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“Hills Like White Elephants” essay
“Hills Like White Elephants” essay
Underlying message in hills like white elephants
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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).
The man she is with keeps pushing her to make a life-changing decision about an abortion and she says, “I realize… Can’t we maybe stop talking?,” (Hemingway 3). Including this issue specifically is bold for Hemingway as it is controversial, yet he crafts it to bring even more attention to the Girl’s rights and intentionally characterizes her with this strong will and independence. She later threatens to scream, demonstrating that the Girl is unafraid to bring attention to this altercation. Hemingway provides the Girl with a voice that many women did not have. The man craves authority and manipulates her by saying, “I think [getting the abortion is] the best thing to do.
Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” contains hidden, deeper meanings which are full of conscious and unconscious psychological processes. Hemingway represents in this piece, by explicating the text to explore the domineering ways of relationships, setting, imagery within the piece, and essentially abortion. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the American displays the manipulative and domineering side of relationships illuminating that the “couple” within neglect to realize the majestic gift; instead, they have childlike arguments about the “White Elephant” in the room. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the couple tends to use factors of manipulation to get what they both want.
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”.
In the end, the women choose to stop talking with the American man about the operation, he has pleaded his case. He has stated that this unborn child is, “the only thing that bothers us. It 's the only thing that 's made us unhappy." (Hemingway 2). Thus the result, she has chosen to proceed with this operation, despite her
By definition a “White Elephant” in literature is a possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness. In the following short story, the situation that the couple is in can be described as a “White Elephant”. Throughout the story a couple, a Spanish woman and an American man, are sitting at a train station waiting for their train. While there, they decide to talk about the issue at hand, a pregnancy. Jig, the Spanish woman, is eager to keep the unborn child as the American man who is the father is not.
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.
The man acts like he would be fine with having the baby but it is obvious he doesn’t want it at all saying “I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple” (Hemingway 925). She likes the idea of having a baby throughout the story and the man realizes she wants to have it. At the end of the story he walks through the bar and has a drink by himself and “look[s] at the people” to get used to being in a bar by himself again (Hemingway 926). He is planning to break up with her because she wants to have the baby and he wants to live his life the way he has been.
Hills Like White Elephant is a short story by Earnest Hemingway from 1927. The story is talking about a failing relationship between an American man and his girlfriend. This couple is at a critical point on their lives. At the bar in a train station in Spain, the girl, Jig, does not want to end up her pregnancy, but she is going to sacrifice the baby to satisfied him. Because he is critical of the exploitation of his girl’s feelings concerning the continuation of unbalanced relationship.
The work of Ernest Hemingway offers the reader a chance to dwell in the world of struggle and decision-making. Moreover, the interaction between the girl and the American keenly reveals a sense of insecurity within a relationship built on persistent distractions. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway uses simplicity in conversation, essential symbolism, and character development to expose the couple’s immaturity and the choice between romance and family. Hemingway effectively disguises the growing tension between the girl and the American through idle conversation. Several instances demonstrated the uncomfortable air that surrounded the two.
Conflict, be it within oneself or with another person is oftentimes difficult to overcome in the best of circumstances, and it is arguably never more difficult than when the outcome is a matter of life and death. This theme of a power struggle is central to Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”, in which the characters known only as Jig and the American struggle to find a compromise which makes them both content while discussing Jig’s pregnancy and possible subsequent abortion. Hemingway uses several examples of symbolism including hills resembling white elephants, a bamboo bead curtain, and a railroad track to emphasize the separation which is driven between individuals in a relationship who fail to find a solution due to miscommunication. Indeed, remaining consistent with Hemingway’s iceberg style of writing, these seemingly simple examples of common elements of a Spanish railway station are representative of a much more complicated paradigm of human relationships.
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.
Many things aren’t expressed bluntly; people often have to rely on clues to make certain assumptions about their surroundings. Within literature, for example, many things—such as certain feelings and messages—aren’t articulated outright. Naturally, because of the omission of certain details, the reader relies on hints within the text for deeper implications. One tactic, commonly used within texts written by Earnest Hemingway, is the use of setting to bring light onto that which is unsaid. In Earnest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” the setting of the story reveals un-explicitly said ideas and conflicts within the story, ultimately showing that it is possible, in life, to derive previously unknown facts from the smallest
