...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...
Words: 457 - Pages: 2
...The Message behind “White Elephants” “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway represents a girl sacrificing the way she feels about white elephants, so she can have the guy “the American” can continue to love her as he did in the past. The girl “Jig” first introduces the white line of hills as white elephants. Throughout, the whole conversation the couple is drinking alcohol as they talk. The setting of the story and the couple’s conversation takes place at a train station in between Barcelona and Madrid overlooking the Ebro River. Consequently, the white elephant represents an idiom for something valuable of possession but it is not something one would desire. In this case, the white elephant denotes an abortion. The couple sat down and ordered drinks as the girl causally looked off in the sky, above the hills claiming that the hills looked like white elephants. “They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry” (Hemingway 229), it means that the white hills were prominent against the brown contrast and the shape of elephants in the hills popped out in the sky. “But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?” (Hemingway 231), by this comment, the girl hopes to save her relationship with him by following through with the abortion. She feels that, that is what the guy wants from her and by asking him if she follows through with the process, will everything will be back to normal. The girl questioning...
Words: 1154 - Pages: 5
...In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway (1927), the theme is overcoming challenges during major life decisions and the importance of communication and courage during a time of crisis. A few of the symbols in the story were hills, white elephants, and a railroad. This was a story of a couple’s struggle with a life changing decision to have or abort a baby. As they both sat at a train station, they discussed the American’s desire for an abortion and Jig’s want for the pregnancy. She gazed in the distance at the hills on one half of the valley, which were dry, hot, and lifeless. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.” I feel this may have symbolized the couple’s challenges, Jig’s fear of her dead baby, being barren and the American’s desire for their lives to remain the same, stationary, and permanent (or the permanence of a baby). The hills on that side of the valley were compared to white elephants. White elephants are an ironic symbol of an awkward topic needing to be discussed and/or a useless gift. In the white elephant game, a gift is given as a joke and may be of no use to the recipient. As the American and Jig continue to discuss their wishes with the pregnancy, Jig sees the other side of the valley and it’s hills. They are described as alive, growing, and full of life. I feel this is a symbol of Jig seeing this crisis as an opportunity, life, growth, and a renewal for what seems...
Words: 501 - Pages: 3
...Professor Lynda Lambert English 102 5 November 2013 Hills Like White Elephants In “Hills like White Elephants”, the main character’s dilemma serves at the symbolic setting of the story. By giving the reader just enough information in the form of using symbols, Ernest Hemingway’s concept gives readers an opportunity to draw deeper meaning from the tale. He focuses on symbolism to deliver the idea of an abortion as the main point. Jig, the main character, struggles with the decision to continue her pregnancy or continue her hard-nosed lifestyle with the American; this is represented by describing two different scenerios of the railroad tracks. “Hills Like White Elephants” is the title Hemingway uses as a symbol for Jig’s pregnancy. A rare, expensive possession that is a financial burden to maintain is defined as a “white elephant”. “On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway 591). The complicated decision of abortion plagues Jig and the American, even though the term “abortion” is not found in the story. From the symbolic interpretation of the setting, there are only two choices, or two directions, similar to how there are only two rail lines that pass through the station. (Rankin 1). However, the situation is regarded in separate viewpoints from both characters. “Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads...
Words: 1141 - Pages: 5
...Critical Analysis of Hills like White Elephants At first glance, Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, may allude to many interpretations, however, the short story has a clear purpose. Set in the Ebro River valley in Spain, the story looms around the issue brought forth by Jig and the American, who is nameless throughout the whole story. The issue here being the ‘simple operation’ that Jig is about to undergo which happens to be an abortion. Set in the early 1920s, the idea of abortion is as irrational and controversial as today’s ongoing debate over gay marriage. Although the term abortion is never used in the story, the imagery Hemingway uses along with the language and behavior of the characters gives way for one explanation – Jig is getting an abortion. Of the many symbols Hemingway uses, the theme of abortion is evident in the white elephant hills that have the “coloring of … skin through the trees” (Hemingway, 1). The white hills, as described in the setting, parallels a pregnant woman lying on her back with the hills being relative to the womb. In addition, the white color of the hills would represent the purity of the unborn child the woman bears. Furthermore, the fields of grain and trees along the river would represent the fertility that the woman embodies throughout the story. Her body being the fertile land on which the white hills were. The trees along the hills being the distorting factor of her mindset on going through with the abortion as the American...
Words: 333 - Pages: 2
...Darren Maracin Dr. Patrick Wasley English 445 20 November 2015 Importance of Theme: Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway After analyzing Hemingway’s Hills like White Elephants, the reader can find that it is not your average story with a beginning, middle, and end. Hemingway does a phenomenal job of forcing the reader to think critically—giving just enough information for the reader to make assumptions and draw their own conclusions. The story itself is centered on a man and a woman having an emotional conversation filled with frustration and misunderstanding. Hemingway’s use of theme is important to this entire conversation between the two characters, and will give the reader more understanding of who the characters are and the situation they are faced with. The three major themes of this work that will be analyzed is alcohol as a comping mechanism, loss, and selfishness. This analysis of theme will also help to reinforce the characters thoughts, feelings, and emotions. American author, Ernest Hemingway, was born in the small town of Oak Park, Illinois in 1899 and died in Idaho, 1961. Hemingway began his career as a writer at the age of 17 for a newspaper office in Kansas City. When the United States entered the First World War, Hemingway joined as a volunteer to the ambulance unit in the Italian army. While serving, Hemingway was wounded, spending time in several hospitals until returning to the United States. When Hemingway returned, he became a reporter...
Words: 1048 - Pages: 5
...Moneca Donald Professor Ms. Laura La Flair RH 102: Rhetoric, Logic, Grammar, and Writing II April 14, 2014 Literary Analysis An Analysis of “Hills Like White Elephants” In Heminway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants the women is put in a difficult situation. The story talks about a women having abortion. She does not want to have the abortion but her boyfriend tries to persuade her that is it’s the right thing to do for both of their happiness in the relationship. This analysis of this paper will explain what is the couple’s relationship like in the beginning of the story, how has the relationship changed lately, and who dominates the relationship. The relationship of the couple in the beginning of the story is distant. They are making small talk with other to avoid the real issue they are dealing with. The women’s mind is somewhere else. For example, “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry. She says, “The look like white elephants”.pg. 79. This phrase gives the impression that her mind is not on him. During the first part of the story the couple talk about little of nothing. They make small talk about nothing. As the conversation goes on with couple, it becomes evident that the women is implying how she feels in the little words that she give off. For example, the conversation goes “Four reals.” We want two Anis del Tor.” “With water?” “Do you want it with water?” “It don’t know”...
Words: 970 - Pages: 4
...In his story Hills like white elephants, the thing seems to be in a train station at a bar. The two characters of the story is a man called the American and a woman called “jig”. The two walked in to get their drinks while the woman looked outside the winter and song The Hills And reference them to white elephants, as their drinks come the man and woman begin to talk about an operation. The man told the girl that a lot of people who had the operation singing to be happy and that he would not force her to go get the operation if she didn't want to. The girl told me American dick she would not get the operation unless she wanted to, and she agreed with him to go get it as time passes the train gets ready to leave so the man carries their bags to the other side of the train track. The story ends with the just asking the girl is she all right as a girl repeatedly said that she is okay....
Words: 507 - Pages: 3
...Dorothy Ramos ENC 1102 English Com II September 28th, 2013 “Hills Like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway This short story takes place in a train station in Spain with a man and a girl talking about an operation. The Protagonist(s) are the American and Jig. They are at a critical point in their lives where they have to decide whether or not to have an abortion. The theme here is choices and consequences. The setting takes place in the mid 1920’s at a train station in Spain on the Ebro River. If she chooses to go through with the “operation” will things go back to the way they were or would she not go through with it ending their relationship? This story is a very powerful one that confronts a controversial issue without ever actually naming it. It’s clear they are not married and the girl has become pregnant, but the man wants her to have an abortion. He obviously believes that the abortion will free them from any responsibilities, which is what they have been experiencing before she got pregnant. They refer to the abortion as an “operation” but it is clear it’s an abortion. In those days it was illegal to have an abortion so they had to refer to it as an “operation”. He describes the procedure as “simple” and “just to let the air in” (291:43). He states this again in (291:45). Obviously the relationship is strained because of the pregnancy. He tells her that if she goes through with it everything will be as it was before (291:48). He feels that the pregnancy...
Words: 923 - Pages: 4
...The Central Idea of “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway. The short story “Hills like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, mainly focuses on the conversation between a young couple, the American and the girl, as they wait for the train to Madrid at a Spanish station. While waiting for the train, the pair sit in a bar and talk about their drinks and the scenery. The girl looks at the nearby hills and compares them to white elephants. The conversation then turns more fiercely as the couple talks about the operation. The man keeps convincing about the operation while the girl tries to avoid talking about it. The conversation stops as the man then takes their luggage to the other side of the tracks to wait for the train, then he...
Words: 393 - Pages: 2
...In the short story Hills Like White Elephant , Hemingway unveils important problems of life , family values and decision to make an abortion . Hemingway observes and records human 's behavior and actions of people faced with moral and ethical problems . The use of an objective narrator and the choices of settings and objects support the situation and shape the atmosphere in the story . Thesis Hemingway skillfully uses settings , dialogue and symbolism to develop the story conflict Using specific settings , Hemingway depicts psychological and emotional state of the characters . The main setting is a bar by a train station It is possible to assume that the train station symbolizes future changes in lives of both heroes . The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade , outside the building (Hemingway Dark ' colors usually means evil , loosing hopes and disappointment and more important life and death . Hemingway depicts this situation metaphorically : the American and the girl are sitting in the shade trying to find the right decision to their problem . Following David Wyche interpretation , The station is situated between two sets of rails , whose significance lies "in their figurative implications (Renner 34 cited Wyche , and between two contrasting landscapes that symbolize the couple 's options (Wyche , 2002 , . 56 . It is associated with one or another of the main thought-feelings of the story : abortion verses a new life To some extent , the use of settings...
Words: 498 - Pages: 2
...Setting the Scene for Conflict: A Structural Analysis of “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” is a short story that takes place in Spain and is centralized upon the two main characters. Hemingway is able to focus this story on the current conflict in the lives of these characters through many means. The way the dialogue is presented contributes to the setting, ultimately contributing to the conflict, which is abortion. Hemingway has structured this work in such a way that the setting presents both sides of the abortion conflict, while also enhancing the sensory environment of the story. The binary opposition Hemingway presents throughout “Hills Like White Elephants” is immediately apparent in the first paragraph of the story. The names the characters have been assigned show their inequality, seeing as they are “The American and the girl” (335). By making this distinction, Hemingway is giving the American more personality, in the sense that we know where he is from. Being an American makes him seem as if he has more power or more importance than just a simple girl. Naming the female character the girl is questionable, because after being impregnated, she is considered to be a woman. Although this is a widely accepted idea, Hemingway identifies her as the girl anyway. We learn nothing about her until later on when she is given the name Jig. However, she only gains this identity after she establishes who her character is...
Words: 1239 - Pages: 5
...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...
Words: 821 - Pages: 4
...Hills Like White Elephants In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, a girl and a man discuss weather or not she should have an abortion. Because the man and the girl have different views on this subject, they argue continually throughout the story. The man is extremely selfish and is only looking out for his own well-being. “I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.” If he really wanted her to give her opinion and do what she thought was right, then he shouldn’t keep reminding her that “he thinks it’s the best thing to do”. At the end of the story the man clearly says that he doesn’t want the baby. “But I don’t want anybody but you” It’s really wrong of him to make a comment like that. He knows that his opinion will have a great effect on her decision, but he’ll say anything to get her to do things his way. The girl is consistently asking the man if everything is going to be the same between them. He tells her it will, but I don’t think he is being completely sincere. “ I love you now, you know I love you” It seems like he’s saying whatever it takes for her to agree to have an abortion. “… “I’ll love it. I love it now but I can’t think about it, you know how I get when I worry” When she asks him questions like that he doesn’t sound very reassuring, he attempts to change the subject. The girl is only concerned about her relationship with the man in the future. She is basing her decision on...
Words: 457 - Pages: 2
...Hills Like White Elephants. By Ernest Hemingway. The setting takes place at a train station in Spain, somewhere between Madrid and Barcelona by the Ebro River. It is during the Summer, since it is described as being unbearably hot. The American man and a younger female he calls Jig, are sitting at a bar by the station, waiting for the next train to Madrid drinking beer and talking. It is a very simple plot, it all takes place on one day at one location. The famous American writer Ernest Hemingway wrote the short story in 1927. Hemingway’s writing is very simple, as he doesn’t use many descriptive words and the sentences are very short. He has written this short story in the 3rd person, and so he doesn’t express thoughts nor feelings. Since his style is so easy and simple, he usually complicates his stories by keeping the reader guessing and not giving many clues to what the theme could be. I believe that the couple in the short story are discussing, whether Jig should have an abortion or not. The American is 100 procent up for it, but she doesn’t seem so keen on the idea, and she finds it difficult to say it directly to him. She keeps changing the subject, and she is possibly hiding hints in the things she says. After changing the subject, they keep jumping in and out of the conversation. There are clues earlier in the text, which confirm that she has a hard time doing things without the American man’s permission “Could we have another beer?” (p.4, l.10) ‘Could we try...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
