Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis
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
If the goal of the law that bans books in the future was to make the American citizens happy, then why would some citizens be willing to die over the law? In Fahrenheit 451’s futuristic dystopian society of the United States, there are many day to day actions that would not be acceptable under the current United States Constitution. In the first place, the citizens First and Sixth Amendment rights are being violated. The First Amendment states that all citizens have the right of the freedom of the press. In that case, the citizens should then have the right to read as they please and the government does not have the ability to take this away (DOC B).
Literature and the arts are similar, they require us to tap into a deeper level of understand in what we read and see. The words are often an author’s experiences, thoughts, feeling, ideas or convictions. As readers we can sometimes connect with the author, having an emotional reaction to their works. In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, the young couple is making a life decision about going through an abortion. I too was faced this decision in my own life at a young age.
“Hills like White Elephants” & “The Yellow Wallpaper” Once upon a time, a romantic fairy tale was a dream come true. A handsome prince and his beautiful princess fall in love and live happily ever after. Furthermore, in modern literature this phrase “happily ever after” is now questionable. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” are short stories driven by conflict.
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.
The relationship between the American and the girl in “Hills Like White Elephants.” In the 1900s, there was a distinct relationship between a man and a woman, with each having their own traits. During this time, Ernest Hemingway also had his own idea of this relationship which he portrays in his story, “Hills Like White Elephants”. Within this story, the relationship between the two characters, the American and the girl, is portrayed as strained and distanced by their constant avoidance of the “elephant in the room”.
Annotated Bibliography Lanier, Doris. “The Bittersweet of Absinthe in the Hemingway’s ‘Hills like White Elephants.’” Short Fiction 26.3 (1989): 279-288. Literary Resource Center Web.
She encounters many different men and situations that continuously make it harder and harder for her to work her way out of their rut and build a decent life in America. “There was no one to protect her, no one to care. All she could see was the image of those animals at the border, the half-a-gringo and his evil eyes and filthy insinuating fingers, the fat white man with his fat white hands, and she withdrew herself, dwelled there deep inside where nobody could touch her” (234). Very early on in this novel, America shows just how much she is willing to endure, in order to
In Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants”, the American and Jig are like parallel lines, they can never meet. As they struggle to find common ground, the very discussion that can bring them together only tears them apart. The relationship between Jig and the American is complex from the very beginning since their personalities, methods of communicating, and desires are different. The American represents infertility, selfishness and death but how can he not be when he’s a single man, traveling, trying new drinks, spending nights in hotels with no worry about money and now he has impregnated a women, of course he will lose his zest for her (Hannum).
The conflict between the two characters is the issue of abortion and whether or not the girl will go through it. Hemingway does not tell us that the girl is pregnant but hints it throughout the story referring to “the operation” as having an abortion. From the start, you can take
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.
If analyzed in a more generic view, the short story can be used to show how a male and female stereotypically understand a subject. The American speaks more literal and materialistic as Jig is seen to speak in a more figurative and abstract manner. Ernest Hemingway’s use of symbolism gives the reader a more visual effect to the conflict between the man and the girl as well as the idea of their inner thoughts. The white rounded hills, the beads on the curtain hanging from the bar’s doorframe, and the cool shade and blazing light all represent different aspects of the two choices that the American and the girl have to decide on, just like the railroad tracks on either side of the
They begin to not understand what it is that they both want to do. During that part of the conversation it is very clear that the American man wants the girl to have this operation, which is an abortion “’I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to’” (Hemingway p.402). The man clearly wants to do what is in his best interest and not the girl’s and the life forming inside of
Symbolism plays a fundamental role in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”. The different symbols used throughout the story are capable of subtly conveying intricate concepts to the readers of this recognized literary work. It then becomes essential for them to detect all these symbols, and discern the deep meanings which they hold in order to truly grasp the story’s message which the author intended to transmit. Without this insight, many first-time readers may view the story as a simple and casual dialog between two people, a man and a woman, waiting for a train from Barcelona to Madrid. Thus, they become unaware of the intense conflict the two main characters are actually facing, haunted by the difficult decision of terminating a pregnancy
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?'
More about Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis
Examples Of Ambiguity In Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway
333 Words | 2 PagesFirst And Sixth Amendment Rights In Fahrenheit 451
453 Words | 2 PagesThe Role Of Abortion In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants
923 Words | 4 PagesHills Like White Elephant And The Yellow Wallpaper Essay
1832 Words | 8 PagesHills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis
1554 Words | 7 PagesHills Like White Elephants Relationship Analysis
813 Words | 4 PagesAbsinthe In Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephants'
503 Words | 3 PagesAnalysis Of Tortilla Curtain
1195 Words | 5 PagesHills Like White Elephants Jig Character Analysis
699 Words | 3 PagesThe Theme Of Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants
893 Words | 4 PagesThe Dialogue In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants
1629 Words | 7 PagesSymbolism In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants
1013 Words | 5 PagesTheme Of Disconnection In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants
1013 Words | 5 PagesSymbolism In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants
1128 Words | 5 PagesHills Like White Elephants Character Analysis
1044 Words | 5 Pages