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"hills like white elephants" summary and hidden meanings
"hills like white elephants" summary and hidden meanings
"hills like white elephants" summary and hidden meanings
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In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway employs characterization and diction to illustrate that men can be very powerful and horrible. While introducing the characters the narrator says, “The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building” (1). Ernest Hemingway uses diction to emphasize that there is an American man and a foreign girl. He wants readers to consider that the man has power because he is more experienced than the underage girl. After telling her it’s her decision and trying to sway her decision he reveals “‘I think it’s the best thing to do.
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.
Through the use of symbolism and similes in his story “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway suggests that weak relationships may not be able to survive unforeseen circumstances especially when one partner is unwilling to empathize Throughout “Hills Like White Elephants” the girl has conflicting feelings on having an abortion, she remarks that the hills “look like white elephants” (1). This alludes to the game white elephant, a game where a person gets an unwanted present. This simile presents how the child is still a gift even if unwanted. Additionally, the girl focuses on how, “Everything tastes like licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for”(2).
Nevertheless, Ernest Hemingway soon shows that this relationship contains a rift. This becomes apparent once they try conversing to one another. The girl attempts to spark a conversation by mentioning that the hills look like white elephants, but this topic soon turns hostile with the American’s replies. How this conversation is handled already shows that the couple “are trapped in a state of imbalance and disagreement” from the beginning (Link). The problem with the conversation is that the American’s personality of being simple and serious.
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
Ernest Hemingway, a world-renowned classical American author, leaves much to the reader’s imagination and interpretation in his stories. One example of this is his short story, Hills Like White Elephants, in which an unnamed man and a woman, Jig, are deciding whether or not to proceed with an “operation” (referring to an abortion) and may end up going their separate ways in the end. The overwhelming amount of symbolism in this story can be confusing at first, but after a closer look, Hemingway's tale seems to be one of genius. The story begins with Jig and the man ordering drinks at a bar between two train tracks, one going to Barcelona and the other to Madrid. The fact that the woman orders large alcoholic beverages could be interpreted
It is widely known that a lack of communication within a relationship almost always puts a detrimental strain on it. In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, the narrative revolves around an unspoken conflict between a woman named Jig and her significant other, referred to as the American man. In the story, Jig and the American man are travelling in Spain. At a train station, they are talking about an “operation” (Hemingway 476) Jig is to have; one can infer they are talking about an abortion.
Relationships are the core of everything we do in life. We love someone, so we do something for them; we value someone 's opinion, so we respect them; we dislike someone, so we avoid them. Relationships cause people to act on their emotions which impact how and why they do the things they do. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” is about a couple trying to come to a conclusion on a delicate matter. While the man strongly promotes his opinion the girl is hesitant but wants to do whatever will make him happy.
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.
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.
The setting of the story is a train station/bar. The symbolic significance of this setting is representing the critical point of a relationship between a man and a woman. It tells the reader that the decision between them will affect whether or not these two people will be together. It also represents the need for the confrontation of the problem, due to the soon arrival of the train. The girl in the situation is often looking off into the distance, which is a hilly area that she describes the scene as "hills like white elephants".
The story titled, “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway is about a young American man and a woman, who is waiting at a railway station for a train that will take them to Madrid. They are drinking liquor as they wait and discusses what the American man says will be "a simple operation" for the girl. The man, while urging the girl to have the operation, says again and again that he really doesn 't want her to do it if she really doesn 't want to. However, he clearly is insisting that she do so. The girl is trying to decline to have the operation but the couple keeps arguing.
Two women, two different stories, and no clear outcome for either. Written by Ernest Hemingway, “Hills like White Elephants” is a short story about a girl named Jig who is controlled by a man only known as “The American” who pressures her to have an “operation” at a train station in Spain. The information of what kind of operation is never clearly given to the reader but was later revealed by the author (Ernest Hemingway) that it was in fact, an abortion. Whether she actually goes through with it is never said. On the other hand, in the short story, “Eveline,” Eveline is abused and controlled by her father through her own memories of him.
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.
In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, the author leaves an open ended question as to if the couple with have the abortion, giving readers the tip of the iceberg making them wonder what happens after the story ends. Often, society's portrayal as to how women should express their opinions and make decisions is they must at least somewhat rely on a male's opinion in making those choices. Women can and do, however, make decisions without a male counterpart's guidance, which is inarguably better for building upon their individual characters and can improve the way in which they are sometimes seen in society due to pre-conceived roles established for them over time. The American controls, for now, Jig’s whole life;
