Hills Like White Elephants Figurative Language Essay

In the story, “Hills Like White Elephants” written by Ernest Hemingway tells a dialogue story of a woman named Jig and the American man who is waiting at the train station for their ride to Madrid. Jig and the American man are having a casual conversation about the scenery that the nearby hills look like white elephants. Then, there conversation turns serious as they talk about their relationship and their future unborn child. In Ernest Hemingway’s story the character’s conversation is important because it represents the lifestyle of a carefree life of an adult, the decisions of their actions, and their unplan future.

Authors may use this item to tell the story with different items and by using symbolism many

“Hills like White Elephants” is a cryptic short story that takes place in a remote train station in Spain. The characters consist of a man and a girl, the man also being referred to as the American. In the beginning the girl remarks on the beautiful scenery across the river of wheat fields and hills. “They look like white elephants,” she said, and around those the country is “brown and dry.” The man is disinterested with this remark and he is more interested for the girl to make a decision. It is never clearly stated what he wants her to make a decision on, but upon further analyzation it can be deduced that the decision is an abortion. The man is acutely persistent for her to make a decision before the train arrives or if not then, soon. The hills looking like white elephants come to symbolize a burden or an obstacle, this can be used to reference the girl’s unborn baby and the pair’s relationship as well.

Subconsciously authors tend to write their personal life experiences in their writer. Just as a psychologist would analyze a patient by asking them questions. With brief research of the author and the use of their story, one may analyze them just like a psychologist would. Hills like white Elephants by Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism to demonstrate important life decisions and the consequences behind them. He mentions the phrase “white elephants,” a white elephant is interpreted as a gift that is given to someone, but not just any gift it's a gift that is not wanted and hard to dispose of. For instance, if given an expensive car such as a Lamborghini, and the responsibilities falls on you to pay the insurance and upkeep on it. Knowing how expensive the insurance will be you know you would not be able to afford it it is then when the car becomes the white elephant forcing you to sell the car.

What is the purpose of the trip the two travelers are taking? (The narrator never tells us, but the careful reader can deduce this with relative certainty.)

Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", is a story about a doomed relationship. Hemingway uses symbolism, dialogue, and also setting to tell this story. Behind the words said by the characters, and sights explained to the readers, are hidden meanings that when analyzed, bring the story to another level.

Sexism is integrated into the story by the way the characters act towards each other and their dialect. Their whole conversation is very controlled. However, throughout the course of the story, the man’s powers are weakened. In the story the man is portrayed as more superior because of his wealth and education. One can tell that the man is well off with money because of what he is able to afford. He is able to travel to many far destinations with the girl and one can tell that he is well educated because he is able to translate Spanish to English.He also knows a lot about the subject of abortion which is shown when he explains to her that the procedure is just letting the air in. The man feels as if the girl is inferior to him, therefore when the girl speaks he gets agitated. Like when then girl shows her imaginative or creative side by stating the hills look like white elephants, they argue with each other. “He reacts to her powers defensively, in the same way that he has reacted to her pregnancy,” (Urgo 36). This shows how much of an emotional bully the American man is. Although, the girl is referred to as a girl, she is more than just a girl because as the conversation

In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, which takes place in 1927, a character who goes by the American makes abortions seem like a harmless procedure: “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig… It’s not really an operation at all” (140). This, however, is not the case and Jig knows that there is more to it than it just a simple surgery. Whether it was a manipulation driven tactic or pure ignorance, the American couldn’t have been further from the truth. During the twenties, an overwhelming number of women either died or suffered severe medical complications during an abortion due to its taboo nature. With abortion being illegal in that time, Hemingway tastefully leaves it to the readers to figure out what type of

“Hills Like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in 1927 that takes place in a train station in Spain with a man and a woman discussing an operation. Most of the story is simply dialogue between the two characters, the American and Jig. This couple is at a critical point in their lives when they must decide whether or not to have an abortion. Certain themes arise from this story such as choices and consequences, doubt and ambiguity, and how men and women relate. Hemingway also uses many examples of symbolism in “Hills Like White Elephants”, including descriptions of the surrounding scenery, the hills themselves, and the station where the action takes place.

Hills Like White Elephants, published in 1927, embodies Hemingway’s style, and explores the issues of responsibility, communication, and unexpected life decisions, and does so in just four short pages. Hemingway drops us off in the middle of a conversation between a boyfriend and girlfriend, in which the couple discusses whether or not to abort their unborn child. The man, known as the American, pressures the girl, known only as Jig, into going through with the abortion, while Jig subtly suggests that she would rather keep the child and settle down. Neither of the characters states anything outright, and our limited perspective leaves it solely up to us to decipher the meaning of the story. Ernest Hemingway uses the symbolic setting and the themes of communication and unpredictability to drive home his belief that life is far from being happy, and rarely conforms to what we expect.

Earnest Hemingway provides a different way to reveal his characters without going into great detail about the characters in “Hills Like White Elephants”. Hemingway does not describe the characters appearances or their body language. Hemingway though decided to reveal the characters by their dialogue. By giving more details within the dialogue it reveals the character of the man and the girl in the story. It is revealed in the dialogue the dynamics of the relationship of the man and the girl. It is shown that they care for each other, even though they have some struggles. You can tell they care about each other, because in the story it is said “I’d do anything for you” and “I don’t want anybody but you”. While also revealing the strife between

Ernest Hemingway, the author of “Hills like White Elephants” will leave his readers guessing due to his vague information put into his short story, ¨Hills like White Elephants¨. The understanding of figurative language, sensory details, and the use inferencing skills are needed to interpret what the author is trying to get across. If the short story is analyzed carefully the reader will understand that the couple in the story are deciding whether or not to have an abortion. Although “abortion” is never blatantly said it is shown through prolific figurative language. Symbolism, simile, and conflict are all prominent examples of figurative language throughout Hemingway's “Hills like White Elephant”.

The main character in the short story "Hills Like White Elephants," written by Ernest Hemingway, is an older man known as the American. The American and the girl are having some beers called Anis del Toro, which the girl compares to "liquorice"outside the station as they wait for the train to Madrid. The two have an tense argument, and soon the man begins trying to convince Jig to have an abortion, which the man reassures her is "awfully simple....not really an operation at all....all perfectly natural." "But i don't want you to to it if you don't really want to," he says repeatedly. She agrees to have the abortion, but says, "Then i'll do it. Because I don't care about me." The American in the short story, "Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway, seems to be caring, but is in reality more of a insensitive, uncaring man who tries to persuade Jig into an abortion.

In Ernest Hemingway's “Hills Like White Elephants”, the use of imagery and symbolism in the landscape of surrounding Ebro Valley, as well as the use of language and tone, shape our understanding of the conflict between the two main characters. The man referred to only by “The American”, is trying to convince Jig to get an abortion. Though the word (abortion) is never stated directly in the entirety of the story, it is conveyed by the use of symbolism and imagery in the surrounding landscape. Furthermore, we can conclude that the topic at hand will come to a final and abrupt solution that Jig will, in fact, get the abortion due to her tone and language at the end of the story.

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.