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Deep Symbolism In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

991 Words4 Pages

Oftentimes in stories, authors disguise deep thoughts and details into broader topics. They try to get the reader to actually think about what they are reading, and ponder upon the deeper, more sensitive things of life. Certain authors have a way of working deep thoughts and ideas into simple stories. This idea is known as symbolism. Symbolism is defined as “the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.” So many times, one reads a story, and only sees what is right in front of them, but other times, they notice much more depth to what they are reading. This is most often used in short stories, and every single small detail is crucial. In Ernest Hemingway’s, Hills Like White Elephants, there are many secrets and deep details hidden into this story that all point to the very sensitive subject of abortion: this subject is disguised in the elephants, the characters’ drinking habits, and the landscape. The whole story in itself represents abortion. During the beginning, the American man and Jig are eating and heavily drinking, and they are having a disguised discussion about Jig’s possible abortion. Although since they are in a public setting, they are speaking in code, in hopes nobody around them understands what they may be possibly speaking about. The man is all for Jig having an abortion, but he wants it to seem as if …show more content…

Hemingway used a simple story to hide a deep, sensitive message for his readers to discover for themselves. He wanted people to put more thought into reading his story, therefore he left it up the oneself to discover hidden messages. Hemingway hid clues of abortion through the usage of white elephants, the drinking habits of the two characters, and the landscape. Never once did he straight up tell the readers that the two characters were having a secret, coded discussion about abortion. Things are not always what they

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Examples Of Ambiguity In Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway

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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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Hills Like White Elephants Rhetorical Analysis

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Throughout their conversation, you can decipher a tone where the conversation sheds light on his feelings towards the procedure and her feelings. He says “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig. It’s not really an operation at all” (Hemingway 124), in an effort to persuade her to in fact have the abortion. She, on the other hand, seems silent at first, but then questions how their life will be better after this procedure. Her uncertainty shows in her responses, and in other findings “… the sensuous beauty of a love relation that is quickly deteriorating, now that she has become conscious of her lover’s selfishness” (Maynard 273).

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Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism

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Jig has found herself at a cross road that will directly affect her life and also her relationship but would mean terminating her baby. She is unable to decide whether to choose life for the baby, or to get

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“Doesn’t it mean anything to you,” she asks, implying to the American that he must think deeper than the surface to find the importance of not doing the operation versus going through with it. Unfortunately, we see that the American does not desire to have a baby in this moment but has a hard time clearly sharing his opinion to the girl. He beats around the bush; so to speak, and instead promises her that she can have the whole world once she does the operation (76). His main concern is sharing the lifestyle of traveling and experiencing all that the world has to offer while Jig is more concerned with what may or may not happen if the operation is done. She tries to communicate her view of the situation; however, the man implies that the pregnancy is “…the only thing that’s made [them] unhappy” and that they will “…be fine afterward,” as if nothing has happened (Hemingway

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Manipulation on Jig’s part occurs when she says “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” To which the American man responds by saying “I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.” Jig uses this statement to manipulate the American man who clearly cares about whether she would actually like to have the abortion. She clearly cares about herself, her happiness, and desires and uses them as major deciding factors.

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Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

1554 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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Reading the works of Ernest Hemingway and not understanding what the message or what he is trying to say is very common. Hemingway believed that a writer should communicate with the readers using subtext, by leading them to read between the lines, His use of the diction, subtext, syntax, and tone creates a different writing style. Hemingway was direct and his use of uses subtext as a means of conveying message to readers in his writings. Sub text can allow the audience to meet his point or idea half way. It can allow each viewer to draw their own individual value and experience to resolve or explore the themes represented.

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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.

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One main theme in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is the idea of disconnection. In this story, we eavesdrop on a conversation held between both characters. In their dialogue, conflict is created as the characters face what most readers believe to be the obstacle of unexpected pregnancy. This is assumed through symbolism and the titles meaning. The term “white elephant” was used for an unwanted gift.

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Essay On Hills Like White Elephants

892 Words | 4 Pages

It is clear that the American wants the abortion so that he and Jig can continue their lives as before. Their travels would now be altered because of the possibility of a child now being a part of their lives. This would hinder their adventures of aims self-gratification, “That’s all we do, isn’t it - look at things together and try new drinks.” In any type of relationship, communication is the key factor.

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Hills Like White Elephants Point Of View Analysis

969 Words | 4 Pages

This tells us that his point of view is subjective by writing about each character equally by giving their thoughts about each other's choices and letting their actions speak louder than their words. Furthermore, this shows the theme of the not appreciating what's in front of you because the American already made up his decision by his actions to move the luggage to the train station meanwhile Jig sat by herself trying to make her decision of what to

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Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

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During the course of the story “Hills Like White Elephants” the author Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism to describe the the main idea of the girl having the “operation.” Hemingway uses the landscape, the white elephant, and the term “elephant in the room” to represent different aspects of the pregnancy and abortion. The landscape in the story represents choosing the abortion or choosing to keep the baby. The setting of the story is at a train station.

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In his story “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway points out the couple's inability to make the decision: whether to abort the unborn child or not. The reader finds that the story deals with couple's miscommunication through the conversation and the emotions that they express. One can observe that no descriptions are given to the characters, thus, Hemingway creates universal dilemma to focus on the crucial issue. In this way, Hemingway leads the reader to identify with his female character that undergoes a struggle.

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