Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephants By Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway’s, “Hills Like White Elephants”, was first published in August of 1927 but it was not until briefly after the lone publication of this esoteric short story that it received the notability it deserved; accompanied by many other encapsulating short stories, “Hills Like White Elephants” in addition to the thirteen other short stories published by Hemingway in October of 1927 made up his second collection of short stories, “Men Without Women”. Nevertheless, William Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet”, was the longest play ever written by the Englishman estimated to be written sometime within the late 16th and early 17th century; “Hamlet” is revered not only as one of Shakespeare’s greatest literary work but also as one of the most

During Jig and the American’s first conversation, the girl is “…looking off at the line of hills.  They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry…. ‘They [the hills] look like white elephants,’ she said.  ‘I’ve never seen one,’ the man drank his beer.  ‘No, you wouldn’t have.’  ‘I might have,’ the man said.  ‘Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.’”  The hills Jig are referring to offer insight into the situation at hand.  Blurry, distant, and white, the hills that she stares at are representative of a pregnant woman’s stomach.  The “white elephants” are emblematic of an item that is useless or unwanted.  The “white elephant” in this forty-minute encounter is the baby.  S. Abdoo offers a further explanation of the hills in his essay, “Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants’”.  “…she [Jig] ruminates that it is not so much that the hills look like elephants as that the color of them in the sun reminds her of the "coloring of their skin" (72). The association of words, from hills to elephants to skin, followed immediately by the American's first allusion to abortion as an "awfully simple operation" (72),

It takes great strength and literary merit as a writer to discuss taboo topics brought about during their time period. This is exemplified by Ernest Hemingway in his short story, Hills Like White Elephants. While the actual “operation” in the story is never completely discussed, the reader is able to conclude that the couple presented is talking about, or rather around the subject of getting an abortion. The stylistic choice of not specifically naming the operation shows an immediate and growing disconnect between the two major characters in the story. Through the use of many relevant and appropriate literary devices, Ernest Hemingway depicts a struggle over life and death.

In both stories, the major underlying thematic base is the powerlessness and vulnerability the female characters have under the dominance of the men in their lives. In “Hills like White Elephants,” the girl, who we know as Jig, and her partner, known as the America, are discussing the possibility of an operation; the reader can infer this operation to be an abortion. Hemingway makes it a point to establish the dependence Jig has on the American by

Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills like white elephants” at first glance is difficult to understand. It undoubtedly causes most readers to go over it multiple times to grasp exactly what is taking place. The way the story is written is so complex with the 50/50 mixture of traditional storytelling and an abundance of character to character dialogue as well. That’s not the best part; the story’s setting means everything to it. The Train station setting ties in to the plot of the story, the characters behavior, and even the point of view that the story is being told from.

Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" relies on symbolism to carry the theme of either choosing to live selfishly and dealing with the results, or choosing a more difficult and selfless path and reveling in the rewards. The symbolic materials and the symbolic characters aid the reader's understanding of the subtle theme of this story. The hills symbolize two different decisions that the pregnant girl in our story is faced with. Both hills are completely opposite of each other, and each "hill" or decision has a consequence that is just as different as the appearance of the hills.

Swaying trees in the distance, blue skies and birds chirping, all of these are examples of setting. Setting can create the mood and tone of characters in a story. In the story Hills Like White Elephants, the story starts out with our two characters, Jig and the American, also referred to as the man, on a train overlooking mountains. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry” (Hemingway). In the case of this short story, the hills provided Jig something to take her mind off of the grueling conversation she was having with the Man. As said by a critic, “the story itself is comprised almost entirely of dialogue. Although there is a situation, there is no plot”

the baby to have, but does it stop her from drinking? No, this only indicates

“Hills Like White Elephants” displays the differences in how a man and a woman may view pregnancy and abortion. Jig, a woman, sees pregnancy as a beautiful aspect in life. Hemingway uses symbolism in the couple’s conversation to imply the woman’s pregnancy. The woman refers to the nearby hills on the train platform as elephants; “They look like white elephants”. She compares the hills to her own situation, pregnancy; “They’re lovely hills. They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.”

“Hills Like White Elephants”, written by Ernest Hemingway, is part of the collection Men Without Women. This particular short story takes place at a bar while its protagonists are waiting for a train. The two main characters consist of an American man and a woman named Jig. The two order a cold beer, as the man introduces the key focus of their ensuing discussion, a simple operation, which in this case alludes to an abortion. The dialogue, and the symbolism within it, seem to deliberately hide the actual focus, theme and plot of the story, allowing - actually forcing - the reader to deduce the actual topic and the story’s eventual conclusion, leaving the reader to read into the story the eventual outcome of the relationship between the man

In the short story by Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants," a couple is delayed at a train station en route to Madrid and is observed in conflict over the girl's impending abortion. In his writing, Hemingway does not offer any commentary through a specific character's point of view, nor, in the storytelling, does he offer his explicit opinions on how to feel or think about the issues that emerge. The narrative seems to be purely objective, somewhat like a newspaper or journal article, and in true Hemingway form the story ends abruptly, without the couple's conflict clearly being resolved. The ambiguity of the ending has been a subject of much debate; however, the impact of what is not said in words can be gleaned through the

Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" is a story presenting a conversation between an American man and his girlfriend outside of a bar by a train station waiting for a train to arrive. This story takes place in Spain, specifically in the Ebro valley. This is told in the third person point of view, which strictly details only action and dialogue. Having never read a Hemingway novel or short story before, his unique writing style took some getting used to. Part of this style is an extensive use of dialogue that make up the majority of the text. Hemingway strips the narrative of everything that is not absolutely essential. What this adds to the story is a sort of ambiguity, because we can only see so much of what is going on. We only

Ernest Miller Hemingway is known for his unique style and theories of writing, especially the iceberg theory. In the Death of the Afternoon, Hemingway says that “The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.” (92) Simple words, vivid images, rich emotions and deep thoughts are the four basic elements of the iceberg theory. Talk about how these stories illustrate four elements of theory. In both short stories, Hemingway describes scenery and characters with simple words directly to give readers a vivid image. Under this sketch, readers can know characters’ emotion and get the theme through their imagination and analysis.

Literary Analysis of “Hills like White Elephants” The short story “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is about a couple at a difficult turning point in their relationship. While at the train station in Spain there is clear disagreement about an “operation” that the man wants the girl to have. The story spells out that the girl wants to do whatever will make him happy.

Hemingway provided many symbolic objects one of them being the white elephants. As Jig is looking towards the hills she mentions that “‘They look like white elephants’”(237). The symbolic meaning of the white elephants is their unexpected: her pregnancy. After the American says that he has “‘never seen one,’”Jig says “‘No you wouldn’t have’”(237). In other words, a man like him could not have recognized such rare and unique thing.