My project for course: Digital Collage for Editorials

Since it would be difficult for me to understand all nuances of the two Spanish source texts (I'm not a Spanish speaker), I decided to choose a short story by Ernst Hemingway, Hills like white elephants. It is in English, therefore more convenient for me. The story is available online here: https://www.gvsd.org/cms/lib/PA01001045/Centricity/Domain/765/HillsPDFText.pdf

The story is about two young people, a young man and a woman, who travel between Madrid and Barcelona. They have a short break between trains, so they stop to drink in a local pub by the train station. They discuss an unspecified operation the girl should (or shall not) undergo. It is not specified in the text, but the procedure is probably an abortion. The boy tries to convince the girl that the operation is easy, not dangerous and that everything will be fine. The girl is nervous, feels the implied pressure, and contemplates her future life. She likens the landscape and the hills around to white elephants. "The origin of the phrase (white elephant) is commonly traced to a practice in Siam (now Thailand) in which a king would bestow the gift of a white elephant on a member of his court who displeased him. The white elephant was considered sacred, so this gift was an honour on the surface. However, maintaining the elephant would be so expensive as to ruin the recipient. Hence, a white elephant is a burden." (ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/hills-like-white-elephants-analysis-2990497) She knows that taking care of a baby is not easy, and it would change their life. What is more, she is well aware of the possibility of staying alone with the baby since the boy does not want to spend their life as a family of three, but only as a couple of two.
A full-length analysis can be found in the already mentioned link https://www.thoughtco.com/hills-like-white-elephants-analysis-2990497. However, I would like to describe the mental process behind my collage.

First, there are the obvious literal situations:
Railway station, mountains, man and woman, bags, operation, Spain, hot weather, on one side a bare land, on the other a fertile and green land
Second, there are concepts like:
Tricky situation, manipulation, doubts, life change, a decision which way to choose, inner voices, nervousness, youth versus responsibility, freedom versus commitment, silence and screaming
Third, there are interpretations which I made:
Burden, abortion, a free young man who does not (seeming) risk anything, a young woman who stands in front of a big decision, risking life long health problems, loss of a child and the burden of bad conscience. But there is also hope - I think she has decided to have the baby as she watches the fertile land, she sees the opportunity and is no longer afraid to be left alone with the child.

I think the focal point of the college should be number two. There are two big decisions to be made in the text. Either the girl will stay with the boy, but she will undergo the abortion, or she decides for the baby, the boy will leave her, but she will always be with the baby. There is also a slight possibility that the girl will undergo the operation, but they will go apart and become two 'ones'. There is also an even smaller possibility that they will become a family of three. That's is why the numbers one and three are also present in the college.

The decision to be made, which is looming throughout the story, is expressed in the two railroads, which may but also may not have the same direction. The woman and the man are looking in opposite directions in the collage. While the man has plenty of opportunities and a clear vision of how life should be, the woman has to consider and risk much more. Though freedom is one of the greatest values, it may turn into an emptiness if there is no one to share it with. It may happen to the man that he will be left alone, forever wandering through the world, free but lonely. On the other hand, the woman may be hurt initially by the man if he leaves her, but in the end, she will never be alone if she chooses to have the baby.

I have used the original layout of the page but changed the text. The colours I chose are inspired by Spain, rather dry land tones and a blue sky above.