'They look like white elephants,' she said.” (Hemingway, 1927) Hills like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in 1927. The story starts off with a couple, defined as the American and the girl with him, walking into a bar attached to a train station. They are waiting for the express train from Barcelona to Madrid. Hemingway never specifically says in the story what the couple is discussing but there is a lot of symbolism within the story that suggest abortion is the topic. Hills Like White Elephants has some of my the most powerful symbolism in literary history.
"(Hemingway, 1927, para. 70) The train station is a reference to the pregnancy as well and can be looked at in the same way as an obstacle in their lives, a junction in the road, a
This main topic can be seen from the title Hills Like White Elephants, where hills refer to the shape of the belly of a pregnant woman, and white elephant is the fetus they are going to get rid of. The story begins at the train station in a bar where they have a conversation about the shape of the hills. The story happens in Spain, and we see the characters are going to take an express train that comes from Barcelona and goes to Madrid, but we don’t know exactly where they are or the time era, in which it takes place, we don’t know if they really take the train. The train symbolizes change, movement but in was they are scared of it as movement is not always forward but it can also be backwards in this case in their relationship. It is the “train of life” (David Gagne, 2001).
Kashonna Haywood Prof. Livesay 9 July 2012 Simple Operation Ernest Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants may have several interpretations because of its vague nature of its dialogue. I feel that the situation and mood of the story is depicted by the scenery and tone. The settings of this story was described as being in a small train station between Madrid and Barcelona, which are two major cities in Spain. Two of the main characters are an American and a girl who are both waiting for the train to Madrid. The scenery described in the story was hills across the valley of Ebro which was long and white, between the train station and the valley there was nothing but emptiness, and the side of the station where the two of them sat nearby and waited.
Hills like White Elephants Candice Hines ENG 125: Introduction to Literature Instructor: Megan Pope 08/06/2012 Hills like White Elephants The theme in, “Hills like White Elephants”, is about a couple in love that has to make a possibly life altering decision. From what I gathered from the text, this couple has been traveling the world together when the girl becomes pregnant. The girl does not know if she wants to go through with it, but the man, though half way supportive of whatever the girl choses, in his heart wishes that she would go through with it. The distant mountains and the river are symbols of separation; the girl is far from experiencing a resolution of her dilemma. The girl is obviously having some issues about separating herself from her unborn seed.
Amber Carlson English 1102 Short Story Analysis October 9, 2013 The Elephant in the Room “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway is a short story about a couple waiting for a train while having drinks and talking. Through the use of symbols, the author successfully enables the reader to look beyond the surface of the dialog and understand that the story is about an abortion. Hemingway uses three major symbols to illustrate the main theme of abortion: the train station, the simile of the hills as white elephants, and alcohol. The setting of the story creates the first major symbol for abortion. The reader is thrown into a scene at a train station where the couple, Jig and the American man, are sitting waiting on a train to Madrid (Hemingway 400).
Despite never having directly said the couple was facing an abortion, Hemingway makes it abundantly clear that they were facing just that. Hemingway mentions elephants several times during the story. The context that he employs when Jig talks of white elephants gives reference to the metaphorical idiom elephant in the room. The elephant, of course, is the abortion that the American fights for. Hemingway also mentions fertility, another hint towards pregnancy, when he mentions the picturesque field and mountains that exist outside the station.
Jig doesn’t want to talk about it. In the story Jig is looking on the hills. She compares it with white elephants. I believe that Jig's reference to white elephants could be in regard to a baby, which means she is pregnant. The hills and the big white elephants can symbolize the swollen breast and a stomach of a pregnant woman.
Along the way, she meets her chinese family members, including the twins sisters whom she has never seen. When June May learns more about her Chinese culture as well as her mother past, it helps her find her own identity. The narrator uses setting, point of view and theme into each element of the story. June May takes a journey to China to fulfill her mother’s wishes of finding her long abandoned twins. She States, “My mother is dead and I am on a train, carrying with me her dreams of coming home.
She also refers to the murder of Banquo and Lady Macduff while in her somnambulistic state. Lady Macbeth’s motivation for going insane is ultimately to be free of guilt. Once the sense of guilt becomes to overwhelming, Lady Macbeth’s sensitivity becomes a weakness, and she is unable to cope. Lady Macbeth faces mental obstacles as she tries to overcome her guilt because her conscious mind is telling her to keep her secrets suppressed but her unconscious mind reveals her secrets to the Gentlewomen and the Doctor because it is doing herself no good keeping the secrets to herself. Once Lady Macbeth confronts these obstacles, she apparently kills herself, signaling her inability to deal with the legacy and the power of the crown.