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Essay On Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

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Hills Like White Elephants In Hemingway's “Hill's Like White Elephants,” it tells of a couple making a decision. The American and Jig are stopped at a train station waiting for the train to Madrid to get an abortion done, which is hinted at based on what Jig says about White Elephants. From the train station they could see what their destination looked like and how the place they came from, Barcelona, looked compared to it. The way the land looked in both Madrid and Barcelona represented the outcome of their decision. One was dry and dull while the other was bright and full of life. Madrid was described as a dry and bleak landscape. The land was brown and dry, giving it a very dead appearance, with hills that shone white in the sun. The desert …show more content…

According to the story of Buddha, the White Elephant symbolizes fertility and knowledge. A more general meaning of white elephants goes along the lines of possessing something that is useless or troublesome. The conversation between Jig and the American led to the talk about an operation that is “...awfully simple...”, with further reading it points to abortion. On the other side of the station, back towards Barcelona it was bright and full of life. There were fields of grain and trees along the banks of Ebro with mountains lying just beyond the river. This symbolized the positive outcome of their decision, should they choose the right answer. If they were to keep the baby and head back to Barcelona it would mean a more happier life. It is unclear whether or not they went through with the abortion so Hemingway left the ending to be interpreted by the reader. However, it is clear that they had an idea on what their future would be based on whatever decision they made. The landscape of Madrid was dry and dull representing the future of if they got an abortion, which was represented by the hills that Jig said reminded her of white Elephants. While the landscape of Barcelona represented the future they would have if they returned home instead of getting an abortion, bright and

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