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Symbolism In Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway

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Ernest Hemingway presents his readers with a story unlike most in his short story “Hills Like White Elephants.” Authors often give their readers a story with a beginning, middle and an end, Hemingway however, leaves his readers wondering where the characters came from and where they are going. The setting of the train station and its surrounding landscape gives deeper meaning to the conflict surrounding the couple. The couple constantly drinks alcohol throughout their conversation, giving an insight into their lifestyle together. The most significant symbol of their dilemma is in the title, white elephants. Through symbolism, Ernest Hemingway presents a couple with a shaky relationship who seem to be in a petty squabble that ultimately transforms …show more content…

Although Hemingway never blatantly states what the operation is, the reader is lead to believe the operation they discuss is an abortion. The couple has two choices, to have the abortion or not, these two choices are symbolized in the description of the landscape. The description of the two sides also symbolizes the decisions themselves and how Jig feels about her choices. On one side of the station “it was very hot” and “there was no shade and no trees” (525). This side is described as barren and lifeless which symbolizes what Jig’s state would be if she had the operation. On the other side there “were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro.” (527). In contrast, this side is green and full of life, Jig would be full of life if she continued with the pregnancy. Not only does the greenness symbolize life, the hills do as well. Hemingway’s use of hills symbolizes her pregnancy as well, a woman’s stomach looks like a hill when she is pregnant. Hills represent the dilemma the couple is facing, they are an obstacle. The pregnancy is an obstacle, a setback in Jig’s life, but it is something she can overcome with either decision she makes. Jig seems to be torn between the two decisions, she comments on the beauty of the hills but she physically walks to the end of the platform and gazes out at the barrenness surrounding the station. The drastic difference in the two sides represents the two completely different choices the American and Jig can choose to

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Hills Like White Elephants Rhetorical Analysis

739 Words | 3 Pages

Hemingway sets the story environment at a train station, with two very different sides of the tracks. This setting is interpreted as a metaphor for the choice at hand, an interpretation of life or death. One side reflecting a dry harsh area, with no trees, and devoid of life, on the other side of the

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Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

1554 Words | 7 Pages

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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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.

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746 Words | 3 Pages

Outside of the train station there was a beaded curtain, “Close against the side of the station was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep the flies out” (Hemingway line 3-5). The beaded curtain is used as a symbol to show the separation between them and the rest of humanity. The beaded curtain is supposed to represent boundaries. The couple faces many boundaries throughout the short story, these boundaries act as a curtain in the couple’s relationship that limit their options and conversation on the topic of whether to abort their child or not. Bamboo stem was once said to have been what humanity was created from; the couple sat just outside the beaded curtain never passing through

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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

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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.

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Symbolism In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

1013 Words | 5 Pages

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

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Popular Mechanics Raymond Carver

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In the stories “Popular Mechanics”, written by Raymond Carver, and “Hills Like White Elephants”, written by Ernest Hemingway, show the struggles that sometimes happens while being in a relationship. In “Popular Mechanics” Carver shows the struggle of being cheated on and the fight between the couple over their baby. The baby becomes more of an item when they fight trying to show who is a better person and parent. In “Hills Like White Elephants” Hemingway shows that not everyone wants to have a baby and that it can change your life drastically. The couples in “Popular Mechanics” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are arguing over a baby, are splitting up, and the stories have settings that represent what is happening.

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798 Words | 4 Pages

Neglecting to acknowledge something one finds unwanted in a relationship, can cause previous issues to remain unsolved, thus linger underneath the surface like an iceberg in the ocean, as it is shown in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. With the lack of descriptions in general, the description of the train station and the hills that are seen from there catches the attention of the reader. This creates the question; what importance can there be found in the metaphor white elephants and the setting? The first conversation between the American and the woman is when the woman gives an off-hand remark on some hills nearby.

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Symbols In Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

978 Words | 4 Pages

“They look like white elephants” (Hemingway 75) is one of the first lines in Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”. The story is about a man and a woman sitting waiting for a train, and they are discussing if the woman should get an abortion or not. They had differing opinions on this topic. The reason for the discussion was never said during the story, so the reader had to rely on symbols to determine what was happening. This story is important because he symbol of the white elephant, and the theme of fighting between what someone wants and what they love, as well as the feeling never being able to go back drove the story.

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1261 Words | 6 Pages

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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.

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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.

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