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Symbolism In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

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In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants, a couple is having a disagreement. The main characters, The American and Jig, go back and forth about "an operation" and never reach a clear agreement. The resolution shows that Jig is willing to have the operation to keep The American. One possible theme of this story shows how blinding love can be to the point where someone may hurt themselves to please the one they love.

The author uses third person dramatic to tell this story. This point of view does not allow readers to know what the main characters are thinking. This kept readers on edge waiting to find out more details. If this story was told in third person omniscient, it would have been interesting, and reader's questions would be answered. It would have ruined the ending. In third person dramatic readers are left wondering, what next? A different point of view may have revealed what the characters were going to do.

The setting takes place at a train station in a valley. The author used setting to create verisimilitude. This allowed the story to seem realistic and credible. It also underscored …show more content…

The biggest symbol being the railroads. The railroads represent the crossroads the couple is at. They are at a cross road in their relationship and at the train station. Crossroads are a universal symbol, because railroads are all over the world and are used as representations of differences. Another symbol is the "air". The American told Jig the operation involved letting air in. That symbolized a possible abortion about to happen. The "air" and cross road tie into each other. If the American did not want Jig to get an abortion, then they would not be at cross roads. The air is a contextual symbol, because abortion is not legal everywhere so not everyone would know what that means. These symbols allowed the reader to conclude the American wanted Jig to have an abortion and she was not sure about doing

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