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Consequences By Choice In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

724 Words3 Pages

Consequences by Choice A white elephant is a metaphor for an unwanted possession that causes a financial burden. "Hills Like White Elephants" was written by Ernest Hemingway an American writer and journalist. The story is about a couple with a complex relationship, who become desponded by the woman's unpremeditated pregnancy. In the story the unborn child is compared to a white elephant because of the burden it would bring to the couple, yet the color white symbolized the innocence and purity of the child. Throughout, the story it becomes visible that the man and woman struggle to concur whether an abortion is the right idea they should take. The story illustrates the vulnerability, psychological void that pivots their bond that is being jeopardized by the intervention of an unborn child. The story's center of attention goes to Jigs. Jigs is the woman who happens to be pregnant. The subject matter of the story is whether she goes through having an abortion. With observation Jig reveals her …show more content…

There are two divergent train tracks that symbolizes Jig's unborn child's fate. When Jigs looked at one direction off the line of hills, she saw them “white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.” (8) This observation becomes obvious as it represents the passage of death. Proceeding this direction would destroy the chances of the unborn child to exist, the brown dryness of the country represents death, emptiness and sadness as innocence gets stripped away from existence. On the other side, Jigs was able to see the train tracks as it traveled through “fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro.” She was able to see the mountains and how the river shined through the trees. Scrutinizing this direction shows how life is represented by the beauty of nature. Pursuing this path wouldn't just save the child's existence, it would give Jigs the opportunity and better understanding of becoming a

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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.

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Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism

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