Hills Like White Elephants Essay Questions

"Hills Like White Elephants" is set at a train station. The setting plays the role of the couple's relationship. The American and Jig are at a crossroads in their life together and have some big decisions to make. Do they stay together and move forward, or do they part ways? As well as, do they have an abortion so they can continue with their carefree lifestyle, or do they settle down and raise their unborn child.

Have you ever dealt with a difficult conversation with a significant other about a topic you’ve been avoiding but you knew it was going to happen anyways? Well, if you’ve had, you’ve experienced a conversation like Jig and the American. Jig and the American are characters from the short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway. The short story is about a couple having an unexpected delivery. The couple is going to be soon to be parents. The American wants Jig to have an abortion but Jig wants to keep the baby. Later on Jig gives in to the Americans wishes and decides to have an abortion. Even though she doesn’t want to have an abortion she is willing to do it to stay with him. The mood portrayed by

Throughout the story, the two main characters constantly dance around each other and what they have to say. The American refuses to finish the conversation before Jig say’s she will get the abortion. His entire ploy is to guilt

Although Jig and Sheri were both dealing with the same issue of not wanting to have an abortion, they both interacted with their partners differently. While the American spoke with Jig over some alcohol, he downplayed the seriousness of the procedure. Jig was easily influenced by what the American was telling her and she even said, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me” (Hemingway 637). While Jig did not want to have the procedure done, the way she interacted with her partner shows she cares more about his approval than she cares about herself. Also, it shows that when Jig interacts with her boyfriend, she is not willing to communicate her true feelings. Unlike Jig, Sheri is sure of herself and was not seeking her boyfriend’s approval. While Sheri did not speak in the short story, Lane had a vision of her saying, “This is her own decision and obliges him to nothing” (Wallace 258). Lane’s vision of their interaction shows that Sheri is not afraid to

In the story “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway uses his in-depth ability of foreshadowing to provide the reader with little information on the stories background or future events to come. At first glance, the discussion that takes place in story seems like a minor argument between a couple at a train station in Spain. However, upon deeper analysis, this piece takes a stab at one of the touchiest subject’s world-wide - abortion. The female protagonist in this story, Jig, is pregnant and her partner, an American man, wants no part of the typical settled-down lifestyle. For some time the two have traveled around Europe with no true home and no set future. To him, this is the only way to live. The woman, however, sees a future at some point in time with a husband and children. Getting pregnant, to her, is a sign that the transition point in her life has come and she is ready to embrace it. The man, however, is unable to embrace this passage and uses his power to manipulate the woman in the direction of acquiring an abortion. The ways in which he abuses his power and coerces Jig to obey his will are devious and wobbly.

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.

In “Hills like White Elephants”, we identify six stages of human grief pertaining to dying, and loss: denial, isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Hemingway apparently innate understanding and dramatization, of these stages of grief.

Jig appears to be unsatisfied with her life. In the opening scene, she is imagining white elephants as she looks onto the Ebro hills. The white elephants refer to an unwanted gift. She wants the gift of a child but knows she can't have it because the man doesn't want it. This makes her unhappy and makes her look for an "imaginary life." She drinks a lot and never settles down in one place. As she looks at the hills, she sees that there is no shade and no trees on their side. Later in the story, she sees that the other side of the hills is very fertile with a river, a field of grains, and many trees. Jig imagines her life as it could be if she becomes a mother and changes her lifestyle. Her life would be as happy as that little scene. Jig is also unhappy because she can not express her true feelings. She tries to tell the

In the story, “Hills Like White Elephants” written by Ernest Hemingway tells a dialogue story of a woman named Jig and the American man who is waiting at the train station for their ride to Madrid. Jig and the American man are having a casual conversation about the scenery that the nearby hills look like white elephants. Then, there conversation turns serious as they talk about their relationship and their future unborn child. In Ernest Hemingway’s story the character’s conversation is important because it represents the lifestyle of a carefree life of an adult, the decisions of their actions, and their unplan future.

As the conversation escalates, Jig herself hides her true thoughts and instead, says the opposite: “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” (477). It may seems like she agrees to do the operation; but in fact, she is trying to ascertain the American man’s love for her. These implications and hints in the conversation keep them away from understanding each other and contributed to the failure of their relationship. Summing up, relationships in both stories show that communication problems are what tear them apart. Importantly, it is selfishness in the characters that initiate these problems; as they mostly speak from their view and for themselves, which then avert them from understanding their partner, and finally, a broken relationship is inevitable.

In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “White Hills Like Elephants”, the author built a storyline of symbolism consisting of an American man and his apparently pregnant partner “Jig”. The storyline’s setting is set in Spain, where there are mountains, hills and fields, in which a train station is in the middle of it all. Hemingway uses figurative language to imply that Jig is pregnant, and her man’s disagreement regarding keeping the child. The couple, waiting for the next train to come, whilst drinking beer and briefly discussing the future of the child, come across obstacles in their relationship, which concludes in a result of both of them not coming to a concession. Hemingway depicts the deceptive side of human nature, by referencing to the setting and characterizations to portray the ambiguous relationship of the main characters. The setting and its characterizations represent the unborn child. In addition, Jig’s man uses characterization of the abortion in order to ease it into her, and get her to follow through with it. Lastly,

The text “Letting the air into a relationship: Metaphorical Abortion in ‘Hills Like White Elephants” by Wyche David aims at analyzing and synthesizing the short story by Hemingway “Hills like White”. The analysis would provide new knowledge to readers of the short story or provide the readers with a new point of view of analyzing it. The subject of the text is to present his ideas on the short story and well as critique other critics who had previously critiqued it. The story illustrates broken relationships of Hemingway and the pain it caused him, which led him to write the short story. The whole text is therefore an analysis and synthesis of the short story written by Hemingway.

Jig was concerned that the relationship she had the American would end if she did not go through with the abortion. She knew that he had not been happy since

Jig became impregnated by the American, most likely on the trips they had been taking together, at one of the many hotels they had been staying at. Whether it was intentional on anyone’s part, or whether it happened completely by accident is never once mentioned in the story. But from what we can understand, the American wanted absolutely nothing to do with their baby. He believed they would be much happier without the baby and because of this, he was constantly pressuring Jig in an exhausting pursuit to get Jig to agree to kill the baby.Though the author decided to keep the name of the procedure out of the story, the details are sufficient to know that it was indeed an abortion that the American wanted. He even described it as a procedure

Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants presents a fictional example of the modern day prevalence of miscommunication among others, namely men and women. Depicted through the couple and the present issue at hand, Hemingway strives to allude to the unfortunate truth that despite constant speaking among beings, genuine communication continues to fall short and is nearly nonexistent. Existing is the lack of productivity when the true feelings of both parties are not expressed. Continuing this theory, rather than communicating, the couple simply endures one another’s opinions, failing to share their true opinions, and in doing so defeating the main purpose in communicating. The dramatic dialogue between the