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
She even has difficulty making decisions about how she wants her drink served and only ordered her drink after getting the Americans opinion. This is the same with deciding whether or not to get the operation. She has her own views and opinions about the operation, but is obedient with the American, and will do what he wants rather than doing what she thinks is right. The girl seems to make symbolic jabs at the American throughout the story. She starts by making comments about the mountains that appear to her like a white elephant.
The Vietnam war is known as the longest war in the U.S. history. It was situated in Vietnam, a country located in the southeast of China, during the cold war. Vietnam was a French colony and like in most colonies, the natives (Vietnamese people) were not treated right; Ho Chi Minh, that later became north Vietnam leader, asked for help to western countries, which was denied. The Soviet Union offered to help Vietnam, however, in order to do so they had to become communists, the country was divided into North Vietnam (communist) and south Vietnam (democratic), eventually North Vietnam wanted to take over South Vietnam. The U.S. got involved in Vietnam to keep communism from spreading, thus the country was divided because not all Americans agreed with the participation in this war, and the division between Americans made the U.S. foreign policies to change.
Hemingway’s symbolism in Hills Like White Elephants Ernest Hemingway among the best of authors of his time, uses a quite different approach to his writings. His style to of writing is often vague and unclear. Hemmingway only gives a bit of content about the story, and the rest is hidden or missing entirely. The audiences are therefore forced to read more carefully and piece together the story. The style of writing he uses is known as the iceberg theory.
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”.
Hemingway, the author of “Hills Like White Elephants” characterize his two main characters in the short story with specific literary techniques to define each character. This story captures the conversation between and American man and a woman (Jig) sitting with him at a table in a bar. Hemingway reveals the thoughts, emotions, and concerns of each character through their response in the conversation and body language. Through the usage of indirect and direct characterization, obscure language of the characters, and a shift in the tone all to help the author reveal specific aspects of the main characters. Through the usage of characterization of the characters directly and indirectly, help the author to reveal given and non-given details
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.
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 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
“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.
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.
If taken literally, Hemingway’s story is one in which very little happens. The story takes place in a train station in Spain where a couple argue about a vague event over drinks. From the very start of the short story, there is an overbearing uneasiness felt in the text as the unnamed male and the girl, Jig, hold what seems to be—on the surface—an innocent conversation. By using a limiting third person point of view that consists mostly of dialogue, Hemingway creates an obstacle in the way of understanding as there is no clear insight to what is going on inside of either party’s head. The conflict that the pair seem to be discussing is never named and it becomes the metaphorical elephant in the room much like the white elephants that Jig sees in the mountains.
The story titled, “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway is about a young American man and a woman, who is waiting at a railway station for a train that will take them to Madrid. They are drinking liquor as they wait and discusses what the American man says will be "a simple operation" for the girl. The man, while urging the girl to have the operation, says again and again that he really doesn 't want her to do it if she really doesn 't want to. However, he clearly is insisting that she do so. The girl is trying to decline to have the operation but the couple keeps arguing.
