...In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” there is a controversy at the end of the story, whether or not the couple decides to have the abortion. Through out the story Hemingway uses symbolism to show two different paths the couple may choose to take; the fertile green side or the barren side with the white hills. The paths are two train tracks on either side of the train station. Although Hemingway may leave the ending of the story up to the reader, I think it can be argued that the couple didn’t go through with the abortion. The setting and surroundings of the train station are very important because they symbolize the two paths the couple may take. In the beginning of the story Hemingway explains the setting, “On this side there was no shade and no trees/ The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and country was brown and dry” (Hemingway 132). This is the side where the couple is sitting as they drink. This side symbolizes abortion because it is so barren, and the white hills are also on that side. The girl states in the story that the white hills look like “white elephants” to her. A white elephant can be symbolized as something unwanted or useless, in this case the baby may be considered a white elephant. On the other side of the train station the scenery is much different; Hemingway explains, “Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro” (134). This side symbolizes fertility...
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...The details of the setting clearly parallel the struggle the two characters, the girl and the American, face. The implicit symbolism of the title, “Hills Like White Elephants,” is further expanded on within the their conversation. The first time the issue at hand is brought up is when the girl describes the hills of the valley looking like white elephants. The imagery of rounded hills like the backs or bellies of elephants explicitly references the curve of a woman’s abdomen when it swells during pregnancy. The paradox of the term “white elephants” is an idea Hemingway wants the reader to consider. On one hand, white elephants in certain religions are rare and valuable, often associated with royalty and sacred spirits. On the other hand, the...
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...story Hills like White Elephants. The story by Ernest Hemingway is about a couple who are disussing a abortion procedure, but it is not made so obviuos to the reader. As a result the author uses symbolism to communicate main ideas in the stroy through setting, description and dialouge. The setting of the story uses symbolism to give the reader hints about main ideas. For example, the story takes place near a railraod, which symbolizes couples relationship is at a crossroad. The man and jig are disagreeing on the abortion of the baby. The man wants to have the abortion, while jig is relectant to giving the baby up so easily. Another example is the landcape, the author goes on to write how jig notices the lines of hills. The hills looked white againts the brown and dry valley (Roberts, Zweig 350).The white hills that contrast with brown and dry barren valley represent the choice between life and death. Jig either has to keep the baby, life, or the abort the baby, death. When jig walks to other the end of the station, the author descibes the fields of grain and trees along the Ebro river (Roberts, Zweig 352). This symbolizes the life in her belly. The fertile landscape at the end of the station reminds jig she is pregnant, and she the possibility of keeping her child and having a happy life. In addition to setting, the author uses symbolism to communicate main ideas through description. Jig describes the white hills as elephants. A white elephant...
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...Symbolic White Hills ENG 125: Introduction to Literature Elizabeth Parks Symbolic White Hills Ernest Hemingway was a Pulitzer Prize and Noble Prize winning author. He wrote both novels and short stories. While the majority of his work was written with a theme of “death and violence”, his short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, written in 1927, features a much different theme (Clugston, 2010, 7.3). In this short story, the predominant themes are coercion and how difficult it is to make life altering decisions. Hemingway used third-person limited omniscient point of view in writing “Hills Like White Elephants” which means that he wrote the story in the third-person; however, he only discusses one characters thoughts and feelings (Clugston, 2010). Using the literary elements of tone and symbolism, Hemingway was able to explain the difficulty with making a tough decision while being coerced. In “Hills like White Elephants”, you are met with two characters whom you would assume to be lovers, Jig and the American. Hemingway did not give the American a name which leads one to believe that the story wasn’t about him at all. The majority of the story is dialogue between the two characters about whether Jig should get an abortion. The American is trying to coerce Jig into having an abortion. “‘It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,” the man said. “It’s not really an operation at all.’” (Clugston, 2010, line 41). “As the man persists in opposing the continuance...
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...Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism to help the reader gain a better perspective of how the protagonist feels in his story. Symbolism occurs when the author uses one thing to represent another. This helps to give the reader a better idea of the situation or feeling in a given scene. There’s several types of symbolism utilized by authors. One type is conventional symbolism. Conventional symbolism is common to the area where the story takes place. While another type is personal which simply is closely tied to the individual. Still a third type of symbolism is universal, which holds a widely understood meaning. As we read "Hills Like White Elephants" we notice how Hemingway integrates both personal and conventional symbolism in order to help the reader relate to the situation. As the story begins the reader is thrust into the lives of two individuals who wait in a small bar for their train to come. The symbolism is evident as early as the description of the setting when the introduction says, "The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees…". This opening statement describes the actual landscape and also describes the situation that the two characters face which is dismal and dark. The reader might possibly wonder about what the other side of the hill looks like. The opening sentence might also be used as conventional irony since the hills are local to the setting of the story. The opening description of the setting later...
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... Symbolism is a tool writers can use to imply ideas or qualities by the use of symbols. Stories filled with symbols can turn readers into investigators; keeping an eye out for anything and everything that can have an implied meaning. Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck are masters at using symbolism to communicate to their readers. To no surprise these writers also use symbolism in the title of their stories. Three examples of this would be Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral”, Ernest Hemingway’s story “Hills Like White Elephants”, and John Steinbeck’s story “The Chrysanthemums”. The question is; what is the symbolic meaning behind each of to these story...
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...Zamani 1 Damien Zamani Professor Newman English 102 October 9th, 2012 Hills Like White Elephants Research Paper Despite the multiple critques of "Hills like White Elephants" I will briefly touch on a few. Several reviews elude the imagery and symbolism of the tale. Instead of list each critique in some haphazard bullet list we'll review the three points that were repeated and most obvious. The while elephant is the most prolific revolving theme of the story. Jig tells her boyfriend the hills look like white elepants. He responds that he's never seen one, to which she retorts "Of course you haven't". The hills are the imagery of the story. They are not actual hills but rather a metaphor for a choice of carrying a pregnancy to full term. White elephants are generally referred to as items whose maintenance costs exceeds their usefulness. In the story, Hemmingway is being subtle making an analogy of the hills being a child. For Jig, the costs exceeds the usefulness. To say children are exspensive is a Zamani 2 gross understatement. The hills represent an achievable undesirable journey. Jig comtemplates whether she's willing to make such a trip. This is eluded several times in the story. Her boyfriends perspective is that the hill is blocking his life with Jig. While jig indulges in the thought of the top of the hill; a child;family;life. The station is a allegory for change. The couple has a decision...
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...The Future Lies Just Beyond the Hills Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” uses symbolism to draw the reader beneath the tense, yet cryptic dialogue about a forbidden choice: Jig’s impending decision to abort or bear her unborn child. It is a topic so intensely personal and scandalous for its time that it cannot be discussed in explicit terms. In fact, the word “abortion” is never even spoken. Yet Hemingway literally paints the picture of a divided landscape capturing the intense internal struggle raging in the heart of young Jig. Symbolically sitting at a train station between “two lines of rails in the sun,” (Hemingway) Jig must decide which direction she will head. Her decision will be final, and there will be no turning back. The train heading home will mean the birth of her child and a future of being a mother. “The express from Barcelona” (Hemingway) heading to Madrid will allow her to continue a carefree life and forget her unborn child ever existed. The dilemma is complicated, but her options are not. To abort or not to abort, there is no middle ground. They are tracks which will never cross. Her male companion, who we know only as “The American,” is pushing Jig to have the abortion, but for Hemingway this is not a political debate, it as deeply private human struggle. “Abortion” is never mentioned. It is only alluded to through the couple’s cryptic dialogue. The American assures Jig “It’s not really anything. It’s just to let the...
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...role in developing the character’s thoughts. The setting of Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” gives the reader a sense of the characters actions and emotions with the use of mood, symbolism and the meaning of the story’s title. The setting of this story establishes the overall mood of this piece. Hemingway sets the story in Spain at a train station on a very hot day. The train station is an empty valley. In the story, the side of the valley which the American and Jig are on has “…no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway 203). This makes the reader feel the emptiness and loneliness of the surroundings. The characters are in an uncomfortable situation and the reader can sense this from the description of the surroundings. The uncomfortable situation the characters are facing is the decision of whether to have an abortion. The uneasy feeling is also present in the characters relationship. They do not seem like they have a happy relationship and the American seems to not care about the abortion. The American appears to come across as impolite when he says, “Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything”, he says this when they are talking about the white hills (Hemingway 204). When they are talking about the abortion, the American says, “Its really an awfully simple operation” (Hemingway 205). This makes it seem like he does not care and he does not want the baby. The setting of this story...
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...Hills Like White Elephants Words, symbols, setting, actions -- all things though in English class from day one, but it is how they are used that is the important thing. These things can be used for kindness or evil, political or religious, or even in a way that conveys a message deeper than some will ever know -- a message about life and how delicate it really is. This is exactly what Ernest Hemingway does in “Hills Like White Elephants.” Hemingway uses actions, symbolism, and most importantly words (dialogue) to express the struggles of abortion and how it affects the mother on both an emotional and moral level through the story of one couple’s journey. Actions speak louder than words -- these are words that everyone knows, even Hemingway. As seen in this story the girl, Jig, is the character most likely to impose the use of actions to convey a message. She orders the man around from the beginning,...
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... Characters in the story are usually affected tremendously by the setting. The setting is the time, place, day, or location in which the story takes place. The setting reveals clues to the readers as a sense of direction of what will happen next. The plot can be affected by the setting as because it affects what will happen throughout the story. The two short stories, “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck and “Hills like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemingway displays how setting can give hints to what can possibly happen, describe the characters trait, and effect the plot. “The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side, it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot” (Steinbeck 581). This quote is stating that the Allen’s foothill ranch was closed off to the outside world, they are living in a rural setting. The Allen’s lived in a neat white farm house with red geraniums...
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...Indecisive: Essay on “Hills like White Elephants” Communication is often mistaken by just talking and talking. We interrupt, advise, reassure, judge, analyze, criticize, etc. But, good communication requires good listening as well as talking. In the story “Hills like White Elephants” what seems to be the cause of the characters dispute is that neither of them can express themselves clearly to one another. Although the story is basically a conversation between the American man and the girl (Jig), both have a point to say but does not understand each other. Mainly because the man has his mind set on convincing Jig to take the operation no matter what and that if Jig takes his option, their lives will go back to the way it was before. In the beginning Jig described the child she is bearing as a “white elephant” meaning, something not wanted. As the story progresses Jig then realizes that the child is not totally a white elephant. But she is not certain that if she took the man’s option, their life would be the same as he says. Jig does not directly says that she wants keep the child. Though she was giving small hints to the man but the man ignores this little action. Alcohol played a big part in the story. They needed alcohol because the characters think that this will help them discuss their dispute or avoid discussing what they need to discuss. When Jig stated “I want to try this new drink. That's all we do isn't it- look at things and try new drinks?” She is as if accusatory...
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...Hemingway’s ambiguously ending short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, a man, referred to as “the American”, and a girl, Jig, sip on drinks at a train station as they talk of whether or not to have an abortion. David Foster Wallace’s short story, “Good People”, portrays a story line similar to Hemingway’s and follows the tumultuous thoughts of nineteen-year-old Lane Dean Jr. as he sits on a bench in quiet with his, equally submersed in thought, pregnant girlfriend Sheri. Writer Nilofer Hashmi asserts in her analytical essay, “’Hills Like White Elephants’: The Jilting of Jig,” that in Ernest Hemingway’s story the girl will go through with the abortion, but the American leaving her. Evidence exists, however, to prove that Jig will in fact have the abortion and the American will stay. Similarly, but entirely contrasting to Hashmi’s assertion, “Good People” insinuates that Lane will ultimately stay with Sheri should she fulfill his predictions and tell him she will raise the baby. Aspects such as whether or not love exists between the couples, the difference between Foster Wallace’s and Hemingway’s depiction and portrayal of the males and females, and symbolism disprove Hashmi’s analysis in favor of the previously proposed scenarios. Whether or not the relationship contains any sort of love separates Hemingway and Foster Wallace’s short stories. Love does not exist between the American and the girl in “Hills Like White Elephants”. Hashmi correctly proposes that Jig, who believes...
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...Theme and Narrative Elements in Hills like White Elephants Lila Wright ENG 125 Kendall Shearman October 2, 2014 Theme and Narrative Elements in Hills like White Elephants In the short story Hills like White Elephants, symbols are other narrative elements are used to illuminate the theme by stirring feelings in the reader, heightening the conflict, or creating a certain mood while reading the story. Theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story (Clugston, 2014). In Hills like White Elephants the theme of meaningless is contributed to many literary elements, in which setting, symbols, and characters will be discussed in this paper. In Hills like White Elephants, the story is primarily a conversation between an American man and a girl nicknamed Jig. The rift between the two characters is shown by the way the course of the conversation, in which it is merely just talking because neither of the characters is truly communicating with the other. Both the American man and the girl are talking but not listening to the other’s point of view. Although it is not mentioned by name, the operation they speak of is an abortion. The American man is frustrated and tries to convince the girl, his girlfriend, to have the operation anyway he can. He tells her things will go back to the way they used to be if she has the abortion. The girl’s mind keeps changing and she ends up telling him at one point that she will do it just to get him to shut up. After he still persists...
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...Hills like white elephants essay Ernest Hemmingway´s “Hills like white elephants” (1927) is an essay, about a man and a woman waiting for a train to Madrid, all the while discussing an operation. The story takes place in a train station bar, surrounded by hills, in a valley in Spain. The story contains three characters, two protagonists and one lesser character; The American, the girl (aka “Jig”) and the bartender. The American is the male protagonist, whose name is never revealed. Throughout the entire story the American behaves very masculine. This is a classic Hemmingway feature; a masculine man who is tough as nails, yet intelligent and in control. Throughout the story he tries to convince the girl to have the operation, ignoring the problems that the girl has and oversimplifying the whole thing. In contrast to the American, the girl is less independent, and changes attitude often (for example regarding the hills surrounding the train station). She is also uncertain whether she wants the operation or not, and she can’t even order drinks at the bar, relying on the Americans Spanish skills. She gives all power to the American. This is classic Hemmingway, as it depicts traditional gender roles. Throughout the story, there is only conversation between the two protagonists. The omniscient teller is almost completely out of the picture. This is very ironic, since that even though they only talk, it seems as if there is no true communication between the protagonists. Another thing...
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