The "White Elephant" in the Room

1370 Words6 Pages
“Hemingway’s words strike you, each one, as if they were pebbles fetched from a brook. They live and shine, each in its place. So one of his pages had the effect of a brook-bottom into which you look down through flowing water. The words form a tessellation, each in order beside the other.” is a quote by the American novelist Ford Madox Ford that is a perfect description of “Hills Like White Elephants” (qtd. Webster). Ernest Hemingway’s objective narrator says a lot of things, without expressly saying them. He leaves us to discern many things about the characters themselves. We learn what is really going on through the dialogue and actions of the characters given to us by our narrator, but to an even greater extent through Hemingway’s use of symbolism. Some readers may be at a complete loss after reading this story as to what it is really about. Without giving the story some degree of thought, someone might assume that it is just a frivolous conversation about white elephants and drinks. As the reader, we are simply put in the role of an observer of a conversation of a couple who are drinking beer and Anis del Toro (a type of liquor) in a bar at a railway station in Spain by the Ebro river while they are waiting for the train that is headed to Madrid. The railway station could be considered a direct visualization of the crossroads of life that the characters find themselves at in regards to their current dilemma. The conversation they are having is essentially about Jig going through with an “operation” (para. 42) or not, and what impact their decision will have on their relationship. Overall the reader is left to do a lot of interpretation, especially since there is nothing clearly stated in their conversation. The dilemma the couple is facing is left up to the reader to interpret. The vagueness of their conversation is likely due to the fact
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