Like White Elephant Hills; Decisions Theme

Often people are faced with great life changes that can change things for the better or worse. Many times people don't know how to deal with the changes they are faced with and fall vulnerable into letting others make their decisions. I've faced some tough decisions in my life that were not decided for on my own part. It was the week before my eighth grade graduation and my mom told me we were leaving to California to attend my cousin's wedding; a part of me was excited, while the other part of me was bummed at the news that i would not be a part of my class' graduation. I remember thinking that graduation would be the last day my class would be a whole; some would go to Saint Bede, others would go to Hall, and from there only half of us would be left. Graduation was 4 years ago and still to this day I regret not going and experiencing those laughs shared at that ceremony.
In Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", the girl was faced with a very tough decision; should she have an abortion or should she not? The girl was very young and naive and for that she was not able to decide on her own. Even though in the back of her mind she knew what she wanted to do (keep the baby), she went along with what the father of her baby, the American, wanted; and that was to get rid of the baby. The American said, "I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to". He was very low-key about wanting to get rid of the baby. Though the American played it all off cool, the girl knew that she had to do whatever the American wanted in order for him to stay. Life is all about making decisions and sometimes the decisions you want to make are altered by the thoughts of others.