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Literary Analysis of 'Hills Like White Elephants'

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“Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story written by the American author Ernest Hemingway. The story was first published in 1927 in the experimental literary journal transition and later on during the same year in the second collection of short stories written by Hemingway called Men Without Women. Ernest Hemingway is regarded as one of the most important writers of the 20th century and most of his works are considered as classics of American literature.
After a first read of the short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, the reader can clearly see that Hemingway entwined some autobiographical components into the story, especially his lifelong difficulty to engage in meaningful relationships with women in particular. The numerous allusions …show more content…

The young lady doesn’t say anything for some time, and then she asks what will happen after in case she agrees to have the operation. The American says that things will be back to normal afterward and that they will be happy again, he also claims that he knows a lot of people who have had the operation and that it is nothing serious. Even though the young man says that it is Jig’s decision, the reader can clearly see that he wants her to have that operation. At the end, she says she will do it if afterward they will be happy and he will still love her. The story ends with their train to Madrid arriving and the two characters leaving the bar and going towards the platforms where all the other passengers were waiting reasonably for the train. The most common interpretation of the story suggests that the operation they are talking about is an abortion. The reader can understand that this is one of the most important themes in the story, one dealing with one’s choices and decisions. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the two characters have different opinions about the situation, the man wants Jig to have an abortion while she, on the other hand, wants to keep the baby but is facing a difficult

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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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It almost seems like the girl is just a While they are sitting, waiting for the train, the two discuss an operation that the girl is going in for. The man insists that it’s a simple one and that they will be “‘ fine

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Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

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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.

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Hills Like White Elephant Literary Analysis

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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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The man is manipulating her through his words to get his girl to go through with the operation. First, he brings up the operation and goes on to say that “It’s really an awfully simple operation”(42) hinting at the fact that it is easily done and not a big deal at all. Secondly, the man uses the idea of happiness to win her over in this decision, “That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy”(50) he is manipulating her into thinking that this operation will revive their happiness they once shared in this relationship. Thirdly, he tries to normalize the operation to make her feel like it’s a common thing, no big deal, he tells her she doesn’t “have to be afraid.

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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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Hills Like White Elephant Symbolism Analysis

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Important parts of the story are not discovered instantly. In the story, Hills Like White Elephants, symbolism is used to describe an unstable relationship between a man and women. Symbolism is portrayed in Hills Like White Elephants through the couple’s consumption of alcohol, the setting and mood of the story, the white elephant, the elephant in the room and the number two. When reading Hills Like White Elephants, it is obvious that drinking alcohol is a large part of their relationship. Alcohol is not portrayed as a good thing.

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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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One main theme in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is the idea of disconnection. In this story, we eavesdrop on a conversation held between both characters. In their dialogue, conflict is created as the characters face what most readers believe to be the obstacle of unexpected pregnancy. This is assumed through symbolism and the titles meaning. The term “white elephant” was used for an unwanted gift.

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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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Hills Like White Elephants Point Of View Analysis

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In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway the central idea is people sometimes don't appreciate something special when it's in front them. This story can put in the category of Drama because at the end the reader is left with a open ending unlike other dramas that have a closing. The story is about a couple who is waiting for a train at a railroad junction in Spain they decide to have a beer then have a conversation of whether to go through the abortion of their child. Next, the bartender tells the couple that the train arrives in 5 minutes so the American moves their bags onto the other side of the train station and gets a drink at the bar while Jig sits by herself. The theme of the story is people sometimes don't appreciate what's in front of them and is shown through characterization, point of view and symbolism.

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Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

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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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Hills Like White Elephants Character Analysis

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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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