Hills Like White Elephants Analysis

For this assignment, I chose to do a compare and contrast paper based on the two short stories I 've selected, “The Jewelry” and “Hills Like White Elephants”. The two stories share some similarities as well as being complete opposites when it comes to certain matters. First off here 's a short summary for “The Jewelry”. The story is about the main character, Mr. Lantin, is a widower who reminisce about the times he had with his late wife who passed away due to pneumonia. Due to being unable to live comfortably and being in debt, Mr. Lantin has no other choice but to sell his wife 's jewelry. But the twist in the story is that it seems as if Madam Lantin was living a double life as Mr. Lantin finds out later on. Satisfied with this great fortune he received from selling his former wife 's jewelry, Mr. Lantin gets remarried for a second time but this time it is said that Mr. Lantin 's current wife is the total opposite of the first wife which many can come to the conclusion that money can 't buy you happiness and if being happy by dishonest values is worth the financial gains or if the unhappiness from honest values is worth the pain.

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.

When first reading “Hills Like White Elephants,” the miscommunication and unintentional manipulation between characters, (an American man and a young woman who we can assume to be in a brief relationship with each other), may not be initially clear to the reader. The reader may first find the American man in the story to be harsh, controlling, and manipulative. However, after a closer second read one comes to realize that these assumptions about his character have come from simple miscommunication between characters. Hemingway refers to the female in the story specifically as a girl, not a woman, so we can infer that there is an age difference between the two characters which is also a contributing factor. As well, it becomes clear that the

Lane Jr. who's struggling with his faith will support and stand by Sheri and her decision concerning the pregnancy. Ernest Hemingway's" Hills Like White Elephants” allows his readers to come to the conclusion as to whether the couple in question will terminate or keep the unborn child. As Jig, and the American are

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’s symbolism in Hills Like White Elephants Ernest Hemingway among the best of authors of his time, uses a quite different approach to his writings. His style to of writing is often vague and unclear. Hemmingway only gives a bit of content about the story, and the rest is hidden or missing entirely. The audiences are therefore forced to read more carefully and piece together the story. The style of writing he uses is known as the iceberg theory.

Hills Like White Elephant is a short story by Earnest Hemingway from 1927. The story is talking about a failing relationship between an American man and his girlfriend. This couple is at a critical point on their lives. At the bar in a train station in Spain, the girl, Jig, does not want to end up her pregnancy, but she is going to sacrifice the baby to satisfied him. Because he is critical of the exploitation of his girl’s feelings concerning the continuation of unbalanced relationship. Which is making him more selfish and he does not to have any responsibilities. Also, the reader is also left with a great doubt, as there is no solution.

“Hills Like White Elephants” may be a short story about two people just talking in a bar of a station, but behind every word Hemingway uses lies a deeper meaning. It is necessary to point out that omitting further information is something that is typical to Hemingway’s writing style. The reader has to contemplate what the author wants to portray in his story in the first place. Although the author probably had one meaning in mind, the metaphors can be interpreted in many ways. While reading the story, what came up to my mind was whether the author’s personal life had to do something with it or not.

In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, the author leaves an open ended question as to if the couple with have the abortion, giving readers the tip of the iceberg making them wonder what happens after the story ends. Often, society's portrayal as to how women should express their opinions and make decisions is they must at least somewhat rely on a male's opinion in making those choices. Women can and do, however, make decisions without a male counterpart's guidance, which is inarguably better for building upon their individual characters and can improve the way in which they are sometimes seen in society due to pre-conceived roles established for them over time. The American controls, for now, Jig’s whole life;

By definition a “White Elephant” in literature is a possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness. In the following short story, the situation that the couple is in can be described as a “White Elephant”. Throughout the story a couple, a Spanish woman and an American man, are sitting at a train station waiting for their train. While there, they decide to talk about the issue at hand, a pregnancy. Jig, the Spanish woman, is eager to keep the unborn child as the American man who is the father is not. They each bring up different points as to why throughout the story. In Earnest Hemingway’s short story Hills like White Elephants written in 1927 he uses the hills themselves, the scenery that the couple is surrounded by, and the beaded curtain as symbols to describe the situation that the couple faces.

Title of the story: Hills Like White Elephant by Ernest Hemingway Plot: An American man and his girlfriend drinking at a bar while waiting for an express train to Madrid in a Spanish setting. They ordered drinks and the girl pointed out that the hills look like a white elephant to which the American guy replied he has never seen one. The girl suggested he would not have seen them and this prompted the American to reply that just because she say that, it does not mean he would not have seen one. They ordered alcohol and then fights over the taste of them.

The American man cannot accept the change in life. At the middle of the story, when he suddenly mentions about the abortion, the main conflict comes out. At this time, he is still trying to persuade Jig to forget about the baby. And from this part to almost the end of the story, they are discussing the abortion. And both of them do not express their true feeling.

Symbolism plays a fundamental role in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”. The different symbols used throughout the story are capable of subtly conveying intricate concepts to the readers of this recognized literary work. It then becomes essential for them to detect all these symbols, and discern the deep meanings which they hold in order to truly grasp the story’s message which the author intended to transmit. Without this insight, many first-time readers may view the story as a simple and casual dialog between two people, a man and a woman, waiting for a train from Barcelona to Madrid. Thus, they become unaware of the intense conflict the two main characters are actually facing, haunted by the difficult decision of terminating a pregnancy

If taken literally, Hemingway’s story is one in which very little happens. The story takes place in a train station in Spain where a couple argue about a vague event over drinks. From the very start of the short story, there is an overbearing uneasiness felt in the text as the unnamed male and the girl, Jig, hold what seems to be—on the surface—an innocent conversation. By using a limiting third person point of view that consists mostly of dialogue, Hemingway creates an obstacle in the way of understanding as there is no clear insight to what is going on inside of either party’s head. The conflict that the pair seem to be discussing is never named and it becomes the metaphorical elephant in the room much like the white elephants that Jig sees in the mountains.

Literature exam Question 1: Short Story What kind of narrator do we encounter in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”? Comment in your discussion on the significance of Hemingway leaving certain important details unsaid in the short story. Ernest Hemingway´s “Hills Like White Elephants” Begins its story with a long description of the settings, a small village with a train station out in nowhere. It is a crossroad surrounded mainly by hills and fields. The main characters in the story are two people.