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Dulce Et Decorum Est And Hills Like White Elephants

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Language drives the world around us. It is the premise of communication and lack thereof. Whether it be latin, french, spanish, music, literature, or art, language, in any of its various forms, gives one the freedom to communicate with and understand others. Those who can effectively exercise multiple languages are highly sought after and those who can not are often misunderstood. In many ways the manipulation of language can make those who hear, read, or see it think a specific way. Because of the power language holds, it is often used as a mobilizing device for war. In the literary works “Dulce et Decorum Est”, “next to of course god america i”, and “Hills Like White Elephants” their respective authors, Wilfred Owen, E.E. Cummings, and Ernest Hemingway, reveal the immense power language has on a person’s thoughts, especially in a time of war or controversy.
Wilfred Owen, author of “Dulce et Decorum Est”, utilized his own experiences as a soldier in World War I to empower those around him. Throughout …show more content…

Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” exemplifies the importance language has in everyday disputes between ordinary people. Hemingway’s characters Jig and the American have a lack of language skills and little communication between them. Although the American often speaks in spanish to the waitress such as in his statement, “Dos cervezas”, this is not the biggest language barrier between the couple (“Hills” 5). A better representation is the American’s response, “It’s pretty hot” to Jig’s question, “What should we drink?” (“Hills” 1,3). Much like their entire conversation, the American skirts Jig’s question and answers non-committedly. Hemingway has shaped language to be a barrier between the couple that impedes their ability to be happy. In this manipulation of language the characters feel lonely and misunderstood, because they fail to express their

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Language is the most favoured way of communication to other human beings. It is the fuel used to emancipate our passions. Language has colossal power and its effect solely relies on how we control and use it. Because words are frequently used subconsciously, people never realise how big of an impact words can be. This excellent novel, Don’t call me Ishmael, narrates a story about a boy, named Ishmael, who builds up both emotionally and physically as many barriers, trials and temptations come his way.

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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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Many people die in war. Sometimes a death is a horrific experience for everyone involved, other times it is twisted into a beautiful sacrifice. In the poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, the cruel truths of war are revealed. Through the use of diction, imagery, and figurative language, Owen conveys a disgusted and angry tone that describes his attitude about dying for one’s country.

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They each bring up different points as to why throughout the story. In Earnest Hemingway’s short story Hills like White Elephants written in 1927 he uses the hills themselves, the scenery that the couple is surrounded by, and the beaded curtain as symbols to describe the situation that the couple faces. In this short story, the hills that the train station overlook are compared to white elephants. This is because the conversation Jig is wanting to have with the American consists of whether or not to keep the

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The poem entitled “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, display an emphasis on the girl. However, the girl is the person who sat at a table outdoors near the train station with the man named the American. Although the two people having an unplanned conversation waiting for the train; therefore, the train station is the stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid. In the poem, the girl’s name is Jig who is the girlfriend of the American.

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Even though it is not said directly, it is still easy for the audience to understand that what Jig and her boyfriend are talking about is a woman’s matter. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway does not reveal the underlying meaning, but rather uses symbolism in his story through Jig’s attitude towards her boyfriend, the station in which the couple is at, and the absinthe drink she tries. Jig has an attitude about her that makes seem childish. She repeats her words as if she were a young child would when they want something they cannot have.

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Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” revolves around a couple in a train station that is seemingly in a discussion over sensitive topics – pregnancy and abortion. The story starts with a description of the setting, the girl and the American man sitting on a table outside the bar of a train station looking over the hills. It is in this first paragraph of description that we can visualize the difference between the male and the female character. The male character was stated as “the American”

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If taken literally, Hemingway’s story is one in which very little happens. The story takes place at a shaded table of a bar outside of a train station in Spain where a couple argue about a vague event over drinks. From the very start of the short story, the text creates an overbearing uneasiness felt 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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In this piece of writing, Wilfred Owens uses imagery, phonological devices, and lexicon to convey that the glory of war is all a big lie. To begin with, Wilfred Owens' use of

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World War I challenged all of America’s conventions, morals, and ideals. World War I saw the invention of weapons, such as, heavy artillery and tanks, the use of poison, trench warfare, and massive loss of human life (Teachout). Some poets, “including Wilfred Owen, fought in the war, and some like Owen, died in the war” (Teachout). The poetry of these "war poets” gives a first-hand explanation of the devastation of war. In "Dulce Et Decorum Est", Wilfred Owen reacts to the war by turning conservative poetic methods into something that appears to be normal on the surface but in reality is tarnished (Teachout).

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