Carlos Elias

Mrs. Storer
English 3H Block 4
November 26, 2019
Socratic Circle Reflection
In my opinion, my second Socratic Seminar was just as impressive as my first one. For
the preparation of this seminar, I was a bit worried because I felt like I didn’t have enough
evidence to back up my claims I would state during the seminar. During the seminar, my group
went first, and I made two major claims throughout our session. The first point I made had to do
with how the lady was very reluctant to have the conversation with the man about the possible
abortion. I backed this evidence from the story, and I believe that point was solid overall.
However, I am prouder of my second point that contradicted the current conversation of my
group. My group believe that the couple concluded about the abortion since she expressed that
she was fine. However, my point was that women often say what they don’t mean. In this case,
the woman says she is fine when in fact she is the opposite of fine. The arguments that the couple
had before the ending also really backed up my point. I believe that these two comments I made
to the conversation really sealed my participation in the seminar. However, I believe there are a
few things I can work on. The first thing I can improve is my preparation for these seminars
because I felt stressed about the quality of notes I had. The other thing I can work on is my
eloquence. I sometimes think faster than I can speak, so I think it might be helpful for me to slow
it down when I am making my points.
As good as my individual performance was, I believe the group performance could have
been better. I feel like the first group (my group) was the only group able to address solid
opinions backed by evidence. I felt like the other groups made to many statements without any
evidence to back it up. Also, I feel like the points made by other people were not as polarizing as
I would have wanted them to be. Overall, I am still waiting for a seminar that will talk about an
exciting topic that will bring the most of everybody.
Through psychoanalyzing the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest
Hemingway, one can conclude that the couple was not able to reach an agreement on whether to
have an abortion or not.
The toxicity in relationship between the couple can be found in many segments of the
short story. In many times during their interactions, the man was manipulating the woman into
saying what the man wanted to hear, which was to not have a baby. However, the woman was
very defiant against the man’s intentions by making sure she didn’t fully commit to the man’s
goal of a decided abortion. In the end of the short story, it is obvious that the couple did not reach
an agreement since the woman expresses that she is fine. Objectively, this might mean that the
woman is actually fine and agrees with the man, but by psychoanalyzing the text, it is obvious
the woman is not fine. She is strong in her belief that she should keep her child.
The ideas presented in the discussion brought many experiences and ideas I have seen in
the past. Recently, I have watched the show How I Met Your Mother, and there is a specific
relationship during the series that really helped me relate to the relationship seen in “Hills Like
White Elephants.” Even though the couple in the TV series was not at all toxic, there was one
decisive issue that would eventually break them apart. This is issue was whether to have children
or not if they got married. Like the couple in “Hills Like White Elephants,” one person wanted to
have children while the other despised the idea of it. Overall, the ideas presented in the book,
discussion, and even in this reflection were incredibly useful for opening up the clear messages
Hemingway was trying to convey.