Research Ideas for "Hills"     

Teacher Pat Princiotto asked me [Eric Hibbison, webmaster] in 2005 about research ideas for "Hills" and another Hemingway story; here's my answer for "Hills," based mostly on ideas that arise during discussion of the story among students.

Biography/Autobiography

Of course, biographical background on exactly how autobiographical each story might be is possible.  Also, see the papers marked as research papers at http://vccslitonline.vccs.edu/copy_of_hills/sitemap.htm  The most recent and perhaps the most ingenious is Paulette Estep's "Gypsum Hills."

* How can the American afford to just travel around Europe, "look[ing] at things and try[ing] new drinks?  (Checking Hemingway's biography might show the feasibility.  He covered European events for at least one newspaper--it's in you-know-who's bio--and his wife had money.)

Literary Research

In terms of literary research, since everything is symbolic in "Hills" because everything is viewed through the perspective of one or the other character, students can use my summaries or find many of the critics for "Hills" in the JSRCC library's databases on literature, since we index stuff from the Gale Group in the MLA index and in the literary database that's part of InfoTrac.  See http://vccslitonline.vccs.edu/copy_of_hills/criticism.htm and maybe some of the other student essays linked to the sitemap referenced above.

Non-Literary Issues--Medical, Historical, Geographical

For non-literary research, students need to know about the status of medicine in the 1920s for "Hills."  For example--

* Was abortion legal in Spain in the 1920's? (It was legal and government sponsored under Franco, but that was after the Spanish Civil War in 1936.)

* What were (are?) the possible medical and psychological consequences of abortion?  Are women who have abortions all "so happy" afterwards?  (Infertility and possibly bleeding to death are the more extreme consequences; blood transfusions were invented in 1918, so most hospitals should have had the methods and materials and blood supply, but what about abortionists?)
 

* When was Fetal Alcohol Syndrome an established medical fact?  Were there anecdotes or suspicions in the medical community before that to suggest that alcohol consumption during pregnancy might lead to low birth weight or worse?  What are the consequences of alcohol consumption during pregnancy?  Could Jig have known any of these?  Does Jig's heavy drinking suggest despair--she's going to have the abortion, so why should she worry about possible effects on the soon-to-be-expelled foetus?

* What are anise, wormwood, absinthe?  Why were they banned in Europe and America and when?  Does absinthe really cause forgetfulness?  Track down the ancient Greek myth that suggests it does.

* Where are the American and Jig in Spain?  Is Zaragoza the right location, as supposed at this website, or are they somewhere else nearby?  That is, where was the train station during the 1920s that had lines from Barcelona and from Madrid?