...Hills Like White Elephants Words, symbols, setting, actions -- all things though in English class from day one, but it is how they are used that is the important thing. These things can be used for kindness or evil, political or religious, or even in a way that conveys a message deeper than some will ever know -- a message about life and how delicate it really is. This is exactly what Ernest Hemingway does in “Hills Like White Elephants.” Hemingway uses actions, symbolism, and most importantly words (dialogue) to express the struggles of abortion and how it affects the mother on both an emotional and moral level through the story of one couple’s journey. Actions speak louder than words -- these are words that everyone knows, even Hemingway. As seen in this story the girl, Jig, is the character most likely to impose the use of actions to convey a message. She orders the man around from the beginning,...
Words: 948 - Pages: 4
...Kelley Douglas Literature 2120 Essay 2 April 5, 2015 I chose to write about Jig in Ernest Hemingway’s story “Hills Like White Elephants”. Jig is struggling with her values and beliefs regarding a pregnancy that her boyfriend is unhappy about. During the story it is evident that Jig is being pressured to have an abortion. Her boyfriend tells her that, “it’s really an awfully simple operation”, (Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway). Her reply is nothing. She simply looks at the ground. To me that shows she is struggling inside. During the story she questions her boyfriend as to whether they will be happy after she has the abortion and will everything be ok. It is obvious that she is grasping to find a reason not to have the abortion. She tells him that she no longer “cares for herself” and is going to have the abortion and “then everything will be fine.” (Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway). It is difficult for me to relate to this character because I cannot imagine choosing to have an abortion to make someone happy. Part of this assignment is to compare to someone that may have fought a similar battle. I did some research on forced abortion and found that “lack of emotion support” (abortionfacts.com) was a high risk category of women who feel they have been forced into have an abortion. Going further into the story by Hemingway it is obvious that Jig wants to please her boyfriend and has not regard for herself or her unborn child. She becomes angry with...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
...The Future Lies Just Beyond the Hills Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” uses symbolism to draw the reader beneath the tense, yet cryptic dialogue about a forbidden choice: Jig’s impending decision to abort or bear her unborn child. It is a topic so intensely personal and scandalous for its time that it cannot be discussed in explicit terms. In fact, the word “abortion” is never even spoken. Yet Hemingway literally paints the picture of a divided landscape capturing the intense internal struggle raging in the heart of young Jig. Symbolically sitting at a train station between “two lines of rails in the sun,” (Hemingway) Jig must decide which direction she will head. Her decision will be final, and there will be no turning back. The train heading home will mean the birth of her child and a future of being a mother. “The express from Barcelona” (Hemingway) heading to Madrid will allow her to continue a carefree life and forget her unborn child ever existed. The dilemma is complicated, but her options are not. To abort or not to abort, there is no middle ground. They are tracks which will never cross. Her male companion, who we know only as “The American,” is pushing Jig to have the abortion, but for Hemingway this is not a political debate, it as deeply private human struggle. “Abortion” is never mentioned. It is only alluded to through the couple’s cryptic dialogue. The American assures Jig “It’s not really anything. It’s just to let the...
Words: 767 - Pages: 4
...conceived. In Ernest Hemingway’s ambiguously ending short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, a man, referred to as “the American”, and a girl, Jig, sip on drinks at a train station as they talk of whether or not to have an abortion. David Foster Wallace’s short story, “Good People”, portrays a story line similar to Hemingway’s and follows the tumultuous thoughts of nineteen-year-old Lane Dean Jr. as he sits on a bench in quiet with his, equally submersed in thought, pregnant girlfriend Sheri. Writer Nilofer Hashmi asserts in her analytical essay, “’Hills Like White Elephants’: The Jilting of Jig,” that in Ernest Hemingway’s story the girl will go through with the abortion, but the American leaving her. Evidence exists, however, to prove that Jig will in fact have the abortion and the American will stay. Similarly, but entirely contrasting to Hashmi’s assertion, “Good People” insinuates that Lane will ultimately stay with Sheri should she fulfill his predictions and tell him she will raise the baby. Aspects such as whether or not love exists between the couples, the difference between Foster Wallace’s and Hemingway’s depiction and portrayal of the males and females, and symbolism disprove Hashmi’s analysis in favor of the previously proposed scenarios. Whether or not the relationship contains any sort of love separates Hemingway and Foster Wallace’s short stories. Love does not exist between the American and the girl in “Hills Like White Elephants”. Hashmi correctly proposes...
Words: 2210 - Pages: 9
...Can You See The White Elephant? Have you ever been forced to make a life altering decision? A decision where you much choose one option or the other? The short story Hills Like White Elephants depict a situation in which many, if not all readers can relate to at one point in their lives. The author Ernest Hemingway describes this scenario with a young couple who are at a crossroads in their life, and they are unsure of the future. The young couple are forced, but shying away from the rather large “white elephant in the room”, deciding to go through with having a child or an abortion. The theme in Hills Like White Elephants is expressed using typical thematic literary elements. Hemingway uses elements such as character, setting, conflict, and irony all to express the short story theme and symbolism. All of these elements help to develop the theme of decision making and sacrifice. The reader gets very little background on the relationship of the young couple but at the same time receives insight into the norms of the relationship between the “American man” and Jig the “girl” who is pregnant. Jig is represented as a young dependent girl, in article Tim O’brian writes, “Even the nickname "Jig" develops this central conflict. The name suggests a dance, the music for the dance, and a joke, for instance, and thereby exposes the man's ultimately condescending attitude toward her: she is entertainment, material for an interlude, perhaps. “Hemingway uses the character as an element...
Words: 1701 - Pages: 7
...issues that many other women writers would have avoided. Another writer who was famous for his portrayal of gritty topics was Ernest Hemingway. One of his most memorable writding is titled “Hills like White Elephants”. These writers were able to write about challenging realistic new ideas such as freedom after the death of a love one, abortion, and adultery. Although some of these stories are deemed gritty, Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” deals with realistic issues couples often face. These writings also have ironic undertones such as, when Mrs. Mallards dies from seeing from dead husband and the girl who thinks about abortion, but notices greener fields on the other side of the track. Furthermore realism is when an author intends to tell real life events to his/her audience. Realism can appear in many different aspects of society. When it comes to writing, realism focuses on the average individual, and can be heard as a voice for the ordinary human being. There is a focus on realistic people and events. For example in “Hills like White Elephants” , the author intended to portray the information in a way that will surprise the readers. The individuals are then able to relate and understand realistic writing, because they see the writer’s point of view. Realism also likes to focus on topics that might not be considered a part of the norm. An example of this is when Calixta has sexual relations outside her...
Words: 1519 - Pages: 7
...Professor Lynda Lambert English 102 5 November 2013 Hills Like White Elephants In “Hills like White Elephants”, the main character’s dilemma serves at the symbolic setting of the story. By giving the reader just enough information in the form of using symbols, Ernest Hemingway’s concept gives readers an opportunity to draw deeper meaning from the tale. He focuses on symbolism to deliver the idea of an abortion as the main point. Jig, the main character, struggles with the decision to continue her pregnancy or continue her hard-nosed lifestyle with the American; this is represented by describing two different scenerios of the railroad tracks. “Hills Like White Elephants” is the title Hemingway uses as a symbol for Jig’s pregnancy. A rare, expensive possession that is a financial burden to maintain is defined as a “white elephant”. “On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway 591). The complicated decision of abortion plagues Jig and the American, even though the term “abortion” is not found in the story. From the symbolic interpretation of the setting, there are only two choices, or two directions, similar to how there are only two rail lines that pass through the station. (Rankin 1). However, the situation is regarded in separate viewpoints from both characters. “Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads...
Words: 1141 - Pages: 5
...a key role in developing the character’s thoughts. The setting of Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” gives the reader a sense of the characters actions and emotions with the use of mood, symbolism and the meaning of the story’s title. The setting of this story establishes the overall mood of this piece. Hemingway sets the story in Spain at a train station on a very hot day. The train station is an empty valley. In the story, the side of the valley which the American and Jig are on has “…no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway 203). This makes the reader feel the emptiness and loneliness of the surroundings. The characters are in an uncomfortable situation and the reader can sense this from the description of the surroundings. The uncomfortable situation the characters are facing is the decision of whether to have an abortion. The uneasy feeling is also present in the characters relationship. They do not seem like they have a happy relationship and the American seems to not care about the abortion. The American appears to come across as impolite when he says, “Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything”, he says this when they are talking about the white hills (Hemingway 204). When they are talking about the abortion, the American says, “Its really an awfully simple operation” (Hemingway 205). This makes it seem like he does not care and he does not want the baby. The setting of this...
Words: 821 - Pages: 4
...Symbolic White Hills ENG 125: Introduction to Literature Elizabeth Parks Symbolic White Hills Ernest Hemingway was a Pulitzer Prize and Noble Prize winning author. He wrote both novels and short stories. While the majority of his work was written with a theme of “death and violence”, his short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, written in 1927, features a much different theme (Clugston, 2010, 7.3). In this short story, the predominant themes are coercion and how difficult it is to make life altering decisions. Hemingway used third-person limited omniscient point of view in writing “Hills Like White Elephants” which means that he wrote the story in the third-person; however, he only discusses one characters thoughts and feelings (Clugston, 2010). Using the literary elements of tone and symbolism, Hemingway was able to explain the difficulty with making a tough decision while being coerced. In “Hills like White Elephants”, you are met with two characters whom you would assume to be lovers, Jig and the American. Hemingway did not give the American a name which leads one to believe that the story wasn’t about him at all. The majority of the story is dialogue between the two characters about whether Jig should get an abortion. The American is trying to coerce Jig into having an abortion. “‘It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,” the man said. “It’s not really an operation at all.’” (Clugston, 2010, line 41). “As the man persists in opposing the continuance...
Words: 860 - Pages: 4
...Analysis of Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” In Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants," the decision on whether or not to have an abortion puts strain on the characters’ relationship. The two characters, Jig and the American, have differing views on abortion. Hemingway uses the elements of symbolism and dialogue to portray such a serious conversation in which a major life decision is about to be made. Like the proverbial elephant in the room that everyone sees, but no one wants to acknowledge, not once is the subject of abortion mentioned, but it is implied. The reader must be willing to read what is not there. While most writers set the stage for their readers, Hemingway leaves the interpretation completely up to the reader. This story takes place in 1926 in Spain, a country where abortion was illegal until 2009 (“History of Abortion”.) The fact that the procedure was illegal is probably why the word abortion was never mentioned during their public conversation in the bar. Money is obviously not an issue for the American as referenced to the many hotel stickers on their suitcases and as we know, money can buy anything including medical services. Jig is interpreted as a young and naïve girl, who is struggling with the decision that is laid upon her. The American is interpreted as an harsh, manly man who is adamant during his dialogue about what he wants, even to the point of trying to downplay the procedure by stating that it was an “awfully...
Words: 591 - Pages: 3
...Reaction Paper of Ernest Hemingway’s Short Story “Hills Like White Elephants” “Then what will we do afterward?”/ ”We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.”/ “What makes you think so?”/”That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.”/ The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads.” Notice that the girl called “Jig” questions the man known as the “American”, when he tells her that they will both be fine afterwards. It only means that she believes otherwise, that things won’t be fine, that things will never be like they were before. In fact, it seems as though something inside her had already changed. She realizes she wants to keep the baby. This story centers on a couple’s verbal argument, which is strongly implied by the text and widely believed by many scholars, whether the girl will have an abortion of her partner’s child. Even before this conversation she talks about their lifestyle with a hint of sarcasm and possibly boredom, “I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it-look at things and try new drinks?” You see the girl refers to their sightseeing as “things”, which shows a sense of weariness and tediousness with their regular day to day activity of the same “thing.” On the other hand, the man displays his naivety as he tries to calm her fears, saying “That’s the only thing (baby) that bothers us. It’s the only thing (baby) that’s made us unhappy.” It is...
Words: 912 - Pages: 4
...Darren Maracin Dr. Patrick Wasley English 445 20 November 2015 Importance of Theme: Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway After analyzing Hemingway’s Hills like White Elephants, the reader can find that it is not your average story with a beginning, middle, and end. Hemingway does a phenomenal job of forcing the reader to think critically—giving just enough information for the reader to make assumptions and draw their own conclusions. The story itself is centered on a man and a woman having an emotional conversation filled with frustration and misunderstanding. Hemingway’s use of theme is important to this entire conversation between the two characters, and will give the reader more understanding of who the characters are and the situation they are faced with. The three major themes of this work that will be analyzed is alcohol as a comping mechanism, loss, and selfishness. This analysis of theme will also help to reinforce the characters thoughts, feelings, and emotions. American author, Ernest Hemingway, was born in the small town of Oak Park, Illinois in 1899 and died in Idaho, 1961. Hemingway began his career as a writer at the age of 17 for a newspaper office in Kansas City. When the United States entered the First World War, Hemingway joined as a volunteer to the ambulance unit in the Italian army. While serving, Hemingway was wounded, spending time in several hospitals until returning to the United States. When Hemingway returned, he became a reporter...
Words: 1048 - Pages: 5
...title of their stories. Three examples of this would be Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral”, Ernest Hemingway’s story “Hills Like White Elephants”, and John Steinbeck’s story “The Chrysanthemums”. The question is; what is the symbolic meaning behind each of to these story...
Words: 802 - Pages: 4
...in a single representative scene the entire story through subtext from which the reader then deduces the drama (Wood 1). His use of the Iceberg Theory was presented clearly in the short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” in which Hemingway depicted a vague conversation between a man and a woman named Jig. By only portraying the surroundings such as the hills and the station, as well as providing the short conversation, Hemingway has given the reader a chance to be the narrator to self-interpret the couple’s feelings and thoughts as well as to infer the drama the couple was facing of whether or not Jig would get an abortion. Hemingway used three main symbols which were the hills, the white elephant and the railroad station to develop the theme of the whole story. The theme here is about how the woman saw the possibility of keeping her child and having a happy life while the man fails to see the possibilities and tried to persuade her to go through with the abortion. In this story, the hills symbolized the obstacle that the couple was facing which was having or not having the baby. Although hills are a big hindrance which everyone must climb, from the point view of the woman, the hill was beautiful and she looked at it as a spectacular view instead of an obstacle; “They’re lovely hills” (Hemingway 2). “..Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field...
Words: 2101 - Pages: 9
...The Presentation of Selfishness: Similarities and Differences in To Room Nineteen and Hills Like White Elephants Selfishness is a shared theme in the short stories To Room Nineteen by Doris Lessing and Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway. The topics of suicide and abortion are points of similarity between the two, illustrating Susan’s and the man’s selfish thought processes and decision-making. The stories do have considerable differences, however, in how they present and develop selfishness within the characters and the storyline itself. Both stories involve the decision to end life. In To Room Nineteen, Susan struggles with the home life she and her husband have created, seeking to temper her feelings with intelligent reasoning. Slowly she distances herself from her family until she finds herself on the brink of suicide, feeling hypocritical for “worrying about the children, when she was going to leave them” (Lessing 890). As she lay down with the gas filling the room, “she was quite content”. In Hills Like White Elephants, the man is working to convince his partner to undergo an abortion: “They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural” (Hemingway 663) While she does not seem happy with the idea, he continues to reassure her that “We’ll be fine afterward. Like we were before. … It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy” (663). In To Room Nineteen, Susan’s life is “grounded in intelligence” and ruled by “sensible discrimination”...
Words: 845 - Pages: 4
