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 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.

Through the precise use of diction between the woman (“jig”) and the man, Hemingway reveals how a lack of knowing someone can lead to emotional dismay. Concise diction in a relationship means, conversation only scratches the surface and the two “lovers” don’t truly know about the other person’s emotions. The story is full of short, one-line phrases of conversation between the couple about trivial things. They converse about the “lovely hills” and the “simple operation,” yet they never ask each other about their feelings. The lack of in depth communication of opinions creates a tension filled atmosphere that just keeps building up and up as the story continues. The “simple operation,” an abortion, is seen by the couple as the issue they need to resolve, however, the man, who can’t handle the responsibility, instead of talking it through with his “lover” chooses to manipulate her. He tries to convince jig, who is easily pushed-over as she is stuck by lust and will do anything to keep the relationship together. She doesn’t care to sacrifice her happiness for his, rather she fears that if she doesn’t go through with the operation, he will leave her, she is indecisive and relies on the man to make many decisions. The man deceives

And so the struggle between Jig and her lover is resolved. He has won, and she has given up her dream. The elements of the story suggested a carefree couple that traveled and drank their way across foreign landscapes together, with no responsibilities, until suddenly, they faced one of the biggest responsibilities of all. Hemingway 's depiction of their conflict is in my opinion a stunning expose of a scenario that is all too common in the human tradition, rife with assumptions and masterful in its inferential

“Hills like White Elephants,” written by Ernest Hemingway is a short story about two characters and their’s turning and twisting arguments about an operation and also how the settings affect on both this characters perspective and attitude toward the abortion. The story begins at the train station somewhere in Spain where this couple waiting for a train to Madrid and discussing whether to keep baby or no. While in the stations, different events take place as highlighted by the author of the story where the girl explore surrounding of the train station and compare each thing with her situation such as the nearby rail tracks, trees, river, the hills, alcohol. On the other hand, the American responds by stating that he has never come across white elephants and refuse her perspective and shows his decision to not have a baby. The two characters continue ordering more drinks while having their discussion. In a nutshell, the story “Hills like White Elephants,” is a short story about a young girl name Jig and American man who waiting for a train and discussing about whether a girl have an abortion or no, based on abortion, there is a conflict of their relationship derived on the environmental setting of the short story.

To conclude, the epic use of words relating to different, more complex ideas, the author of this story, Ernest Hemingway has amazingly delivered a message for readers that is appraisable about classifying the characterization of the two characters, Jig, being a typical ‘bitch goddess’ who is a sympathizing character and the American being a typical man, who cares about what he wants in life and evades the fact of getting into fatherhood with his expected baby.

“Jig” is a young, modern woman who is faced with the decision of prolonging her freedom and the stability of her relationship or accepting motherhood and the responsibility that comes with it. It is not to say that motherhood is a prison; it is that motherhood would be the death of everything she loved, mainly travelling, and the very stability of her relationship with her lover, “the American”. “The American” says, “‘That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.’” (Hemingway 115) which unequivocally shows that the center of conflict inside of their relationship is the presumed pregnancy.

The nearby hills look like white elephants symbolizes the unborn child the couple does not want; “the hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun”(114). The reason the setting portrays the deceptive side of human nature, is because the couple characterizes the insignificant setting onto a big issue such as a pregnancy. They both do not wish to discuss the topic of whether or not to keep the child, and the hills are just an excuse to vaguely discuss their plans for the future. The deceptive characteristic of specifically the American man is that he is oblivious to the symbolism of his surrounding environment. As for Jig, she is just in huge remorse about the whole situation, but in conclusion just does not do anything about

In the story, "Hills like White Elephants" written by Ernest Hemingway, the main character Jig faces a life changing event, abortion. The struggles with the complications of abortion concern and desire Jig to want to keep the baby. Bringing a new life into the world is a long time commitment and it is something Jig feels she can treasure forever. However, her companion attempted to persuade her in another direction, to proceed with the abortion. As naïve as he is, he feels his persuasion can overcome Jig's desires. Jig is a sarcastic yet reserved woman, who desires to bring a new life into the world, even if her companion does not approve; she knows what is best.

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

Jig also believes the abortion will cause them unhappiness afterwards, she constantly asks the man, “you think we’ll be all right and be happy” (477). Jig even sarcastically replies to the man’s statement, “I’ve known a lot of people that have done it” (477) with, “So have I…and afterward they were so happy” (477). The main difference between the man and Jig, is that she wants to keep the child. While the man will keep the child to stay with her, she is willing to have an abortion to stay with him. Jig states “I’ll do it, because I don’t care about me” (477). This statement basically means she will have the abortion even if it hurts her. Jig goes on to even plead with the man to keep the child on several instances stating, “We could have all this” and bluntly stating,” Doesn’t it mean anything to you?” (477). Towards the end of Hemingway’s short story, Jig grows discontent with the discussion asking the man, “please please please…stop talking” (478). Eventually when the trains arrives she tells the man” I feel fine, there is nothing with me, I feel fine” (478) which indicates that she is not fine, and something is

There are two different paths Jig can take, and she must decide soon because the train to Madrid, where the abortion would take place, is coming in five minutes. Although she does not want an abortion, the American man pressures her to do so, and she is evidently dependent on him. She cannot speak Spanish or decide what to drink on her own, let alone determine whether to keep her unborn child. Jig must decide whether to “have the abortion to satisfy the man and stay with him...or face the future on her own” (Hashmi

She begins to imagine her whole life starting anew and it is all thorn to pieces when her husband walks through the door, taking away her supposedly new found freedom she had just gained. The sense of false freedom in “Hills Like White Elephants” comes in the way that Jig’s boyfriend is deciding over her own body by making her have the abortion. When Jig asked her boyfriend “If I do it you won’t ever worry?” (Hemingway 178) and he answered, “I won’t worry about that” (Hemingway 178) he is giving her a false sense of freedom by telling her and trying to convince her that if she does the operation it will make him happy and worry free, disregarding how it will make her feel while disregarding her own wishes.

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.

Relationships can be difficult when two people have an opposing stance on a controversial topic such as abortion. Men, in their self-interest, perceive this option as an easy way out, in which they can have all the pleasure and none of the consequences. However, for a woman an abortion causes both physical and emotional pain which a man could never understand. Thus, making this one of the utmost difficult issues a girl may need to face in her life. In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” there are two Americans traveling in Spain. The setting of the scene is a bar located near the train station where the man and the girl discuss this life altering operation, as they await the arrival of the train to Madrid. Throughout the story the man is persuasive, as he attempts to convince the girl to have the operation, while at the same time, the girl expresses her reluctance and remains unconvinced that an abortion is the answer to their problems. Abortion remains as controversial today as it was when Ernest Hemingway wrote “Hills Like White Elephants”. Although Hemingway never used the word abortion in his story, he found ways to evoke emotions of sympathy for the girl and disdain for the man through his creative use of symbolism, setting, and characters in the short story.