I Feel Fine

I Feel Fine
Even though man has the right of a free choice, the right to freedom and the right to seek his own happiness, this opportunity can easily be limited. Because, if you are in a relationship, couples as well as friends, and both parties don’t want to go in the same direction, you have to take your partners view into consideration, you have to compromise. However, situations can arise where there can be no compromise, where there are no happy medium. In cases like this you are forced to make an epoch-making decision, which is not to be changed, and which one of the parties may never reconcile with. When such a situation comes up, you will have to make up your mind on how this change is going to affect your relationship to the other part, and whether you are willing to make the sacrifices that it takes to get along. This is exactly the theme Eric Hamilton deals with in his short story from 1997 about a couple going towards a major change in their relationship.

The short story is set at a train station near the Ebro River Spain. The year is not given, but it might be contemporary with the year of publication. A man known as ‘The American’ and a woman called Jig are having a drink while waiting for their train to arrive. At first they are having a blithe, mundane conversation about the landscape, the weather and what to drink, but quickly this dialogue takes an unexpected turn. In the following it becomes clear to the reader that Jig is maybe getting an operation, and that they not entirely agree on whether she should do it, or not. Though it is never made explicit in the text, it is made clear through phrases of dialogue such as "It's just to let the air in" (p. 2, l. 53) and "But I don't want anybody but you" (p. 3, l. 111) that Jig is pregnant and that the procedure in question is an abortion. Throughout the discussion the American is trying to convince Jig to undergo the operation by telling her how it is perfectly simple, and how he will stay with her...