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Masculinity And Womanhood In Hills Like White Elephants

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“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. What is equally important in this process of thinking is to look at the views the author has on certain aspects, in this case masculinity and womanhood, …show more content…

A white elephant signifies something that has a high value but is not quite beneficial. When this proverb is placed in context, it would be possible to assume that Jig’s pregnancy might be a ‘white elephant’, considering a human life is very valuable but the couple is not ready to have a child at the moment. According to Joseph M. Flora, a white elephant in nature is rare (44) and this can signify that maybe it would be the only chance for the girl to get a baby, for the reason that a woman can get possibly infertile after an abortion. The question arises what the hills might have to do with white elephants. The hills can be seen as a boundary between the couple. It is obvious from what the American says to Jig, that perhaps the hills could stand for the unborn baby. Further in the story, the girl suddenly calls these hills ‘mountains’. (252) In my interpretation, it seems that she also might have realised that the baby would be a barrier between them. Well, in this case she has to ‘move mountains’ and make that difficult decision. If we observe their relationship, it seems like it is not going too well either. With attention to Jig’s view and the man’s view we can say that they both have a different attitude towards the abortion and their relationship. Remarkably, the girl’s thoughts change through their conversation. Renner divides the stages of the decision-making process into four – what he calls – ‘movements’. (28) Along with these movements Jig also changes her mind about her relationship with the American. In the first stage Hemingway creates the impression that the girl still has to make the decision about the surgery. This idea is created by the description of the scenery in which the station is amidst the two lines of rails and what the girl sees on the other side. (251) The dryness and the brown colour of the country refer to a lack

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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.

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The setting (7) of the story, the train station, is a symbol for the place where Jig and the American man are at in their relationship and what lies ahead for them. This symbol also portrays the theme (8) of choice and consequences. They are at an impasse due to the pregnancy, and the train tracks are the futures that could happen based on Jig’s decision about the abortion and the baby. For instance, Jig could agree politely to the American man and go ahead

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“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life” (Buddha). Throughout different time periods religion has impacted the society in which people live. Religion has and continues to dictate the rules citizens have to follow in all areas, especially social, educational, and political. Religion influences morals, values, and people’s identities. Many people turn to religion for not just spiritual answers, but for guidance and help in everyday life.

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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.

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It is widely known that a lack of communication within a relationship almost always puts a detrimental strain on it. In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, the narrative revolves around an unspoken conflict between a woman named Jig and her significant other, referred to as the American man. In the story, Jig and the American man are travelling in Spain. At a train station, they are talking about an “operation” (Hemingway 476) Jig is to have; one can infer they are talking about an abortion.

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The Hidden Hills In the past century, women have started to stand up for themselves and do what they want regarding their body. Men previously have made all the important decisions, controlled women, and really only saw them as objects or entertainment. Slowly but surely, however, women gained their power and voiced their opinions for what they wanted. This can be seen in Jig’s character in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants.”

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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.

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In Asian culture, the white elephant is seen as a burden as it is costly to care for and an unwanted burden despite it being considered a holy animal. As their conversation continues, it is clear to see that they are arguing about whether to go through with the abortion. The white elephant for the couple is supposedly the child that the girl is carrying within her. Some critics argue that the white elephant represents not just the unborn baby, but also Jig in the viewpoint of the American. He is

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1098 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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The dialogue between the two characters is often indirect and elusive, reflecting their struggle to communicate their true feelings and intentions to each other. According to scholar Xiaomin Wang, who wrote extensively on the topics of miscommunication within this story, “However, from the very first moments, one can tell that neither listens to the other and poor listening and communication is going on which worsens the existing crisis in their life. Jig notes that the hills behind the train station "...look like white elephants'' and when her boyfriend states he has never seen a white elephant, she responds rudely. " Jig's comment about the hills looking like white elephants is a subtle attempt to initiate a conversation about her pregnancy, but the man fails to recognize this and instead responds in a dismissive manner. This lack of attentiveness on his part highlights the significant communication gap between the couple, and it is clear that they are not truly engaging with each other or making an effort to understand each other's perspectives.

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663 Words | 3 Pages

A white elephant symbolizes something no one wants---in this case, the woman’s unborn child. The woman’s comment in the beginning of the story that the surrounding hills look like white elephants initially seems to be a casual, offhand remark, but it actually serves as a transition for her and the American man to discuss their baby and the possibility of having an abortion. The woman later in the story hints that the hill don’t really look like white elephants, a very subtle hint that perhaps means that she wants to keep the baby after all. The man misses this hint and the situation doesn’t get solved. “They’re lovely hills,” she said.

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828 Words | 4 Pages

The girl claims that the hills “... look like white elephants”(Hemingway, P1) where the man responses with “I’ve never seen one”(Hemingway, P1). Metaphorically, the girl later elucidates that the hills don’t really look like white elephants which can be portrayed as a subtle hint that she may want to keep the unborn baby that the American missed. The metaphor of white elephants can be linked with the saying ‘elephant in the room’ that refers to ‘the obvious truth that is being unaddressed’. The difficulty to communicate can be explain in the ‘white elephant’ metaphor as the two do not clearly address how they are feeling towards the situation. The setting of describing the country as “dry and brown” which can draw on the realism of their situation, dead and in need of rejuvenation.

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786 Words | 4 Pages

The concept of the white elephant, in this story, represents the baby or for the girl the decision of what to do with the baby. The term “white

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.” She opens the crucial issue in an implicit way when she describes the “hills like white elephant”. Which suggests her imaginative way of thinking: she relates to the hills as the physical shape of her pregnancy, and the white elephants is “something she cannot just throw away but for which, in her present circumstances, she has no use; something that is awkwardly, burdensomely in the way” (Renner 30). The girl faces difficulties in expressing her feelings, but she does not surrender and keeps

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485 Words | 2 Pages

The pair has a discussion, about an "operation" and the man wants the girl to have this operation, which is implied to be an abortion. Ernest Hemmingway sent me a lot of different messages throughout this short story. But the main message that I received was that you need to have the courage

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