The word hill first brings to mind an image of a geological structure, any raised mound of earth; however, in the story it comes to mean so much more. A pregnant woman’s stomach could also be symbolic of a hill. The more figurative meaning of a hill could be a barrier that isn’t easily crossed or overcome, such as a conversation in which the participants have an inability to communicate in order to come to an agreement, possibly over something as important as an unplanned pregnancy. One of the most symbolic phrases of the story first appears within the second half of the title: “white elephant.” We can think of the literal definition of a white elephant as symbolic, based on how elephants are usually grey, because while white or albino elephants are rare they do in fact exist. The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy defines a white elephant as “an unwanted or financially burdensome possession, or a project that turns out to be of limited value.” This definition makes it easy to see how it fits within the context of an unplanned pregnancy, especially when one parent wants to keep the baby and one does not.
'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.
Hills Like White Elephants In Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants”, the story illustrates a young woman named Jig and an American man challenged with the decision of abortion. Throughout the sequence of the story it is apparent that the man is persuading Jig to undergo the procedure. The apprehensive discussion the two are having suggests that they are avoiding the underlying issue at hand. In addition, the setting of the story establishes the stigma involved with the procedure, as Jig left her town and traveled to Spain. Hemingway’s use of symbolism in the dialogue and setting helps reveal the difficult matter through suggestion without the actual term abortion being mentioned.
Mary Smith Ms. Johnson English 1302 2 October 2011 “Hills Like White Elephants” While reading “Hills Like White Elephants” by Earnest Hemingway, it becomes evident that the overall subject or theme of this story is abortion. Throughout the context of the story, one could assume that the symbol in the story would be the “white elephants”. The meaning of the word “white” in this story represents the purity of life, while the word “elephant” represents the object or objects that nobody wants to talk about (i.e. the elephant in the room). By the end of the story it becomes clear that one character has succumbed to the pressure of another character to have an abortion.
And then, she introduces us to the other scholarly interpretation that Hashmi most likely to agree: “the girl will indeed have the abortion. Expecting this way to stay with the man, but after the operation has been performed, he will abandon her” (Hashmi 72). Hashmi tries to define the meaning behind the use of the title "Hills Like White Elephants." For Hashmi the hills "appear to symbolize the glimmering hope, remote yet real like the hills themselves, that her sexual relationship with the man might change the solid relationship of family and permanence" (Hashmi 75). Other scholars in their search for an
While each of these short stories have very different themes, each of them contain a relationship that consists of a man and a woman. The man in Hills like White Elephants is believed to have impregnated the woman from the story, named Jig. Even though their relationship is not clear, Hemingway describes their relationship as romantic and physical, but not committed. On the other hand, in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the reader is aware of the relationship of the man and the woman because it is Walter and his wife. Thurber depicts the characters’ relationship to be mundane and seemingly repetitive.
He is known for what he leaves out of his writing, not what he tells. He is vague in his writing and leaves much to interpretation. This leaves readers to sift through the text and decipher the symbolism in his stories. In his short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway uses an abundance of symbolism to convey the concept that an American man and his girlfriend, Jig, are struggling in their decision for her to undergo an operation which, although never specified, is understood to be an abortion. The story opens with the American man and Jig sitting at a table outside of a train station in Spain.
Ernest Hemingway, 'hills like white elephants' the author used denouement to show he writes in third person dramatic, because he didn’t want to seem to create bias to the two characters. In the short story, we read about two characters, a girl and an American man. They have short conversations between them, and these conversations can hint of many clues about them and their relationship. In the story, we discover what the characters are like, through what they say, and also through the things they don't say. First, in the story, we understand that the American man has money, and he is an adult because he seems to know what he is doing.
Symbolism in “Hills like White Elephants” In Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills like White Elephants”, the author uses the symbolism of the scenery surrounding them, the +hills themselves, and the train station to portray the moral dilemma and obstacles the young couple faces. Jig and her lover the American are in Spain waiting at a train station somewhere between Madrid and Barcelona when this story takes place, and even though it is mostly dialogue the symbols are useful for the reader to understand each of the characters feelings towards the operation. The first way Hemingway uses symbolism is when the narrator describes the scenery around the train station. The scenery is seen as a comment on the projection of a problem, when one has a problem they tend to project it into everything they see. Here the scenery could be seen as Jig’s creative and intelligent way of trying to overcome the communication difficulties faced by the couple towards the inevitable conversation of the abortion, because it represents a choice more than what they are actually seeing.
English essay, “Hills Like White Elephants” The short story is called “Hills like white elephants” and is written by Ernest Hemingway. The short story was released in 1927, in the collection “Men Without Women”. The two main characters of the short story are “the American”, and a woman which he refers to as Jig. “The American” is a man who at first seems polite and accommodating. This is at the beginning of the story, where he keeps telling Jig that, it’s alright if she, “doesn’t want to do it”.