develop thetheme of abortion. The three characters are “the girl”, “the American”, and “thewoman.” The girl symbolizes youth, innocence, and navety. She is ignorant to herfinal decision of having an abortion, because she is so young and is still in the primeof her life, experiencing new things everyday. Hemingway uses her to show a youngpregnant girl trying to decide if having the baby will ruin her youthfulness, ruin herrelationship, or in contrast make her a woman. She is getting tired of the same oldroutine, mentioned before, so her choice is to do something different, to have thebaby, to become a woman, and leave her childish ways for good. The only thing thatstands in her way of her decision is “the American.” The American symbolizes anindividualist who wants to do things his way. Usually Americans have a laid backattitude and don’t want to mess with anything complicated, as does the American inthis story. The American supports the theme by opposing the girl and saying that thebaby “is the only thing that bothers” them. He talks of a certain simple “Operation”in which the doctors will simply “let the air in.” “The American[‘s]” talk of the“Operation” further justifies abortion as the theme because the doctors putting theair inside of her, referrs to taking a fetus out of her womb. The man is moreconcerned with the effects of the baby ruining his life more than hers due to the factthat the man says the baby is the only thing that “bothers [them], when in actualitythe woman approves of the baby. This also proves the “Operation” is an abortionbecause the usual case of abortions is: a woman gets pregnant, then the man getsscared, and tells the woman to get an abortion because the baby will ruin both oftheir lives. Next is the character of the woman who shows contrast, and supports thequalities of &#...
