Literary Analysis #2 Hills Like White Elephants This short story by Ernest Hemmingway, is about a man and woman’s difference in opinion with one another. The couple is waiting on a train to arrive at the junction station to take them to Madrid, Spain so that the woman can have an operation. In this story, Hemmingway utilizes symbolism and clues to explain the plot of the story and the conflict the two characters are having.
In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, there is a relationship unfolding, a complex relationship difficult to understand. The relationship is revealed by a conversation between a man and a woman, a topic of conversation that people rarely discussed in the period that the story was set. After researching interpretations, it is consistently said “She is pregnant, and he wants her to have an abortion” (Weeks 76), to which I agree that this conversation is about abortion. With the man seemingly pushing the topic and the girl hesitant and questionable, it is unsure as to the result of their conversation. However, it is my belief that she chose to follow her heart and not get the abortion.
Abortion World wide Abortion has been a controversial issue. Whenever the topic of abortion is brought up their are mixed emotions, from all types of people, all over the world. People pro-life think even if abortion was made easy or painless for everyone, it wouldn’t change the bottom line problem, that abortion kills children. Meanwhile people pro-choice think being pro choice is trusting the right decision for herself and her family, and not entrusting that decision to anyone wearing the authority of government in any regard. Who is right though?
In fear of what the future may bring, some rely on their religious values to keep them afloat and provide them with comfort during their dark times. In David Foster Wallace’s short story “Good People,” Lane and Sheri, a young couple, face the initiation into adulthood as they struggle with their religious identity while grappling with an unexpected pregnancy. As devout Christians, Lane and Sheri initially turn to their faith for comfort and guidance. Still, they soon realize that their individual beliefs and values are at odds with each other and with their religious community/family. The struggle to balance personal desire with a religious affiliation is a common theme in initiation stories, as one must decide to abandon all that one has
Throughout the short story (1), “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway is speaking about a seemingly unwanted pregnancy and a woman’s uneasiness with going through an abortion. However, Hemingway never explicitly says in this work of fiction (2) that it is about abortion or that the woman, Jig, is uncomfortable with it, but uses symbolism (3) to present this to the audience. At the time “Hills like White Elephants” was published, in 1927, abortion was illegal in most places and a very taboo subject that wasn’t to be openly discussed in public. Thus, Hemingway relied greatly upon the use of symbolism to get his message across for this reason as well as the third person narrator (4) that did not give insight into the character’s thoughts within this piece of literature (5) . He uses symbols such as the train station, white hills, the baggage, and the drinks to point towards the underlying internal conflict (6) of Jig’s decision that is being heavily influenced by the American man, who wants Jig to get the abortion.
One of the most interesting aspects of Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" is the use of symbols and figurative language to indicate the meaning of his short story. Hemingway's complex writing style conveys a major theme of talking versus communicating. " Hills Like White Elephants" focuses on an American man and a young woman named Jig at a train station in Spain in the 1920s where they discuss if Jig should get an abortion or not. Although the couple has a conversation throughout the entire story, neither of them can articulate their feelings effectively and take the time to listen or understand each other. Hemingway's significant use of figurative language allows the reader to realize that the description of the setting in the
Chopin may suggest that Mrs. Mallard feels restricted to live her life with a partner in her life. Hemmingway does not reveal the thoughts of the characters leaving readers at suspense. Readers must interpret what is going on between the girlfriend and her boyfriend in Hills Like White Elephants (Hemmingway). The white elephants in his story represent fertility. Both the woman and her boyfriend struggle to speak of abortion.
In the short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway from the start makes us draw out our own conclusions and does not give us a great deal of information. For example, we are only told about two characters, an American man and a girl who are waiting for their train to arrive. Other than this, we are not told what relationship the characters share together or where their final destination is. The protagonist who is referred to as “the girl” is in the middle of a tragic situation which can take a turn for the best or the worst and her partner, the “American man” is not helping but making the situation more heated.
The dialogue in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” reveals a man’s and a woman’s incongruent conflict on abortion, and the author’s fundamentally feminist position is visible in the portrayal of the woman’s independent choice of whether or not to keep the baby she is carrying. The plot is very simple in the story which is less than 1500 words long. A woman and a man spend less than an hour on a hot summers day at a Spanish train station in the valley of Ebro as they are waiting for a train heading for Madrid. Their dialogue takes up most of the space and only few major actions take place.
“On [one] side there was no shade and no trees” this side of the train station represents what life would be like if she would not have the baby. Her life would be like “the dry side of the valley” (Hemingway 923, 926). “On the other side [of the valley] were fields of grain and trees along the banks of Ebro. Far away, beyond the
Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism in a story is when a person or an object in the story symbolizes something else that is not directly stated. There are many types of symbolism in Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper. The wallpaper itself, Jennie the housekeeper, the husband, the nursery, and the woman in the wallpaper are all symbols for something more. All of these things symbolize an aspect of the lives of women in the 19th centuries. Gilman wanted her story and the characters in it to relate to a deeper issue than Jane’s “illness”.
the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.” She opens the crucial issue in an implicit way when she describes the “hills like white elephant”. Which suggests her imaginative way of thinking: she relates to the hills as the physical shape of her pregnancy, and the white elephants is “something she cannot just throw away but for which, in her present circumstances, she has no use; something that is awkwardly, burdensomely in the way” (Renner 30). The girl faces difficulties in expressing her feelings, but she does not surrender and keeps
The world had ended and I was the only one who knew. When I was two months along I decided to finally send a letter to Bailey, who was at sea. He wrote back, and cautioned me against telling mother. I told him that I was thinking abut getting an abortion, but he cautioned me against it because we both knew that mother was violently opposed to abortions. If she found out I was pregnant she would make me quit school, which I didn't want.
Using the term "White elephant" in the title of the story is what first grabs your attention to some kind of issue the two will be having. The saying "white elephant" refers to “a possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of", that being a baby between Jig and the American. Thinking about their relationship, there is additionally a connection to be made that they once had an easy and outgoing relationship but is presently going to be a very costly one to keep if they so choose so. The couple is in between two different train lines, one line conveying to prepare from Barcelona to Madrid and the other racing to some mysterious area.
A second reason why abortion is wrong is because it deprives the fetus from his future. When we decide to kill a fetus then we are taking away from him a future like ours. The argument is as follows : (1) it is impermissible to kill humans, who if lived, would have a future like ours, (2) if abortion is not done, the fetus would have future as we do have, (3) so it is wrong to kill the fetus (4) therefore abortion is impermissible. A similar argument was given by Don Marquis in his article “Why Abortion is Immoral”. He stated that what makes killing wrong is neither the effect on the murder, nor the effect on the victim’s relatives or friends, but the effect is on the victim himself.
