Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

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.

It takes great strength and literary merit as a writer to discuss taboo topics brought about during their time period. This is exemplified by Ernest Hemingway in his short story, Hills Like White Elephants. While the actual “operation” in the story is never completely discussed, the reader is able to conclude that the couple presented is talking about, or rather around the subject of getting an abortion. The stylistic choice of not specifically naming the operation shows an immediate and growing disconnect between the two major characters in the story. Through the use of many relevant and appropriate literary devices, Ernest Hemingway depicts a struggle over life and death.

Hills Like White Elephants, written by Ernest Hemingway, is an extremely creative short story. Hemingway uses many figurative elements within the story to paint a picture in our mind of what is occurring. He challenges the reader to solve the riddle about the “white elephant”. Hemingway uses diction,dialogue, and symbolism to allow the reader to experience the hidden figurative language within the short story

“What does it mean?”, a question most would ask themselves after reading the short stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. In both the stories, the authors left the importance of the events lie beneath the story, through the voice of the narrator. These two stories often cause the reader to question the story 's sole purpose, and leaves them with many questions since the important themes are strategically placed beneath the surface of the story, in the subtext. Both Faulkner and Hemingway leave a great amount of information unsaid, yet provide enough evidence for the reader to conclude what the story must actually be about. These two stories have a similar theme; something along

In “Hills like White Elephant” Hemingway never clearly states anything about the characters, their relationship or their dilemma. Symbolism is key in this story and Hemingway uses it to give just the right amount of information to the reader. “Hills like White Elephant” keeps the reader engaged because to truly understand the story we have to interpret the symbols and draw our own conclusions. The story is about a couple, an American man and his partner Jig, who are waiting for their train at a small railway station in Spain. They are at a bar, drinking beer and arguing about an operation. They never say what the operation is, but through symbols and their conversation the reader can deduce that they are debating about an

     The story “Hills Like White Elephants” is about a couple who discuss an abortion. The American in the story addresses it as a “simple operation,” (487) while Jig seems to feel it is the wrong choice. I feel the man is encouraging her to have the abortion done in his own selfish way.

Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” can be puzzling and hard to decipher. Due to this, a number of conclusions can be drawn away from the text. The dialog between characters leaves a number of questions unanswered and leaves the reader confused about the conversation as a whole. Many things are left unsaid and not explained in the story, with that being the case, the reader must take a look at the symbolism in the story. Hemingway uses the title, scenery, and drinks as symbolism to reveal the hard truth about the couple’s relationship.

If I had to pick one story that had a strong setting to tell the theme, I would pick Ernest Hemingway “Hills Like White Elephants”. The story takes place in the Spain, and there are two main characters an American man and a girl names “Jig”. We learn that the story is based on this couple talking about if they should or should not have an abortion.

The descriptions are needed to understand some important points as seen by the references of “the girl” (younger) and “the American” (older). The description of the place and the decision that they have to take is directly connected because with the type of life that the couple has, a baby would not be the best event to happen.

The drink heightens sexual desire, so the American probably got Jig to drink absinthe so she would have sex with him, but he didn’t think about the consequences that were to follow. Thirdly, it is clear that the man will stay with her no matter what choice she makes, he says it many times even though she said “I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” His response indicated that he loves her telling her “I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.” But in the end she will get the abortion, she is set on it but he tells her he doesn’t want her to do it, but he wants to so the stress is off of him, he wouldn’t ask her in the first place anyways if he didn’t want it. In conclusion, the couple has the abortion. Jig wants her freedom and there is no freedom once you have a baby, the American is for the abortion as well. He has many more reasons for the abortion than Jig, some being freedom, stress of having a baby, commitment for marriage, but the biggest factor for him is having the baby

The Journey of Mind in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” In the 1920s, America witnessed a dramatic change in social, economic, and cultural aspects. Many writers began to write to reflect the change of the society. Hemingway is one of the outstanding writers in this period. He got a big influence on American literature with his Ice Berg writing style.

Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants is a short story written in 1927. The story consists of mostly dialogue between two characters and detailed descriptions of their setting. Taking place in the hills of Spain between Barcelona and Madrid, the two characters the American, or the man, and the girl who is sometimes referred to as Jig seem to question their level of happiness with one another and they have an apparent difficulty communicating with one another. There appears to be a rift between the two characters that only they know about. I question their tolerance for one another and their ability to stay together as they seem to be a committed couple. As in true Hemmingway style we only only know of the character by what they

The short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is an argument between the man and a woman about abortion. It shows how an unexpected “white elephant” can affect their relationship, force them to bring life changing decisions, and present a threat to their self-identity. Besides the main argument, the author through the scenery and the dialog are presenting other conflicts and arguments. Some of them are the nonverbal communication, what choices they have, and the couple’s future. The author of the story, Ernest Hemingway, was born in 1861 in the Chicago suburbs. In his life, he traveled to different places in the world, and he was married four times. During the Spanish Civil War,

What is the purpose of the trip the two travelers are taking? (The narrator never tells us, but the careful reader can deduce this with relative certainty.)

A man refers as the American and a girl are having a conversation at a train stop in Spain. They are talking but what they are saying seems to be of no meaning, and at the same time their conversation gives the impression that they are talking about their future and what are they going to do from that moment on.