ipl-logo

Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism Essay

622 Words3 Pages

Ernest Hemingway, a world-renowned classical American author, leaves much to the reader’s imagination and interpretation in his stories. One example of this is his short story, Hills Like White Elephants, in which an unnamed man and a woman, Jig, are deciding whether or not to proceed with an “operation” (referring to an abortion) and may end up going their separate ways in the end. The overwhelming amount of symbolism in this story can be confusing at first, but after a closer look, Hemingway's tale seems to be one of genius.

The story begins with Jig and the man ordering drinks at a bar between two train tracks, one going to Barcelona and the other to Madrid. The fact that the woman orders large alcoholic beverages could be interpreted …show more content…

They are currently at a train station, which represents a place of transit from one point in life to another. The train bound for Madrid is surrounded by barren hills that the Jig describes as “white elephant hills,” indicating that the baby is a “white elephant gift,” or one that neither of them really wants, and would end up being a burden. At the time, Madrid was one of the largest cities in Spain, a largely Catholic country that was strongly anti-abortion. This made Madrid one of the only places they could go to safely get an illegal abortion. The other train, heading to Barcelona, is surrounded by “fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro,” which indicates fertility and life. Essentially, getting on the train to Madrid would lead to the abortion, and the train to Barcelona could lead to life, the birth of a baby, and the start of a family.

Hills Like White Elephants is a short-story with a much deeper meaning than first perceived. What can appear to be a casual conversation is actually the turning point in a couple’s relationship, and could either lead to the formation of a family and the birth of love or the backtracking in their relationship. Rereading stories and looking for deeper meaning in symbolism is vital, and can lead to a better understanding of life and it's

Show More
Related

Hills Like White Elephants Rhetorical Analysis

739 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, there is a relationship unfolding, a complex relationship difficult to understand. The relationship is revealed by a conversation between a man and a woman, a topic of conversation that people rarely discussed in the period that the story was set. After researching interpretations, it is consistently said “She is pregnant, and he wants her to have an abortion” (Weeks 76), to which I agree that this conversation is about abortion. With the man seemingly pushing the topic and the girl hesitant and questionable, it is unsure as to the result of their conversation. However, it is my belief that she chose to follow her heart and not get the abortion.

Read More

Good People And Hills Like White Elephants: A Comparative Analysis

970 Words | 4 Pages

Lane Jr. who's struggling with his faith will support and stand by Sheri and her decision concerning the pregnancy. Ernest Hemingway's" Hills Like White Elephants” allows his readers to come to the conclusion as to whether the couple in question will terminate or keep the unborn child. As Jig, and the American are

Read More

Hills Like White Elephants Jig Character Analysis

225 Words | 1 Pages

The main character within the story “ Hills Like White Elephants” is Jig. Jig is bothered with her own thoughts because she is trying to ease her conscience. She struggles to accomplish this so she is unknowingly using her conscious and subconscious to process the difficult decision of whether she should go through with abortion. She is constantly debating the thought of abortion throughout the story When in reality, she knows that she is going to have the abortion, but she expresses the complete opposite feeling externally.

Read More

Compare And Contrast Selfishness In 'Hills Like White Elephants'

706 Words | 3 Pages

The two stories chosen are “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway written in 1927 and “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” by D.H. Lawrence written in 1922. I decided to compare selfishness in both of these stories. The “Hills Like White Elephants” main characters are the American and girlfriend Jig, deals with an unwanted pregnancy and an operation. The story takes place at a train station, the two characters over a couple of beer strike up a conversation regarding Jig condition.

Read More

Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

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

Hills Like White Elephants Relationship Analysis

813 Words | 4 Pages

Nevertheless, Ernest Hemingway soon shows that this relationship contains a rift. This becomes apparent once they try conversing to one another. The girl attempts to spark a conversation by mentioning that the hills look like white elephants, but this topic soon turns hostile with the American’s replies. How this conversation is handled already shows that the couple “are trapped in a state of imbalance and disagreement” from the beginning (Link). The problem with the conversation is that the American’s personality of being simple and serious.

Read More

Hills Like White Elephants Dialogue Analysis

597 Words | 3 Pages

Ernest Hemingway uses dialogue, symbolism, and setting in “Hills Like White Elephants” to convey his theme, which is the difference between talking and communicating. The story starts at a train station planted in the middle of a desolate valley. The two characters in the story is a guy known as the American and a female known as the girl. The two couple face a difficult situation on how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. The two characters just talk, but they do not take the time to understand and listen to each other.

Read More

The Theme Of Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants

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

Hills Like White Elephant Symbolism Analysis

1012 Words | 5 Pages

This story symbolizes a couple’s opinion about life. It also symbolizes how people approach different opportunities that come through the course of life. The man clearly wants to live a life that is favored around living care free and traveling. He wants to see and do as much as possible with less responsibilities. Jig, the women in the relationship, is seemingly interested in keeping the child.

Read More

The Dialogue In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

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

Hills Like White Elephants Literary Criticism

1098 Words | 5 Pages

For example, when she said, “And if I do it you will be happy, and things will be like they were.” (255), she is lonely and desperate girl who is still having hope of being happy. She is in a bad mood and depressed too much to even ready to die, it is obvious from her reply, “I don’t care about me” (255) multiple times, waiting for him to say nice words or even make her feel good. He seems as being selfish and careless by starting this relationship and then lacking the support Jig needs from him. Hills Like White Elephant has a huge description on the story’s sitting in the train station, surrounded with hills, fields, and tress in a valley in Spain.

Read More

Miscommunication In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants?

828 Words | 4 Pages

It is in Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story “Hills like White Elephants” that the commonality of problems of communication between two is cited as a reoccurring theme. Clearly identified by the two unnamed characters that the dialogue expresses miscommunication, confusion and switching between two languages; English and Spanish. Never directly diagnosing what exactly the operation they discuss is for, presumptions can be made of an abortion and refer to it as “it” (Hemingway P.3). Despite a strong presence of miscommunication, Hemingway manages to incorporate literary techniques such as realism throughout his story, which allows readers to connect and understand the reality of the story with plenty of dialogue and the use of imagery. The discretely included metaphor of the elephants is also considered an example of miscommunication as many commodities that the two wish to convey goes discoursed.

Read More

Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

786 Words | 4 Pages

During the course of the story “Hills Like White Elephants” the author Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism to describe the the main idea of the girl having the “operation.” Hemingway uses the landscape, the white elephant, and the term “elephant in the room” to represent different aspects of the pregnancy and abortion. The landscape in the story represents choosing the abortion or choosing to keep the baby. The setting of the story is at a train station.

Read More

Hills Like White Elephants Character Analysis

1044 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Short Story Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway

298 Words | 2 Pages

The ambiguous operation that is disused in the dialogue of the story is an abortion. The author uses “Hills like White Elephants” to portray the issues of an ending relationship and the suppression of women in his era. Furthermore, in the story the conflict between the couple starts immediately and displays their major communication

Read More

More about Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism Essay

Related Topics

Open Document