Paper 2: Freedom and the downside of it

Freedom and the Downside of it 

   Freedom is best defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is clearly evident in the short stories "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemmingway and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. Both works of literature showcase the concept of freedom through internal and external forces. Freedom as a theme directly correlates with the song "Feelings Mutual" by Lil Uzi Vert. This song highlights the mindset of Uzi after his breakup with his longtime girlfriend and his newfound independence. Mrs. Mallard realizes that she is going to become free from her husband and his forced ideals because of his "death". The girl in "Hills Like White Elephants" is wanting freedom to act on her own while the American is hindering her with nonchalant messages about having the operation. Meanwhile the American, wants life to be easier with the girl and wants her to have the operation. Freedom however isn't suitable in these situations. Mrs. Mallard, the girl, and the American discover that too much freedom can be a bad thing. 

   Throughout the short story, "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, Freedom is part of the theme and revolves around it. It revolves around the idea of freedom through the psychological mindset of Mrs. Mallard throughout the duration of the short story and leads to her downfall. Especially, in the beginning of the story, when Mrs. Mallard is told of the death of her husband by her sister Josephine. "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms" (Chopin 1). To Mrs. Mallard, freedom at first is a terrible thing. It seems like this because she is restricted in many ways: through her marriage, by her bad heart, and even inside her home, which she doesn’t even leave. 

  Mrs. Mallard then begins to realize that she is going to become "free" in the sense of not being tied down by anything. Anything being her husband's ideals and having to contain her emotions/thoughts. At this point, Mrs. Mallard welcomes this newfound freedom with welcome arms. "When she abandoned herself, a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free!" (Chopin 1). However, now this newfound freedom seems to get the best of her as she starts to get excited of her new life without her husband. She starts to think for herself and will get to live for herself only for this newfound freedom to be taken away from her. This happens when her husband returns home alive, not dead. Her new future is destroyed, and her freedom is taken away once again. The shock of seeing her husband alive leads to her death and this happened because she experienced too much mental/emotional freedom and started to dream for herself and got her hopes up in the end. 

  Freedom allows someone the power to act without disturbance. This is crucial to the girl and the American in the short story, "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemmingway. In the story, it opens with the girl and the American in Spain at the train station surrounded by hills, fields, and trees. The couple are drinking at a bar and discussing the possibility of whether the girl should have the operation or not. "It's really an awfully simple operation, jig" (Hemmingway 2). The operation they are referring to in this short story is an abortion. This abortion signifies freedom differently between the American and the girl. 

  For the girl, this abortion is affecting her freedom of acting however she wants and doing what she thinks is right. The girl doesn't think that having an abortion is a good idea. Though we can't tell that directly, the way the girl dispassionately agrees with the American tells us that she doesn't approve of the idea. "So have I, said the girl. And afterwards they were all so happy." (Hemmingway 2). The girl is agreeing with the American to please him because she loves him and wants to be with him. She believes that having the abortion will make the American stay with her and love her like how things were before. "And if I do it you'll be happy, and things will be like they were, and you'll love me?" (Hemmingway 2). However, the girl has the control/freedom to decide whether she wants to have the baby or not but, it'll affect her happiness in the end. This will happen because if she decides to not have the abortion, her boyfriend, the American will be upset but if she has the abortion she herself will be upset and will be emotionally distraught and not mentally free because she wanted to have the child. "I feel fine, she said. There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine." (Hemmingway 3). 

 In the case of the American, if the girl has doesn't have the abortion, he will not have the freedom to do whatever he wants and will not be happy with the girl and will be tied down to her if she has the baby. He acts as if he doesn’t care what the girl chooses to do about the abortion. "But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to" (Hemmingway 2). He does this by acting as if the operation is not a big deal. "It's not really an operation at all" (Hemmingway 2). However, he is the first one in the story to bring up the operation to the girl. In addition, the American claims to the girl that having the abortion will make them happy again and that this baby is the only thing that has made them unhappy. "We'll be fine afterward. Just like we were before. What makes you think so? "That's the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy" (Hemmingway 2). The American wants freedom to be happy with his life and with his girlfriend but if he keeps pushing his ideas of an abortion onto his girlfriend he may ultimately lose his girlfriend and the happiness in his life. 

  These themes of freedom relate directly to the song "Feelings Mutual" by Lil Uzi Vert. Lil Uzi Vert is a rapper from Philadelphia who is one of the hottest artists out right now and has placed on the billboard charts many times for his hits such as "XO Tour Life" and "You Was Right". As recently as 2017, Hip-Hop and R&B have passed Rock to become the biggest U.S genre. The track "Feelings Mutual" displays the mindset and feelings Uzi has for his past relationship with his ex-girlfriend. Lil Uzi showcases these thoughts throughout the song in a number of ways. 

  First, Lil Uzi Vert shows us his newfound independence with the lyrics "I can't feel" over and over in the chorus. Lil Uzi uses this line as a lyrical motif throughout the song to emphasize his newly found independence. "I can't feel no more. I told myself that I wasn't gonna pop no pills no more No, I can't feel no more I can't..." (Feelings Mutual). The downside of this newly discovered freedom is Lil Uzi Vert doesn't know how to deal with the situation his is in. He copes with this by taking drugs to numb the pain away. Throughout the song, Lil Uzi insists that despite his heartbreak he no longer has any need for love. His pain has numbed and his doing "fine". "I'm doing fine now, I'm doing fine now, No I do not need nobody now, No I do not need nobody now" (Feelings Mutual). 

 Having too much freedom can impact the way people act in certain situations. It can bring them down, mess with their emotions, elate them, etc. This can be seen in the short stories "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemmingway, "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, and the song "Feelings Mutual" by Lil Uzi Vert. In "The Story of an Hour", having too much emotional/mental freedom caused Mrs. Mallard to think too far ahead of herself which resulted in her shocking death when her newfound freedom was taken away when her husband returned home, and she realized he wasn't dead. Also, in "Hills Like White Elephants" and "Feelings Mutual", having the freedom of having to decide what to do next in their life has caused emotional distress and caused both the girl and Lil Uzi Vert to bottle their feelings and, in the end, it results in both saying they are "fine" when they are not.