ipl-logo

Hill Like White Elephants

1289 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Symbolic meaning of white elephant in hills like white elephants

Introduction What if all the expressions in the world are either straightforward or the indicative mood? I am not sure what will happen, but straight and clear expressions wouldn’t be good all the time. In literary works, a metaphor, which is an imaginative way of describing something by referring to something else which is the same in a particular way, is likely to let readers know the pleasure of reading literatures. In my case, I am very honest, so not only lying, but I am also not good at implying something that I want to express in an effective way. For that reason, I would like to introduce a short story “Hill like white elephants” written by Ernest Hemingway who is one of famous American writers. I’ve heard his name and his famous novel “The old man and the Sea”. However, the short story that I learned in the class is more impressive for me than other writings are. The reason why I like this story is that I wasn’t able to figure out what is going on and what was happened between two protagonists “the girl” and “the guy” when I read this short story first. However by reading the story over and over again, I found out what’s their story, and understanding a relationship of them is the charm of this story. The story and a study …show more content…

When World War 1 broke out, he applied for U.S army after graduating from Oak Park high school, but failed because of his bad eye sight. After that, he got to know that there is a job opportunity of ambulance drivers in Red Cross, and he was volunteered. During World War 2, he changed his job to a war correspondent and went to London, the United Kingdom, and then moved to Paris, France in 1944. Even though he did not physically engage the enemy, he had watched the brutal outcome of the war; many soldiers were dead, disabled and missing during the combat. This terrible memory is sometimes depicted in his novels in a various

Show More
Related

Summary Of In The Lake Of The Woods By Tim O Brien

2083 Words | 9 Pages

At first he was against the war but reported for service and he was deployed to Vietnam with what has been called the “unlucky” American division due to it be involved with the My Lai massacre in 1968, which was an event that was a key thing in the book, In the Lake of the

Read More

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.

Read More

Hills Like White Elephants Relationship Analysis

813 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Hills Like White Elephant Literary Analysis

746 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More

Hills Like White Elephants Girl Vs Girl

160 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More

The Theme Of Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants

893 Words | 4 Pages

In the short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway from the start makes us draw out our own conclusions and does not give us a great deal of information. For example, we are only told about two characters, an American man and a girl who are waiting for their train to arrive. Other than this, we are not told what relationship the characters share together or where their final destination is. The protagonist who is referred to as “the girl” is in the middle of a tragic situation which can take a turn for the best or the worst and her partner, the “American man” is not helping but making the situation more heated.

Read More

The Dialogue In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

1629 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More

Theme Of Disconnection In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

1013 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Adversity In Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea

1067 Words | 5 Pages

The novel, The Old Man and the Sea, is a story about an old man, Santiago, who experienced great adversity but did not give up. The author, Ernest Hemingway, describes how an old man uses his experience, his endurance and his hopefulness to catch a huge marlin, the biggest fish he has ever caught in his life. The old man experienced social-emotional, physical, and mental adversity. However, despite the overwhelming challenges, he did not allow them to hold him back but instead continued to pursue his goal of catching a fish with determination. Santiago’s character, his actions and the event in the novel reveals an underlying theme that even when one is facing incredible struggles, one should persevere.

Read More

Literary Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

2016 Words | 9 Pages

Hemingway takes this metaphor one step further, specifying that the hills are like “white elephants”, which are not only rare and sacred creatures, but also a metaphor in and of themselves to mean a burdensome property that is expensive and difficult to

Read More

The Song Tra Bong Figurative Language

1756 Words | 8 Pages

How he hated being drafted and how badly he wanted to run away. He tells how he took time to himself to decide whether or not he was going to run away and risk being caught and imprisoned or go join the army and risk dying over in Vietnam. He states at the end, “ I passed through twins with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward.

Read More

Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

786 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Hills Like White Elephants Character Analysis

1044 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Summary Of Toni Morrison's Nobel Prize Lecture By Toni Morrison

1440 Words | 6 Pages

The authors want their audiences to use these tales and examples as life lessons and hope for them to utilize these sources in their future lives. These two ideas are presented through the use of figurative language, mainly metaphors. In addition, the similar tone of these pieces allows the author to connect more deeply with the readers. Toni Morrison’s Nobel lecture, folktales, and several poems illustrate how metaphors and tone are used to describe experience and caution the readers.

Read More

Figurative Language In Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea

712 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Old Man and The Sea, written by Ernest Hemingway a credible author, the use of figurative language was not sparse. Figurative language enhances the story line and makes the book interesting and detailed. The most notable uses of figurative language were similes, metaphors, personification, idioms, and hyperboles. Similes are described as a comparison using like or as. We found many examples throughout the text.

Read More

More about Hill Like White Elephants

Related Topics

Open Document