In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, there is a relationship unfolding, a complex relationship difficult to understand. The relationship is revealed by a conversation between a man and a woman, a topic of conversation that people rarely discussed in the period that the story was set. After researching interpretations, it is consistently said “She is pregnant, and he wants her to have an abortion” (Weeks 76), to which I agree that this conversation is about abortion. With the man seemingly pushing the topic and the girl hesitant and questionable, it is unsure as to the result of their conversation. However, it is my belief that she chose to follow her heart and not get the abortion. Hemingway sets the story environment at a train station, with two very different sides of the tracks. This setting is interpreted as a metaphor for the choice at hand, an interpretation of life or death. One side reflecting a dry harsh area, with no trees, and devoid of life, on the other side of the …show more content…
Throughout their conversation, you can decipher a tone where the conversation sheds light on his feelings towards the procedure and her feelings. He says “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig. It’s not really an operation at all” (Hemingway 124), in an effort to persuade her to in fact have the abortion. She, on the other hand, seems silent at first, but then questions how their life will be better after this procedure. Her uncertainty shows in her responses, and in other findings “… the sensuous beauty of a love relation that is quickly deteriorating, now that she has become conscious of her lover’s selfishness” (Maynard 273). The decision is not an easy one to make, and it’s clear that she is struggling with what to do for herself and their
In “The Biggest Loser” (October 23, 2015), Paul Krugman asserts that the Benghazi committee is a witch hunt and that ¨Trey Gowdy and company” are chumps. Mr. Krugman illustrates his displeasure with the committee and the head of it, Trey Gowdy, through belittling diction and Rhetorical question. He uses this choice in diction and rhetorical question in order to deter anyone from taking the accusations of the committee seriously by calling not only the committee “chumps” and but anyone who listens to the committee an ¨ even bigger chump” then the committee is. Krugman appeals to his more liberal audience by talking about the committee, and its tea party support, with a tone of contempt by using insulting diction like “loser” and “chump”.
Ernest Hemingway uses repetition and ambiguity in his story, “Hills like White Elephants'' to exhibit the idea that in order to maintain a healthy long-term relationship, communication and consideration of one another’s values are needed. Throughout this story, a couple, Jig and the American, are having an intense and emotional conversation about whether Jig should have an abortion. She displays very sensitive feelings about the procedure, and the American takes advantage of this by trying to manipulate her, repeatedly stating it is her choice: “if [she doesn’t] want to [she doesn’t] have to. [He] wouldn’t have [her] do it if [she] didn’t want to” (477). By doing this he falsely implies he has no opinion, but later contradicts himself by
Manipulation on Jig’s part occurs when she says “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” To which the American man responds by saying “I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.” Jig uses this statement to manipulate the American man who clearly cares about whether she would actually like to have the abortion. She clearly cares about herself, her happiness, and desires and uses them as major deciding factors.
A formative source in thinking about indeterminate space is “Terrain Vague,” it applies to obsolete, abandoned, productive areas without explicit definition and limitation. Ignasi de Sola-Morales coined this term in 1995. His double training as a philosopher and an architect that allowed him to approach history and architectural criticism from assumptions of significant theoretical and aesthetic
The story of the Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is about an American man and a young girl. They were waiting at a train station in Barcelona, drinking together. While they were waiting on the train to go to Madrid they had a conversation about something. Although the dialogue didn’t directly say what they were discussing, certain clues were given that pieced everything together about the conversation they were having. The interactions between the two have something to do with the fact that they had a physical encounter.
He continuously tries to justify the procedure, exclaiming, “It’s really a simple operation, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in” (Hemingway). The American’s attempts to downplay the severity of the procedure and his persistence in having her go through with it robs her of any semblance of command she has in her voice. She relinquishes in agreement to the operation stating, “Then I’ll do it.
Throughout the short story (1), “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway is speaking about a seemingly unwanted pregnancy and a woman’s uneasiness with going through an abortion. However, Hemingway never explicitly says in this work of fiction (2) that it is about abortion or that the woman, Jig, is uncomfortable with it, but uses symbolism (3) to present this to the audience. At the time “Hills like White Elephants” was published, in 1927, abortion was illegal in most places and a very taboo subject that wasn’t to be openly discussed in public. Thus, Hemingway relied greatly upon the use of symbolism to get his message across for this reason as well as the third person narrator (4) that did not give insight into the character’s thoughts within this piece of literature (5) . He uses symbols such as the train station, white hills, the baggage, and the drinks to point towards the underlying internal conflict (6) of Jig’s decision that is being heavily influenced by the American man, who wants Jig to get the abortion.
In the story “Hills like White Elephants” a girl is forced to make a choice of whether to get an abortion or not. I believe that the girl didn't get an abortion because for the entire story the man says how easy it is and tries to make it sound not painful but in her heart she believes that she should keep it. In the story she is a young girl with a lot of innocence still with an older man. She wants to keep the baby but the man makes a point by saying that as soon as she gives birth to it that there will be no more adventure, and no more him. She doesn't have a lot of time to decide.
Ernest Hemingway uses dialogue, symbolism, and setting in “Hills Like White Elephants” to convey his theme, which is the difference between talking and communicating. The story starts at a train station planted in the middle of a desolate valley. The two characters in the story is a guy known as the American and a female known as the girl. The two couple face a difficult situation on how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. The two characters just talk, but they do not take the time to understand and listen to each other.
While abortion and having a child are two very serious topics, the man does not appear to be taking the situation sincerely, whereas the girl is more concerned. The man clearly does not want the girl to carry through the pregnancy, “we’ll be fine afterward, just like we were before” (Hemingway 361). The girl is silent at first and does
“Abortion is represented not as an ordinary health issue which may be neither dangerous nor traumatic, but as a threat to (most) women, a horrifying experience, of which they are victims in a system of double dealing morality and exploitative economic and sexual relations” (Moore). The horrifying experience explains why the girl was so hesitant on getting the operation. Even though the American said that it would be a simple operation or unlike an operation at all, that still did not comfort the girl because of how abortions were new and not legal in America until 1973, and in Spain until 1985 so it made it highly nerve wracking knowing that this is set in the 1920s. Since she was not sure about the decision, the girl threw the idea back into the American’s face by swearing him into an oath of love and promises of long time happiness if she got the operation. Their conversations were empty and instead of talking to each other, they were mostly talking at one another, which made both of them at
In the short story, Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway the main character Jig pursued to make a decisive change in her life by making the right decision, whether to have an abortion or not, but she is unable to think clear because of her weak characteristic. Jig is undecided about what decision she should make. Even though she knows the possibilities, she has trouble letting go her old life style. Another important fact is that she suffers from low self-esteem that leads to her being submissive to the men manipulations, that makes her fragile which makes her hide her feelings behind her sarcastic comments.
“Hills Like White Elephants,” written by Ernest Hemingway is a story that must be read between the lines to understand. I had to read this story a few times before truly understanding the meaning. One thing that I noticed about this story that made it very unique was point of views of each characters. As a reader, I could understand that both characters had their different point of views, yet neither of them took the time to understand each others. The things these two characters are not openly discussing is abortion.
Even though it is not said directly, it is still easy for the audience to understand that what Jig and her boyfriend are talking about is a woman’s matter. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway does not reveal the underlying meaning, but rather uses symbolism in his story through Jig’s attitude towards her boyfriend, the station in which the couple is at, and the absinthe drink she tries. Jig has an attitude about her that makes seem childish. She repeats her words as if she were a young child would when they want something they cannot have.
Throughout the story, they discuss an “operation.” Hemingway never lets the reader know what kind of