One way Hemingway uses symbolism to explain how the man and woman have different thoughts about their relationship. For example, “ the station was between two lines of rails” , this may mean that their relationship is at a crossroad, because the rails have different destinations which in turn means that the man and women have a different idea for the future of their relationship. Another example is the quote, “they look like white elephants” the woman says this when referring to the hills. She is trying to tell the man that the baby she is expecting is like a “white elephant” because it is like an unwanted gift or something that's hard to dispose of. We have to keep in mind that during this time period in which this took place abortion was
Ernest Hemingway uses symbols to illustrate the severity of the relationship between Jig and her American boyfriend and portrayal of the operation they are discussing. The reader can infer the events in the story from the use of the symbols and come to the conclusion about the abortion that Hemingway implies throughout the whole plot.
Hemingway uses a lot of symbols thought his story. He does this to illustrate two different meanings without having to explain every single detail. He achieves his position of being the spectator by using symbols to represent things beyond the surface. The first instance Hemingway uses a symbol is when girl talks about the white elephant (275). The white elephant represents something that no one wants to talk about, in this case, is baby that the girl is pregnant with. The author may not
The period between World War I and World War II was a very turbulent time in America. Ernest Hemingway most represented this period with his unrestrained lifestyle. This lifestyle brought him many successes, but it eventually destroyed him in the end. His stories are read in classrooms across America, but his semi-autobiographical writings are horrible role models for the students who read them. Hemingway’s lifestyle greatly influenced his writings in many ways.
In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” I found many layers of symbolism, and a fascinating psychological underplay afoot between his two characters. It begins with the girl’s comment about a line of white hills seen in the distance, which she compares to white elephants. The man responds with the comment “I’ve never seen one.”
Throughout the Nick Adams and other stories featuring dominant male figures, Ernest Hemingway teases the reader by drawing biographical parallels to his own life. That is, he uses characters such as Nick Adams throughout many of his literary works in order to play off of his own strengths as well as weaknesses: Nick, like Hemingway, is perceptive and bright but also insecure. Nick Adams as well as other significant male characters, such as Frederick Henry in A Farewell to Arms and Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises personifies Hemingway in a sequential manner. Initially, the Hemingway character appears to be impressionable, but he evolves into an isolated individual. Hemingway, due to an unusual childhood and possible post traumatic
Hemingway deliberately connects the debate on abortion to the setting of the story, and thus exemplifies the complexities of having the child. He makes this connection explicit when he intricately describes the lush setting followed by an immediate comment by the girl:
He was finally able to participate in World War I as a voluntary ambulance driver for the Red Cross, after repeatedly being rejected because of his damaged eye, caused by his boxing. On July 8, 1918 the nineteen year old was severely injured on the Austro-Italian front and hospitalized in Milan and had an affair with a Red Cross nurse named Agnes Von Kurowsky, who turned down his proposal to marriage. War punctuated Ernest Hemingway’s life and career (Ernest Hemingway 1024). The relationship is said to have formed the basis for one of
A reader must carefully analyze the entire story to come up with this theory of symbolism as it is easily overlooked, but also an excellent point. This leaves readers questioning whether or not Hemingway did this on purpose or if it’s just a
"In Our Time' is a modernist impression compiled as a collection of short stories that are set thematically to be emblematic of the experiences had in the War.
The train station is merely a stopping point on their way to Madrid, much like the couple are at a junction within their relationship does she have the abortion and continue to travel with him or does she choose to keep the baby and go in a different direction alone. There are two sides to the tracks, representative to two sides to the story and their opinions one for the operation and the other against it. The division of the setting reveals deeper meaning to the reader, while one side has hills with trees, a river, and fruitful land, the other is dry, brown, and barren. Hemingway’s use of such a setting creates the imagery of not only the division between the couple, but also her individual state. Being with child, her womb remains full and fruitful, however, an abortion would leave her empty and
The decision the couple is debating on making is whether or not they should “let the air in” (116). In other words, fill the spot the baby holds in the women’s baby with air, or abort the baby. During the time Hills Like White Elephant’s was written abortions were not accepted in the United States. The couple (of American’s) have traveled to Spain to receive the operation instead and now sit at the lonely train station, arguing what their decision will be. The loneliness is perceived in the way the couple seem to be some of the only people there; They are the only two, besides the bartender, ever mentioned. They also always speak of how the abortion will affect them, “We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before” (116). In addition, it is noticed that although Hemingway mentions the setting, he does not mention any noise. The emptiness of sound symbolizes nothing but itself, the emptiness. Generally, when you think of a train station you think of loud choo’s of the train and people running in commotion. Yet, the silence of everything echoes the reminder of the hills in the distance with the constant reminder of them. All of this points to the reminder that the two are doing this alone, they have to decide for
Page 213 Only darkness could protect me from that fear. Hence, I was going in the isolated path in dark to take a bath in the river. Krushashwa himself told me, “Please don't go to the river in the thick of the night. Taking a bath in the night-time is making you sick. Now onwards you will take a bath only after the sunrise.
Hemingway himself said, “There isn't any symbolysm [sic]. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The sharks are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know (Letters).” Obviously, he was mistaken though, while he may not have intentionally added any symbolism; his personal insecurities, fears, and anxieties bled into his work. It was no coincidence that the protagonist Santiago was long in the tooth nor was it happenstance that the old man overcomes a challenge designed for the young and virile, despite his
“Hemingway’s greatness is in his short stories, which rival any other master of the form”(Bloom 1). The Old Man and the Sea is the most popular of his later works (1). The themes represented in this book are religion (Gurko 13-14), heroism (Brenner 31-32), and character symbolism (28). These themes combine to create a book that won Hemingway a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and contributed to his Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 (3).
Ernest Hemingway the winner of the Nobel Peace prize lived a troubled life over his Sixty-two years of life and experienced many struggles. He went through a few marriages, different faiths and in the end, he lost his battle with depression. However, though all of this he made an impact on the world with the style and theme of American literature he wrote and is a significant influence to many authors and readers alike. During his life, there were many things that were an influence and help shape his writing into what it is today. Hemingway heavily focused on the theme of war during his career and was a topic of several of his novels one of those novels being “For whom the bell tolls” (Hemingway) The recognizable effects of Hemingway’s influence on literature is still witnessed around the world in the many tributes to him to this day.