Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

abort the baby. He is still uncertain as to whether she will in fact go through with the abortion,

The man, however, is not the sole contributor to the communication breakdown. Right away the girl begins to show her weakness and inability to express herself. When the man initially directs the conversation to the operation (abortion), her reaction is described: "The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on [and] . . . did not say anything" (275). Failure to state her conviction is illustrated in this example, and is further indicated by frail hints of her desire to keep the baby: "Once they take it away, you never get it back" (276). An obvious hint, yet she never clearly voices her hunger to have the baby. She continues to desire his will over hers in lines such as this one: "Then I?ll do it [have an abortion]. Because I don?t care about me" (275).

The plot focuses on crossing boundaries. The two characters, The American and a woman nicknamed “Jig”, are constantly wavering middle grounds. It’s a story about communication and conversation. Though they are having a conversation the couple is not communicating. The story implements ambiguity and subtlety to discuss, though never clearly stated, an abortion. The couple arrives at a train station in Madrid. It is assumed only passing through, they decide to have a drink while they wait for the next train. The woman mentions the hills resembling white elephants and notices the infertile barren land in comparison to the green hills in the valley on the other side of the tracks. There is little conversation till the American man hints on an operation. There is

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 Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”, the American and Jig are like the tracks at the train station, they can never meet. While Jig represents fertility, life and continuity, the American represents sterility, dryness and death. Unfortunately, Jig depends emotionally on the American – as many women depended on their male counterparts in the 1940s – and lacks the autonomy and willpower required to openly affirm herself in their relationship. As they struggle to find common ground, the very discussion that can bring them together only tears them apart. The differences in each character – in their personality, means of

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.

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 final theme derived from this story is how men and women relate to each other. Most of Hemingway’s stories are masculine in nature, but “Hills Like White Elephants” shows the woman’s point of view as the more rational of the two (Short Stories for Students 158). The man is shown as being selfish and irresponsible by starting this relationship and then lacking the support Jig needs (Hamid 78). The American sees life as being very straightforward and rational, while Jig is considered to be romantic and living in an emotional world (Beacham 8). Clearly, these themes are still applicable in modern societies concerning this issue of abortion.

In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, which takes place in 1927, a character who goes by the American makes abortions seem like a harmless procedure: “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig… It’s not really an operation at all” (140). This, however, is not the case and Jig knows that there is more to it than it just a simple surgery. Whether it was a manipulation driven tactic or pure ignorance, the American couldn’t have been further from the truth. During the twenties, an overwhelming number of women either died or suffered severe medical complications during an abortion due to its taboo nature. With abortion being illegal in that time, Hemingway tastefully leaves it to the readers to figure out what type of

Relationships can be difficult, but a lot of couples work through the difficultly by supporting and helping each other. In the short story “Hills like White Elephants”, written by Ernest Hemingway, an unnamed American and a young woman, named Jig, are waiting for a train to arrive. Set in the mid-1920s, the couple are sitting at a bar drinking beers, and awaiting to travel to their next destination. Talking vaguely with each other, Jig describes the hills as “white elephants”, meaning an unwanted gift. During the story, the couple discuss an ‘operation’ that the man wants the girl to have, but she doesn’t to want to, symbolizing wanting to keep their unborn child. In this story, “Hills like White Elephant”, the theme is the ending of a relationship, by the of lack of communication, selfishness and choices.

Ernest Miller Hemingway is known for his unique style and theories of writing, especially the iceberg theory. In the Death of the Afternoon, Hemingway says that “The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.” (92) Simple words, vivid images, rich emotions and deep thoughts are the four basic elements of the iceberg theory. Talk about how these stories illustrate four elements of theory. In both short stories, Hemingway describes scenery and characters with simple words directly to give readers a vivid image. Under this sketch, readers can know characters’ emotion and get the theme through their imagination and analysis.

Both the American and the girl have trouble communicating with one another. They speak, but fail to come to any understanding. The American boldly convinces the girl to have the operation, yet, he lacks sympathy for the situation at hand simply stating ‘I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to’ (57). The girl repeatedly looks of into the hills trying to avoid conversing about the issue at hand, turning to a beer to relieve her mind from the lingering topic. It is obvious there are underlying problems as they try to have a “fine time” before the American mentions a peculiar licorice –like taste in the beer.

The main female characters in both The Yellow Wallpaper and Hills Like White Elephants are seemingly weak and vulnerable which is brought on by their men, while the men in each story are the primary decision makers. The communication going on between the girl, called Jig and her boyfriend, the American in the story, Hills Like White Elephants, is not an honest one. The boyfriend seems to lead the conversation whereas the girl is quiet. They are talking about an operation, which is believed to be an abortion. The boyfriend never says the term abortion, he

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.)

Ernest Hemingway was an American author and journalist. One of his most famous and controversial pieces “Hills Like White Elephants” is frequently discussed among authors and readers. In this short story there is a girl and a American man sitting at a train station. The girls name is Jig, we come to find out that she is pregnant and that the two are disusing whether to keep the baby or not. They question each other to see if the options would ruin their relationship. Hemingway portrays things to serve as double meanings. Two of the main subtopics and questions formed from this paper is whether or not Jig has the baby. And whether of not the tense relationship between the two lasts. Among the many authors who have their own opinion on what these things mean is, timothy Obrien, who wrote, “Allusion, Word Play, and the Central Conflict in Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants”. In his paper he focuses on certain phrases to conclude his belief that Jig does get and abortion and that the relationship between Jig and the American does not last. A professor at Illinois state university by the name of Stanley Renner, author of “Moving to the Girls Side of “Hills Like White Elephants””, does not think the relationship lasts. Although the relationship does not last he believes that the baby does. David Wyche, author of “Letting the Air Into a Relationship: Metaphorical Abortion in “Hills Like White Elephants””, he is not