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Hills Like White Elephants Short Story

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There are several reasons why I decided to write about Hills Like White Elephants. The primary factor that led to me choosing this story is that it was my favorite overall story that we have read. Hills Like White Elephants is extremely relatable to a personal event that has happened in my life. Before I discuss how it relates to my life, I would like to share some details regarding the story. Hills Like White Elephants is being told by a narrator who is not a character in the story. The setting is in a valley in Barcelona, Spain. A man and his girlfriend are awaiting a train to Madrid, Spain. These two individuals are the primary characters in the story. Throughout the short story, the man attempts to talk to the girl about a predicament in …show more content…

Shortly after the girl mentions that the hills outside look like white elephants, she says, “But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?” This passage is about halfway through the story. At this point of the story, the woman is disregarding her observation that the hills around them look like white elephants. She is also placing emphasis on the fact that she may want to keep the child, rather than having the abortion. The boyfriend says that he will support the woman’s decision, but it is clear that he truly wants her to have the abortion. He does not want the responsibility of raising a child at this point in his life. The woman also becomes extraordinarily skeptical and concerned about the future of their relationship. She believes that it will be difficult for them to return to how things used to be if she proceeds with having the unborn child …show more content…

The author leaves us asking whether or not the woman decided to have the abortion, which is one of the most difficult and impactful decisions an individual could make. The tone of the story is controlled. We are given a small amount of information and conversation throughout the story. It is up to the reader to interpret the story and discover the meaning. Symbolism plays a large role in this narrative. The main symbol is the concept white elephants. This symbolizes something that is unwanted. In this tale, the undesired commodity is the unborn child. The obvious imagery in the story are the surrounding hills. The description of the hills helps the reader picture how they resemble white elephants. The author also uses imagery when describing the train station. This gives the reader the opportunity to picture a bar at a train station in Barcelona, Spain that is surrounded by large hills that resemble “white elephants”. Ernest Hemingway, the author of this narrative, does a fantastic job of using the elements of literature. Hemingway also writes in a way that makes his stories tremendously relatable to those who read his works of

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Hills Like White Elephants #1 Describe the setting and discuss its importance to the story. •Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is set in a train station to highlight the fact that the relationship between the American and the girl is at a crossroads. Planted in the middle of a valley, the station isn’t the final destination, but merely a stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid. Night

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Throughout their conversation, you can decipher a tone where the conversation sheds light on his feelings towards the procedure and her feelings. He says “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig. It’s not really an operation at all” (Hemingway 124), in an effort to persuade her to in fact have the abortion. She, on the other hand, seems silent at first, but then questions how their life will be better after this procedure. Her uncertainty shows in her responses, and in other findings “… the sensuous beauty of a love relation that is quickly deteriorating, now that she has become conscious of her lover’s selfishness” (Maynard 273).

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Both the woman and Reverend Hooper feel pressure from societal expectations, as they struggle to reconcile with their own desires. In “Hills Like White Elephants”, the woman is internally conflicted with the devastating decision of whether or not to have a child with her partner. While struggling with her own desires, she feels the burden of societal expectations weighing down on her decision, pressuring her to conform to traditional gender roles and starting a family with her partner. When expressing her reluctance to have an abortion, she states that she will “do it and everything will be fine” (Hemingway 3). In order to accommodate society's norms, the woman is suggesting that she is willing to sacrifice her own desires.

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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.

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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

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Chopin may suggest that Mrs. Mallard feels restricted to live her life with a partner in her life. Hemmingway does not reveal the thoughts of the characters leaving readers at suspense. Readers must interpret what is going on between the girlfriend and her boyfriend in Hills Like White Elephants (Hemmingway). The white elephants in his story represent fertility. Both the woman and her boyfriend struggle to speak of abortion.

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Symbolism in Hills Like White Elephants In short stories, because of the length of the story, all actions, words, and objects carry more of a meaning. These are referred to as symbols. Symbols represent something important without really saying anything, but more seeing and visualizing something. Symbolism creates a needed depth and allows the reader to think more creatively.

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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.

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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.

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“I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to do," author Ernest Hemingway’s short story Hills like White Elephants, demonstrates a contradicting conversation a young couple has about “the white elephant.” In the short piece, two foreigners in Spain awaiting a train, drink continuously to avoid the actual feelings they have about an operation the woman is considering, "I wanted to try this new drink. That's all we do, isn't it—look at things and try new drinks? " The American and the girl hide from their reality by constantly traveling, enjoying the gastronomy, and its environment. Ernest Hemingway uses three symbols; the train, the white elephant, alcohol and imagery to play out the theme in this short selection.

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It can be deduced that the procedure the couple is talking about is an abortion. However in a story that uses mostly dialogue, this story also takes the time to describe

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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.

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