthy? Is she just telling him that she is okay so she doesn't have to go through with some surgery? We have no answer, and I really hate it when short stories end like this. I like having the answers when I am finished, and that is exactly what has not been done.

My mind is now a black, swirling abyss of unanswered questions, and it is starting to take control of my thoughts. Well, not really, but when I was reading, I couldn't figure out what was going on, and it (along with my roommate talking to me) made it very hard to concentrate. And so to Mr. Hemingway, I say this... I now HATE you.

In the Lady with the Pet Dog by Anton Chekhov, Gurov, a unfaithful bartender who frequently leaves his family, and Anna, a woman who seems to regret marrying her husband, become attracted to each other.

They met at a vacation spot in the city of Yalta, and started to spend a lot of time together, which starts to put their feelings in motion. They eventually start to get intimate with each other, though before anything to major happens, Anna has a nervous breakdown of sorts, and doesn't want to advance because they would be sinful ways. They split after Anna's husband called her back. He had eye problems or something.

Gurov begins his normal routine again, but soon starts to think of Anna, something that he has never done for the “inferior race” as he calls women.

He soon leaves his wife and children again, using the excuse of having work in St. Petersburg, the home of one Anna Sergeyevna. He finds her address, and decides to go pay Anna a visit, but chickens out as he is practically on the front door step. I wonder if he really even truly cares for her at this point, since he didn't even knock and talk to her.

The two meet at the premier of The Geisha, a show the author himself saw in the city of Yalta, Russia. He approaches Anna after the first act, when her husband is out for a smoke, and Anna runs away, scared. He catches up to her, and she begs him to go away and that she will see him in Moscow.

She meets up with him, and he starts to wonder whether he is in love with her. They start to make plans for the future, but we are unfortunately left in the dark on the plans. I hate this.

So it isn't actually award winning.  I did, however, get some praise for it.  Thanks class!!!!!!!