Manhattan Transfer Lesson Plan

Why does Ellen tell Jimmy she is going to quit her career as an actress and raise Stan's child, but then go and get an abortion? Was this always her plan, or did she change her mind?

The text is not going to give a clear-cut answer to the second question, but it is useful to allow to speculate as long as they use the text to back up their claim. It seems more likely that Ellen was never planning on raising the child, but in light of Stan's death, and as a way of processing her grieving, she probably indulged in some sentimentality with Jimmy in order to give her situation some meaning, even though she ultimately planned on getting an abortion. Because Jimmy is "too...