ipl-logo

Hills Like White Elephants Essay

735 Words3 Pages

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. That resulted in a huge decision the couple had to make. The first thing that is established in the story are the characters. Although, the writer didn’t provide a lot of detail about the characters the reader …show more content…

The couple took there bags over to the other side of the train. While they waited to for the train to Madrid which I think is where the girl has to get the procedure done. Another thing that I analyzed this how the girl grew within that conversation. As a young person sometimes, you’re very indecisive. Throughout the conversation there were points where the girl had moments of indecisiveness when it came down to what her final choice was going to be. The point of her growth was displayed at the end when she made it a point that her choice was made up and that the man needed to stop talking to …show more content…

Although, it took a lot of re-reading and piecing together. Also, it made me think about my own personal encounter with this topic. Realizing the main point of the conversation made me create my thesis which covered the main point. Doing this exposed the real conversation that this couple was having and the significance of them going back and forth on the issue. Another moment that I overlooked was the maturity of growth that this girl grew in such a short notice. Which is also relatable because of the fact that I am a young person I can understand how sometimes you have to think like a grown up quickly, so you can make the appropriate

Show More
Related

  • Essay On Hemingway's Short Story 'Hills Like White Elephants'

    640 Words  | 3 Pages

    The operation, black licorice, and barren White Elephants left off in the distance? What if this was all life was about, all there was to ever know left a bad taste behind. In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” tension in relationships is revealed through the strong symbols like the “operations”, “station tracks”, and the ever so upbeat “jig”. White elephants are “possessions that are useless or troublesome, especially difficult to dispose of”, this symbol is referred to again and again in the short story through the heartbreaking dialogue. In Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants,” an insidiously subdued tone is created through the lack of description among the characters, Hemingway's structure of theory of omission, and an array of literary elements.

    Read More

  • Fate In Flannery O Conner's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    927 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hills Like White Elephants #1 Describe the setting and discuss its importance to the story. •Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is set in a train station to highlight the fact that the relationship between the American and the girl is at a crossroads. Planted in the middle of a valley, the station isn’t the final destination, but merely a stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid. Night

    Read More

  • Hills Like White Elephant And The Yellow Wallpaper Essay

    1832 Words  | 8 Pages

    “Hills like White Elephants” & “The Yellow Wallpaper” Once upon a time, a romantic fairy tale was a dream come true. A handsome prince and his beautiful princess fall in love and live happily ever after. Furthermore, in modern literature this phrase “happily ever after” is now questionable. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” are short stories driven by conflict.

    Read More

  • Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

    1554 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Wildwood Short Story

    1033 Words  | 5 Pages

    One may call this a plot twist as well. The two go from hating each other to realizing that maybe they do love and need one

    Read More

  • How Did Romeo And Juliet A Risk Taker

    712 Words  | 3 Pages

    She starts thinking more with the maturity of an adult than a teen her

    Read More

  • Tension Between American And Jig In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

    650 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants we are introduced to two characters on their way to Madrid, an American and a girl named Jig. The pair sits and drinks beer for a while, until the man brings up a procedure that Jig would have to endure. Jig is immediately closed off, clearly not wanting to talk about it. This becomes the main conflict of the story, as the readers are left to their imaginations, and context clues to figure out what is really going on.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Disconnection In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

    1013 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hills Like White Elephants Point Of View Analysis

    969 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway the central idea is people sometimes don't appreciate something special when it's in front them. This story can put in the category of Drama because at the end the reader is left with a open ending unlike other dramas that have a closing. The story is about a couple who is waiting for a train at a railroad junction in Spain they decide to have a beer then have a conversation of whether to go through the abortion of their child. Next, the bartender tells the couple that the train arrives in 5 minutes so the American moves their bags onto the other side of the train station and gets a drink at the bar while Jig sits by herself. The theme of the story is people sometimes don't appreciate what's in front of them and is shown through characterization, point of view and symbolism.

    Read More

  • Hills Like White Elephants Literary Criticism

    1098 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants

    893 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway from the start makes us draw out our own conclusions and does not give us a great deal of information. For example, we are only told about two characters, an American man and a girl who are waiting for their train to arrive. Other than this, we are not told what relationship the characters share together or where their final destination is. The protagonist who is referred to as “the girl” is in the middle of a tragic situation which can take a turn for the best or the worst and her partner, the “American man” is not helping but making the situation more heated.

    Read More

  • Hills Like White Elephant Literary Analysis

    746 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Dialogue In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

    1629 Words  | 7 Pages

    The dialogue in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” reveals a man’s and a woman’s incongruent conflict on abortion, and the author’s fundamentally feminist position is visible in the portrayal of the woman’s independent choice of whether or not to keep the baby she is carrying. The plot is very simple in the story which is less than 1500 words long. A woman and a man spend less than an hour on a hot summers day at a Spanish train station in the valley of Ebro as they are waiting for a train heading for Madrid. Their dialogue takes up most of the space and only few major actions take place.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

    1128 Words  | 5 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Identity Crisis In Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway

    977 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway. Set in Spain in the year 1927, and narrated in the third person limited, this is the story of the internal conflict of an unmarried expectant couple in route to have an abortion. Hemingway cleverly uses several literary elements to describe underlying conflicts between the couple as they discuss the procedure. The central idea is an identity crisis regarding self-identity, and how conflict, setting, diction, and symbolism are used to tell the story. The central idea is an identity crisis, Jig experiences an identity crisis as she realizes her feelings about the pregnancy are in direct contradiction to the feelings expressed by the man concerning her pregnancy.

    Read More

More about Hills Like White Elephants Essay

Open Document