Symbolism in Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" relies on symbolism to carry the theme of either choosing to live selfishly and dealing with the results, or choosing a more difficult and selfless path and reveling in the rewards. The symbolic materials and the symbolic characters aid the reader's understanding of the subtle theme of this story. The hills symbolize two different decisions that the pregnant girl in our story is faced with. Both hills are completely opposite of each other, and each "hill" or decision has a consequence that is just as different as the appearance of the hills.

Research statement: I am studying Ernest Hemingway’s use of implicative expression in the short story “Hill like white elephants” because I want to find out how to use metaphor

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.

A more significant literary element that the author uses is symbolism, which plays a big role in Hemingway’s story. As mentioned previously, one of them are the sides of the hills which represent life and death. Another form of symbolism found in the story is written in the title, “Hills like white elephants.” The man and girl’s conversation basically starts when the girl mentions that the hills look like white elephants. This could represent the idea of abortion. It’s referenced as an elephant like in the common saying “ the elephant in the room” which makes the topic of abortion a big, obvious topic that the couple has to talk about, but tries to avoid by drinking beer (5). As the girl observes the hills more, she realizes that they don’t really look like white elephants, so not everything is what you perceive it to be at first glance. Thereafter, she sees the two sides of the hills and realizes that having the baby wouldn’t be so bad, as she admires the fertile fields of grains and trees on one side. Naturally, the man who wants her to have the abortion says “It really an awfully simple operation,” but the girl realizes that it is not that simple (6). In addition, the man says that they could have everything if she has the abortion, however the girl argues that they cannot, because she can never take back the baby that she will lose if she undergoes the operation. To specify, she

“Hills Like White Elephants” displays the differences in how a man and a woman may view pregnancy and abortion. Jig, a woman, sees pregnancy as a beautiful aspect in life. Hemingway uses symbolism in the couple’s conversation to imply the woman’s pregnancy. The woman refers to the nearby hills on the train platform as elephants; “They look like white elephants”. She compares the hills to her own situation, pregnancy; “They’re lovely hills. They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.”

Authors may use this item to tell the story with different items and by using symbolism many

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.

Ernest Hemingway, the author of “Hills like White Elephants” will leave his readers guessing due to his vague information put into his short story, ¨Hills like White Elephants¨. The understanding of figurative language, sensory details, and the use inferencing skills are needed to interpret what the author is trying to get across. If the short story is analyzed carefully the reader will understand that the couple in the story are deciding whether or not to have an abortion. Although “abortion” is never blatantly said it is shown through prolific figurative language. Symbolism, simile, and conflict are all prominent examples of figurative language throughout Hemingway's “Hills like White Elephant”.

“Hills Like White Elephants” tells a story of a man and woman sitting at station waiting on a train to take them to Madrid. The story is told from the narrator’s point of view. There are two main characters. The man is referred to as the American and the woman is called Jig. The man is the antagonist and the protagonist is Jig. The story is more about Jig and her current situation. There is very little information given about the characters but the reader is told that Jig is going to Madrid to have an operation but only hints about the type of operation. The reader is led to believe Jig is going to have an abortion. In the short story “Hills like White Elephants”, the author Ernest Hemingway portrays “Jig”, the protagonist as a mixture

After combining all the arguments and weird statements each of the characters said, it forms an overarching idea between Jig and the American. Jig has the ability to see the white elephant, which symbolizes the fact that the girl wants to keep the baby she is pregnant with. The American doesn’t have ability to see the white elephant, which symbolizes the fact that the American wants to abort the baby and get rid of it all together. Both of the opinions of these characters represent both sides of the valley, “On one side there is no shade, no trees, and is brown and dry. On the another side, there are fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro”(Para. 8,70). This quote is comparing the American’s selfish attitude with the Barron wasteland of the left side of the valley, and Jig’s kind and loving attitude with the Natural greenery of the right side of the valley. To connect this symbolism together, you have to dig deep, reading through the sentences and words, slowly piecing them together to create a

The use of symbolism in Hemingway’s, Hills like white elephants, provides the reader with situations a couple may face at least once in their life. There are many symbols within this short story, some more complex than others. Knowing the different symbols, can ultimately lead up to the discovery of the real meaning in the story. Hemingway never gives us an easy explanation in this story, forcing the reader to make wild assumptions. Since this story requires readers to read between the lines and think more complex, Hemingway gives us symbols so readers can understand the overall meaning of the story. Hemingway points out many of the symbols used by mainly repetition, which make them very important. Some symbolism shown in this story is: the white elephants, the train station, and scenery.

What is the use of symbolism in writing? Is it merely to confuse the reader or is its true intent to make the reader think about the meaning of the story? A symbol is a person, object, or event that suggests more than its literal meaning (Meyer 220). In Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants," Hemingway uses a plethora of symbols to convey the idea that the young girl, Jig is ambivalent to having an abortion and that her older American boyfriend does not want to have the baby. Although the word abortion is never used in the story, the reader understands the concept through Hemingway's symbolism.

“The Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story that is about an American man and a girl called Jig. They are sitting at a table outside a train station, waiting for a train to Madrid. While they wait they order drinks and have a heated ongoing conversation over whether or not Jig will have an operation that would be of great significance to their relationship. “The Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway has two important symbols in the story, the hills and the drinks both of which help to give us a better understanding of what is going on between the American and his girl.

In “Hills Like White Elephants”, symbolism is extremely essential to the theme and impact the story has. Symbolism in literature is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. This story in particular drips with rich symbols that relate fully to the many problems this issue the American man and his girlfriend are discussing. Using context clues, one can infer that topic the couple are discussing in the hot, Spanish train junction is abortion, as the man states, “‘It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig’” (192). This couple has been leading a reckless and adventurous life, traveling across Europe together without a care in the world and certainly not taking caution in anything they do. That’s why they are facing this issue. At the beginning of the story, when they first sit down in the cafe at the train junction, the man orders beer

The pair is sitting outside at a table facing the dry hills. The girl looks out at the bleak, arid landscape and comments to her paramour that "[the hills] look like white elephants"(143). He brushes off this remark as a flight of fancy; after all, the hills bear no physical resemblance to white elephants. The girl is looking at these hills as being emblematic of their current lifestyle, and is trying to find some good in it, perhaps to convince herself to heed her partners wishes and go through with the abortion. She is trying to find magic in something very grim, but this self-pacifying tactic fails. His callous response to her attempt at finding beauty only furthers the emotional and ideological