ipl-logo

Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

763 Words4 Pages

Ernest Hemingway’s style of writing is minimalistic. One story in particular, “Hills Like White Elephants”, shows this type of writing. Hemingway’s stories make the reader follow along by not labeling the dialog of the characters. His stories are often short and require the reader to determine the motivations of the characters. These characteristics are what define Hemingway’s writing style as minimalistic. In all of Hemingway’s stories, he uses little to no dialog labeling. The reader is expected to and must, in order to follow along with what is going on, pay close attention to the story and what each character may be saying, “‘Four reales.’ ‘We want two Anis del Toro.’ ‘With water?’ ‘Do you want it with water?’ ‘I don’t know…’”(Hemingway …show more content…

The narrator does not give the reader a look into the mind of the character. As the reader, you are expected to determine the motivations of the characters. This is another key part of the author’s writing style. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the man, a character from the story, seems to want his female companion to have an abortion. The character’s motivation is not clear though, “‘Well,’ the man said, ‘if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.’”(Hemingway 173) In this quote from the story one of the characters, the man, talks to the girl about an abortion operation. Hemingway’s writing style does not directly tell us of the characters’ motivations. The reader must infer what the character wants by what they say and do. From this quote it could be said that the man wants the girl to decide what to do, but it could also be said that the man wants her to go through with the operation. His motivation, the male character’s, is slowly pieced together while following along and paying attention to the story, ‘“Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else. And I know it’s perfectly simple.”’(Hemingway 174) This quote helps clear up the character’s motivation but it isn’t exactly stated. The motivation of the character is unclear and can be debated, this is another key in Hemingway’s minimalistic

Show More
Related
333 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

This is an allusion to Hemingway’s quote about

Read More
758 Words | 4 Pages

The relationship between the man and the girl exemplifies the theme of man and woman, as well as the theme of decision and indecision. Together, the decisions of either choosing life for the child or abortion present additional conflicts. The decision to be made and the conflicts to come are what Hemingway is revealing to the reader through the symbol of the train. As their discussion over the operation and life together comes to an end, the man says, “The train is coming in five minutes” (Hemingway). The man informs the girl that their trip back to reality is on the brim of arrival and their journey together is about to begin.

Read More
728 Words | 3 Pages

Abigayle Paul Lisa Copeland English II Honors March 24, 2023 Justice The meaning of the word justice can be interpreted in many ways. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, we learn about Atticus Finch and his understanding of justice. The novel follows his journey as a lawyer on trying to get justice for an innocent man who is not given a fair trial because of the color of his skin. Throughout the Novel, Lee allows the reader to understand Atticus’ understanding of Justice in multiple ways, one being choice and goodwill.

Read More
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
1432 Words | 6 Pages

All that we do, we are bound to encounter stress. Stress can be defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Whenever one is facing difficulty ,suffering anxiety, or feeling worried,stress will immediately take over. Stress has been, and will remain to be, a natural part of our daily routine. This causes many to underestimate its overall effects.

Read More
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
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
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
2016 Words | 9 Pages

If taken literally, Hemingway’s story is one in which very little happens. The story takes place in a train station in Spain where a couple argue about a vague event over drinks. From the very start of the short story, there is an overbearing uneasiness felt in the text 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.

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

Ernest Hemingway’s characters are frequently tested in their faith, beliefs, and ideas. To Hemingway’s characters, things that appear to be grounded in reality and unmovable facts frequently are not, revealing themselves to be hollow, personal mythologies. Hemingway shakes his characters out of their comfortable ignorance through traumatic events that usually cause a certain sense of disillusionment with characters mythologies, moving them to change their way of life. His characters usually, after becoming disillusioned, respond with depression, suicide, and nihilism. However, this is not always the case.

Read More
797 Words | 4 Pages

“Hills Like White Elephants” may be a short story about two people just talking in a bar of a station, but behind every word Hemingway uses lies a deeper meaning. It is necessary to point out that omitting further information is something that is typical to Hemingway’s writing style. The reader has to contemplate what the author wants to portray in his story in the first place. Although the author probably had one meaning in mind, the metaphors can be interpreted in many ways. While reading the story, what came up to my mind was whether the author’s personal life had to do something with it or not.

Read More
1044 Words | 5 Pages

According to Smiley, “The dialogue contains the essence of the story's power; for to read Jig's and the American conversation is to recognize the powerless frustration of parallel interchanges” (2). The girl's character passes changes throughout the story. It appears that “Hemingway works out the story's conflict, which revolves around the development of his female character” (Renner 28). The girl gains power and frees herself from the following the American man. In the beginning of the story, the girl take the initiative to speak which leads to the discussion: “'what should we drink?'

Read More
1052 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the story, they discuss an “operation.” Hemingway never lets the reader know what kind of

Read More
1505 Words | 7 Pages

Hemingway portrays his characters using language and heritage to distinguish

Read More

More about Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

Related Topics

Open Document