The girl claims that the hills “... look like white elephants”(Hemingway, P1) where the man responses with “I’ve never seen one”(Hemingway, P1). Metaphorically, the girl later elucidates that the hills don’t really look like white elephants which can be portrayed as a subtle hint that she may want to keep the unborn baby that the American missed. The metaphor of white elephants can be linked with the saying ‘elephant in the room’ that refers to ‘the obvious truth that is being unaddressed’. The difficulty to communicate can be explain in the ‘white elephant’ metaphor as the two do not clearly address how they are feeling towards the situation. The setting of describing the country as “dry and brown” which can draw on the realism of their situation, dead and in need of rejuvenation.
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.
On the other hand, in, “Allusion, Word-Play, and the Central Conflict in Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants,’” by Timothy O’Brien, from the United States Naval Academy, he sheds light on the wordplay and diction as proof for Jig not keeping the baby. Lastly, David Wyche, from North Carolina State University, in his essay, “Letting the Air into a Relationship: Metaphorical Abortion in ‘Hills Like White Elephants,’” determines the reader cannot know whether the characters have the abortion or not. Renner is correct because of the fact that Jig keeps the baby based on the diction, setting, and movements of the short
Consequences by Choice A white elephant is a metaphor for an unwanted possession that causes a financial burden. "Hills Like White Elephants" was written by Ernest Hemingway an American writer and journalist. The story is about a couple with a complex relationship, who become desponded by the woman's unpremeditated pregnancy. In the story the unborn child is compared to a white elephant because of the burden it would bring to the couple, yet the color white symbolized the innocence and purity of the child. Throughout, the story it becomes visible that the man and woman struggle to concur whether an abortion is the right idea they should take.
One main theme in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is the idea of disconnection. In this story, we eavesdrop on a conversation held between both characters. In their dialogue, conflict is created as the characters face what most readers believe to be the obstacle of unexpected pregnancy. This is assumed through symbolism and the titles meaning. The term “white elephant” was used for an unwanted gift.
As per Hal Holladay: What is basic in this story, as in Hemingway's fiction by and large, is the unexpected hole amongst appearance and reality. The apparently trivial discussion here about slopes and drinks and an unspecified task is in reality an implied however unequivocal battle about whether they keep on living the clean, liberal, wanton life favored by the man or choose to have the child that Jig is conveying and settle down to an ordinary at the same time, in Jig's view, fulfilling, productive, and serene life. Throughout the story you can compromise as a couple in a relationship, but deep inside of two individual people, they may want their life different from what the other person may want. To have a baby is expensive to raise. The man impregnated Jig and he doesn’t want to take care of the child.
The setting of the Hemingway's Soldier's Home to 1977 Movie Soldier's Home strikes another point of comparison. For instance, the settings of the former play in some way resemble that of the second play, only that the settings cannot be completely the same. There is also a difference in the tone f the two plays. The Hemingway's Soldier's Home uses a rather strict tone, polite to the audiences, and founded under the auspices of the characters in the play. The 1977 Movie appears to have a loud tone, digging deep into the features of play that are similar and embodied within the daily human activities and lifestyles.
This term is often used by retailers trying to get rid of excess stock that isn't selling, mostly just to give the impression of deep discounts. An “Elephant in The Room” is something very obvious but is extremely uncomfortable to talk about. A family issue that might cause discord if brought up in discussion is one example. The coined phrase is, “Addressing the Elephant in the Room”. She also exchanged the color white for pink in the title of this work, which can also speak to her awareness of white washing and privilege even within our society’s color selection with phrases and terminology.
The prominent, consistent theme in the film Elephant is the idea of disconnection. Disconnection among teenagers, causing them to develop a distorted image of what is right and wrong in society. Elephant does not follow a linear, simply a cause and effect narrative. Much like Van Sant's use of offering the audience a potential motive, a trigger that could potentially cause kids to shoot others, but only later to completely disregard this. For example in an earlier scene the audience sees the two soon to be shooters, Alex and Eric, playing a violent video game together, where their objective is to shoot other characters (in the game).
In the beginning of the story she looks at the hills and says, “They look like white elephants”(p.312). A white elephant is an unwanted gift, or a gift nobody wants. By her comment we see that she does not want the baby, the baby being the white elephant. Throughout their conversation, she withdraws her comment and says, “they’re lovely hills. .