Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", is a story about a doomed relationship. Hemingway uses symbolism, dialogue, and also setting to tell this story. Behind the words said by the characters, and sights explained to the readers, are hidden meanings that when analyzed, bring the story to another level.

Ernest Hemingway, a literary icon of the early twentieth century, challenged the typical lengthy and detailed prose of authors before him by pioneering a stylistic revolution centered around heavy dialogue and minimalistic details. More specifically, “Hemingway used a journalistic style and unadorned prose to capture the everyday lives of men and women caught up in history’s most momentous events,” without wasting pages establishing the setting or background within a work like most authors of the nineteenth century (The Letters… 442). Often, the mood, setting, and emotion within Hemingway’s stories are established through symbolism and constant dialogue. Hemingway expertly implements his unconventional and unique authorial style to convey the disparity in gender communication and perspectives and its effects on relationships in his 1927 short story, Hills Like White Elephants.

“Hills like White Elephants,” written by Ernest Hemingway is a short story about two characters and their’s turning and twisting arguments about an operation and also how the settings affect on both this characters perspective and attitude toward the abortion. The story begins at the train station somewhere in Spain where this couple waiting for a train to Madrid and discussing whether to keep baby or no. While in the stations, different events take place as highlighted by the author of the story where the girl explore surrounding of the train station and compare each thing with her situation such as the nearby rail tracks, trees, river, the hills, alcohol. On the other hand, the American responds by stating that he has never come across white elephants and refuse her perspective and shows his decision to not have a baby. The two characters continue ordering more drinks while having their discussion. In a nutshell, the story “Hills like White Elephants,” is a short story about a young girl name Jig and American man who waiting for a train and discussing about whether a girl have an abortion or no, based on abortion, there is a conflict of their relationship derived on the environmental setting of the short story.

The girl looks off into the hills. She mentions ‘They look like white elephants” (11). Which at first seems to be a random remark as they drink their beers. Once the topic of the operation rises she she then retracts her statement saying they no longer look like white elephants, however she is still very optimistic about the avoiding the operation and thinks life could continue on as normal and they would remain happy. Across from the hills is a valley. Once seeing the valley, the girl is destined to end the conversation in frustration and is willing to buckle to the American.

In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, the author utilizes various fictional elements to provide his readers with the information necessary to further explore and discover the depth of the short story’s significance. The story is set up as a dialogue between two characters, the American and Jig. The American has gotten Jig pregnant and the two are debating on whether or not to keep the baby, and inevitably become parents, or have an abortion and try to rehabilitate their relationship. Having to make a decision will have an impact on each of the characters and their lives, but most importantly Jig. Through setting, symbols, and characterization, Hemingway provides his readers with the essentials needed to effectively analyze how Jig’s character transforms from an accommodating young girl into an independent woman with maternal instincts as a result of the couple’s unplanned predicament.

Hills Like White Elephants, published in 1927, embodies Hemingway’s style, and explores the issues of responsibility, communication, and unexpected life decisions, and does so in just four short pages. Hemingway drops us off in the middle of a conversation between a boyfriend and girlfriend, in which the couple discusses whether or not to abort their unborn child. The man, known as the American, pressures the girl, known only as Jig, into going through with the abortion, while Jig subtly suggests that she would rather keep the child and settle down. Neither of the characters states anything outright, and our limited perspective leaves it solely up to us to decipher the meaning of the story. Ernest Hemingway uses the symbolic setting and the themes of communication and unpredictability to drive home his belief that life is far from being happy, and rarely conforms to what we expect.

One of the many themes in his stories for which Ernest Heming way is known, includes feminism. At Hemingway’s time feminism was known as a famous movement and it affected many important writers like Octavia Butler and Virginia Woolf. Hemingway was a literary icon of his time and he was influenced by the political, social and human rights movements of his time. He was also touched by the hopelessness of women and how their thinking and decision making is manipulated by the dominant male class. His story “Hills Like White Elephants” focuses on a situation which he apparently noticed during his trip of Spain; he overheard a couple discussing the abortion and risks included in this.

This is notable in the conversation between the two as a child’s life figuratively depends on the outcome of this brief un-honest conversation, which is assumably another intended message by Hemingway directed at perceptive readers of his short story. As mentioned, the absurdity of the conversation between the two lovers is present within their communication, but this also displays the absurdity of the human condition as both characters lack the honesty to be frank or straightforward with each other. This trait is not only common within the victorian conservatism of the 1920’s and 1930’s but also in the present day. The subtly in which Hemingway stresses the dishonesty between “The American” and “Jig” is apparent in the retraction of the observation made by “Jig”. When “Jig” says, “They’re lovely hills” and “They don’t really like look like white elephants. I just meant the colouring of their skin through the trees” it is obvious by this statement that her emotions or opinion regarding abortion have changed (“Jig” is now considering keeping the child). Typical of his character, “The American” suggests the two should have another drink, plainly ignoring or not paying any attention to the opinion of “Jig” (which is another effort of Hemingway’s to show the couples inability to communicate truthfully). Alcohol plays a less important role in the absurdity of “Hills Like White Elephants”; however, it is still a strong metaphor for

Ernest Hemingway’s Hills like White Elephants leaves the reader’s mind to wander throughout the piece. The story’s set place in a railway restaurant involving two individuals that are, apparently involved in a less than stable relationship. Contemplating the outcomes of an event that neither of them is really sure that he or she wants to embark on, is the mystery Hemingway reveals. Both individuals are leaning toward different directions, but is not sure the direction they desire is the one they truly believe is right. The uncertainty of their interactions is the viewpoint of the story. Hemingway is opening our eyes to the fact that relationships are uncertain, but there must be a common ground for both parties to stand on.

“The Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story that is about an American man and a girl called Jig. They are sitting at a table outside a train station, waiting for a train to Madrid. While they wait they order drinks and have a heated ongoing conversation over whether or not Jig will have an operation that would be of great significance to their relationship. “The Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway has two important symbols in the story, the hills and the drinks both of which help to give us a better understanding of what is going on between the American and his girl.

She doesn’t know what she wants until the American subliminally decides for her. In the beginning of the story the girl says that the hills look like white elephants. She then proceeds to take it back after the man say’s that they don’t. A lot of people love the idea of a baby. Not everyone takes into account that they will have to sacrifice and provide for this child. White elephant is merely the unborn child that they speak of. She at first thinks that they are beautiful like the mountains, but not quite what they want. “the elephant in the room” is a saying for an unmistakable obstacle. The two of them are sitting down, trying new drinks, drinking old drinks, and doing anything the can to pass time. Yet it seems as though their minds are in different places. It is very seldom that the two of them of ever catch eye contact. A baby is something that is an obstacle for the American. The baby is something that he does not want. The Girl changes her stance and opinion on what she wants, only to please the American and what he wants. When the spanish waitress (the woman) is talking to the girl, the American has to tell her what the woman is saying. This is another way of demonstrating the dependency that the girls has on the

You realize that the two are actually talking about having an abortion and are debating going their separate ways. What Hemingway did was avoided excessive dialogue tags, stripped all the internal monologues, and just had all the essentials. He also had both the American man and the girl speak in short sentences and rarely utter more than a few words at a time. What this did was really leave the characters’ thoughts and feelings up to the reader’s interpretations. With Hemingway, less is more.

They need to be in the "shade" (Hemingway 130) and away from people because of how private and potentially controversial the conversation is. Hemingway mentions through the dialogue that the couple is having the idea of an "'operation'"(131) and since the couple is unmarried and the girl seems fixed on the more lush side, it can be assumed that the couple is having a conversation about having an abortion and that they are waiting for a train that will either take them to have the abortion or lead them away from that

Earnest Hemingway is one of Americas foremost authors. His many works, their style, themes and parallels to his actual life have been the focus of millions of people as his writing style set him apart from all other authors. Many conclusions and parallels can be derived from Earnest Hemingway's works. In the three stories I review, ?Hills Like White Elephants?, ?Indian Camp? and ?A Clean, Well-lighted Place? we will be covering how Hemingway uses foreigners, the service industry and females as the backbones of these stories. These techniques play such a critical role in the following stories that Hemingway would be unable to move the plot or character development forward without them.

The pair is sitting outside at a table facing the dry hills. The girl looks out at the bleak, arid landscape and comments to her paramour that "[the hills] look like white elephants"(143). He brushes off this remark as a flight of fancy; after all, the hills bear no physical resemblance to white elephants. The girl is looking at these hills as being emblematic of their current lifestyle, and is trying to find some good in it, perhaps to convince herself to heed her partners wishes and go through with the abortion. She is trying to find magic in something very grim, but this self-pacifying tactic fails. His callous response to her attempt at finding beauty only furthers the emotional and ideological