Sebastian Ramirez
September 10, 2014
Mr. James
It is proven that there is a special feeling created in a human being after they become a parent for the first time. The responsibility that comes and the value given to a baby creates a thought in the parent that he or she needs to make this baby survive so it can grow healthy. No one really knows what it is to lose a child unless they have gone through it, many people say its the worst pain one can suffer in a lifetime. The story “Incarnations of burning Children”, tells about a man and his child who just got burned with hot water. The story does a great job in reflecting the madness and every thought that can go through the mind of a parent after an accident like this which ended up costing the boy’s life. From someone who is already a parent, there is a lot of value given to being a parent and taking care of the kid.
On the other hand, there are also people who like to have children, and in some way see the responsability as an extra charge for their life, many times unnecessary. This side is shown in another story called “Hills Like White Elephants”, where there is a men and a women who are discussing about abortion. Abortion is one of the most debated topics around the world which consists on ending the babies life when he/she is in the mother’s uterus. For two people, taking the decision of having an abortion for different social, and economic factors is a very hard decision. It can be discussed that in some way aborting is not giving value to the kid and becoming a parent. It could also be seen as an escape from certain people to the responsibility of a kid, since it “eats up” so much of someone's time and years of their life. Referring back to the story of the hills, the women in the story appears to be bothered by her lovers decision of abortions, when she insists on not executing the abortion plan. From this perspective it appears that a mother, by simply being the one that carries the baby in her for nine months, actually feels this responsibility a little bit more than the man. Thesis which is actually disapproved by the story of the burned child since the one that appears to be acting more and really suffering the burning of the kid is the dad. Maybe this is just a selfish decision by the author to put the man, in some way in front of the women.
There is no doubt that the responsibility of being a parent changes people’s lives in every sense. Events like the passing away of a child can get to be one of the worst pains in a humans life. This is a reason that many people use to reject the idea of having a son or daughter. These decisions are respectful if it is taken into consideration that there are many different reasons for abortions or simply never having a child, not only is it because people don't give it value.
