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Hills Like White Elephant Omission Essay

996 Words4 Pages

Ernest Hemingway frequently used the Theory of Omission. He only gave the bare minimum, leaving his audience to gather the rest of the information. He does this so you have to use your imagination and think about each section of the story. In this paper I will discuss the Theory of Omission in the short story “Hills Like White Elephants.” I will explain, in detail, the parts of the story that I find highly important but are not found directly in the text, and I will also attempt to give insight on the relationship and how I believe it will progress. I feel as if there are quite a few crucial areas of omission in the story, and this will be proved by my thorough explanations of each area. The first thing I wanted to point out was the absence …show more content…

While their inner thoughts and opinions are not stated in the story, I used these instances to formulate my opinion on how healthy the relationship is, and where I believe the relationship is going. In my opinion, this is not a healthy relationship. I feel that the girl is highly submissive and easily manipulated by her partner. I also feel that she is too timid to express what she wants to do and just goes along with the decision the American wants. I strongly believe that the American is not fully committed to her and may not want a baby because he does not want to be stuck with her. I think that they will continue on with their relationship, for right now, and the woman will end up giving in to the American’s wants. He will be fine since he got what he wanted, and the woman will end up unhappy or even alone. To review; there are many areas of omission in “Hills Like White Elephants” that are extremely important. The significance of alcohol, why I believe she wants a baby, how I think both parties feel about the relationship, and the symbolism of the train station. All of these are vital because there is a better understanding of the relationship, which seems to be an awfully unhealthy

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