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Ernest Hemingway Hills Like White Elephant Feminist Analysis

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Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills like White Elephants” published in 1972 is about a woman and a man discussing the difficult decision of having an abortion. The site of the story is at a railroad stop in Northern Spain. Hemingway uses symbolism from the setting of the story. In the story the beads, Jig’s name, and the baggage that Jig and the American carry all have meanings behind them. He also uses the sides of the railroad to show the different sides of life and death. In the story Hemingway uses the two sides of the railroad to represent how life would be if the couple choses abortion or if they didn’t. He also uses the railroad to show the two different sides of the couple. The “trees, fields, river, and grain” on one side of the tracks represents the choice of life, keeping the baby. This side shows a sign of life and what it would be like if they chose to keep the baby. This is the side that Jig favors, she wants to keep the baby but she is in fear that if she keeps the baby she will lose her significant other. On the other side of the tracks is the …show more content…

He wants her to have an abortion. Everything he says about the abortion is to make her feel comfortable with having one. In the story he says, “I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time.” He is saying this to show her that he will be there with her through the procedure so that she won’t feel alone. Throughout the story as Jig questions the abortion situation he tries to flip it on her to make her feel bad about the situation. He tells her that “I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want to do.” Even though he already knows that her mind is set on keeping the baby, he says things like that to make her feel bad. He wants her to have the procedure and he knows that she is willing to do anything to keep him from leaving and keep him

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