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Iceberg Theory In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

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Recommended: Women in the late 19th century

Set in the early 1920s, Ernest Hemingway (1927) writes the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” in limited descriptions of the background and the main characters with the intention of using iceberg theory, while immersing readers into the conversation of the main characters deeply by skillfully using the objective third person point of view. The protagonists, a girl named Jig and an American man, are waiting for the train heading to Madrid in the shade while discussing “an awfully simple operation” (Hemingway, 254) that the man urges the girl to have. In the course of the discussion, the man hypocritically comforts the girl that it is okay if she insists she would not have the operation but actually suggests the operation is what the girl …show more content…

With that being said, casual readers may take Jig for an innocent and naïve character after noticing her allegation like “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?” (Hemingway, 254) or pitiable defense like “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” (Hemingway, 255) but led down to a misinformed path as the outcome. As a matter of fact, dialogues mentioned above are actually helping form the duality image of Jig in readers’ stereotypical minds, though it is reasonable for them to resonate like that. As thus, they are easily unable to discover the cunning and manipulative moments hidden in the story. For example, when the American tells Jig that she should not be afraid of the operation since he has “known lots of people that have done it” (Hemingway, 254), Jig responses “So have I… And afterwards they were all so happy” (ibid.), which is a veiled sarcasm suggested by a so-called artless girl. Besides, while it is clearly that Jig doesn’t want to abort her baby, she has still “smiled at him” (Hemingway, 256) for several times which is fake and lied to the American that “There 's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine” (ibid.). Even the smartest of social groups, as the American man, fails …show more content…

Set in a barren background depicted as “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway, 252), the contrast of these symbols of death next to symbols of life and springtime - “Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains” (Hemingway, 254) - is striking. Moreover, it can be discovered that while the American represents the darkness that forcing the girl to abort, Jig herself has a sense of connection with light. Such connection can be confirmed in Jig’s own recognition of the environment surrounding her - she is “looking off at the line of hills” (Hemingway, 253) and they are “white in the sun” (ibid.) The narrative of the story then shows furthermore evidence such as the girl says “the mountains looked like white elephants” (ibid.) and then immediately asks the man “wasn’t that bright” (ibid.). The minute details like “the girl smiled brightly at the woman” (Hemingway, 255) suggest the profound psychological insights of the girl, too. All of these scenes or contrasts mirror the existential ambivalence and hope inside the superficial-looking girl and eventually

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Ernest Hemingway uses repetition and ambiguity in his story, “Hills like White Elephants'' to exhibit the idea that in order to maintain a healthy long-term relationship, communication and consideration of one another’s values are needed. Throughout this story, a couple, Jig and the American, are having an intense and emotional conversation about whether Jig should have an abortion. She displays very sensitive feelings about the procedure, and the American takes advantage of this by trying to manipulate her, repeatedly stating it is her choice: “if [she doesn’t] want to [she doesn’t] have to. [He] wouldn’t have [her] do it if [she] didn’t want to” (477). By doing this he falsely implies he has no opinion, but later contradicts himself by

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If taken literally, Hemingway’s story is one in which very little happens. The story takes place in a train station in Spain where a couple argue about a vague event over drinks. From the very start of the short story, there is an overbearing uneasiness felt in the text as the unnamed male and the girl, Jig, hold what seems to be—on the surface—an innocent conversation. By using a limiting third person point of view that consists mostly of dialogue, Hemingway creates an obstacle in the way of understanding as there is no clear insight to what is going on inside of either party’s head. The conflict that the pair seem to be discussing is never named and it becomes the metaphorical elephant in the room much like the white elephants that Jig sees in the mountains.

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As a starting point, in Hills Like Elephant By Hemingway, the story begins with two couples Jig and American setting at the train station in Spain. They are at a crossroads, unsure of which direction to take as can be seen through the conversation they have. He symbolism he uses like a train station to suggest that there are two ways that Jig can go.

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