...Professor Huot WRT 201 30 March 2015 Analysis of Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” In the story “Hills Like White Elephants” the author Ernest Hemingway tells a story of a couple who are at a train station dialoging about an abortion. Hemingway shows how men do not think the same way about abortions than woman do. Hemmingway also sends a message of how men are manipulative towards women. He illustrates how women seem to have a harder time overpowering a man in a relationship. First, Hemmingway shows how men do not think the same way about abortions than woman do because in the story the man says it is a perfectly “natural procedure” (Hemmingway) not thinking of all of the hardship an abortion brings to a woman. According to the criticism “ it reveals perhaps better than any other part of the story the terms of the central conflict” (Madden). The man does not think of what the woman has to go through in the procedure. The emotional state and the physically pain full procedure she has to endure, knowing that she will not be having a child that could be the start of a new family for her. Because of the way that the man does not seem to care that he is getting rid of a child with life and just wants to continue the relationship with the woman after she has to sacrifice so much with the abortion shows the lack of knowledge the man has about the feeling a woman goes through when they have an abortion. Second, Hemmingway sends a message of how men are manipulative towards...
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...career opportunities, introduce equality with men and to eliminate the illusion of “the happy housewife”. This specific speech announces that abortion should be a part of a women’s civil right. Betty Friedan singles out women to be the invisible minority in America. The invisible women in the American society are the ones who take an active share in the important resolution of the government and not the women who take care of the domestic duties. Friedan compares the invisibility of forward-looking women to the Afro-American permanent residents in America. For many years, the Afro-American people in the U.S. have been the invisible section of the population in the Southern states. Racial segregation in America became a crucial part of life until the segregation legally ended in 1964 because of the Civil Rights Act. The blacks were in those days invisible according to their voting rights. The voting rights of blacks were systematically restricted because the black’s voting papers did not manage to be registered. Many Afro-American were killed because of their attempt to exercise their right to vote and for being member of political institutions. The following sentence describes the drawn parallel between the Afro-Americans and the persistent and energetic women: “As the Negro was the invisible man, so women are the invisible people in America today” – p. 1, l. 2. The reason why women are demeaned is because they are often seen as a...
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...“A Clean Well-Lighted Place” Analysis “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, by Ernest Hemmingway, is a story of two waiters working late one night in “A Clean, Well-Lighted” cafe. The image of the café is central to the story; we get a feeling that outside this place the world is chaos. The story opens with two waiters discussing an old man who frequents the café where they work. He constantly stays late into the night drinking. One of the waiters, a younger man, expresses his dislike of the old man while the older waiter sympathizes and relates to the old man. The younger waiter wants the old man to go home while the older waiter doesn’t seem to care one way or another. This story is a tale of despair and loneliness and how different people deal with it. The older waiter defends the old man him because he can relate to his despair. Loneliness and old age are the common bonds that the older waiter shares with the old man. In time he will be old, unable to work and feel lonely because his lack friends. The old man seems to think there is no meaning to his life. It is like he has given up. There is no good or bad; no right or wrong, the only thing that may matter is making what time he has left somewhat bearable. The fact that he gets drunk every night and stays late at the café shows he has nothing better to do with his last bit of time. Depression puts a negative spin on everything, including the way you see yourself, the situations you encounter, and your expectations for the future...
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...In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway (1927), the theme is overcoming challenges during major life decisions and the importance of communication and courage during a time of crisis. A few of the symbols in the story were hills, white elephants, and a railroad. This was a story of a couple’s struggle with a life changing decision to have or abort a baby. As they both sat at a train station, they discussed the American’s desire for an abortion and Jig’s want for the pregnancy. She gazed in the distance at the hills on one half of the valley, which were dry, hot, and lifeless. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.” I feel this may have symbolized the couple’s challenges, Jig’s fear of her dead baby, being barren and the American’s desire for their lives to remain the same, stationary, and permanent (or the permanence of a baby). The hills on that side of the valley were compared to white elephants. White elephants are an ironic symbol of an awkward topic needing to be discussed and/or a useless gift. In the white elephant game, a gift is given as a joke and may be of no use to the recipient. As the American and Jig continue to discuss their wishes with the pregnancy, Jig sees the other side of the valley and it’s hills. They are described as alive, growing, and full of life. I feel this is a symbol of Jig seeing this crisis as an opportunity, life, growth, and a renewal for what seems...
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...Hills like white elephants essay Ernest Hemmingway´s “Hills like white elephants” (1927) is an essay, about a man and a woman waiting for a train to Madrid, all the while discussing an operation. The story takes place in a train station bar, surrounded by hills, in a valley in Spain. The story contains three characters, two protagonists and one lesser character; The American, the girl (aka “Jig”) and the bartender. The American is the male protagonist, whose name is never revealed. Throughout the entire story the American behaves very masculine. This is a classic Hemmingway feature; a masculine man who is tough as nails, yet intelligent and in control. Throughout the story he tries to convince the girl to have the operation, ignoring the problems that the girl has and oversimplifying the whole thing. In contrast to the American, the girl is less independent, and changes attitude often (for example regarding the hills surrounding the train station). She is also uncertain whether she wants the operation or not, and she can’t even order drinks at the bar, relying on the Americans Spanish skills. She gives all power to the American. This is classic Hemmingway, as it depicts traditional gender roles. Throughout the story, there is only conversation between the two protagonists. The omniscient teller is almost completely out of the picture. This is very ironic, since that even though they only talk, it seems as if there is no true communication between the protagonists. Another thing...
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...Setting Analysis – A Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway The short story Soldier's Home by Ernest Hemingway is a thought-provoking look into a man life that becomes a soldier, goes off to war and returns an entirely different man. There is much that is identifiable in this story, especially those who have served in the military. This story however leaves much to interpretation but it is written in such a way that the author allows you to really experience his emotions well throughout. My own interpretation; being a person who served in the military is that his experiences coming home are not all that uncommon, especially in the Vietnam era. The military changes many things about a person. Primarily it served to allow me to grow up and be accountable, amongst other things. The young man who entered the military was nothing like the man who returned home. I felt truly sorry for Krebs many times through this story. The young man enlisted in the Marines to help his country; in this process he became a man as he was subjected to the horrors of World War I. His life was changed so drastically that upon his return to this small town, his life no longer fits as it once did. Although there is no narration to suggest his life before or during the war, the symbols in the beginning chapters give some idea as to perhaps what life was like for Krebs. He goes from a Methodist college student, which suggests conformity to " [having] been at Belleau Wood, Soissons, the Champagne...
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...was implying that everything that happens in life either good or bad must be paid for, even things that don’t carry a price tag such as friendship. Furthermore, when analyzing in depth, the meaning behind the quote is that we often must pay for what happens. Similar to Newton’s law, every action there is a counter reaction. Not only does Newton’s law apply to physics but it also applies to our everyday actions. I agree with this statement as in my life whenever something good occurs it is either that I had done a good deed or I end up doing a good dead. Some would call this good karma. After spending several weeks of reading all 251 pages enriched...
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...The “Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” written by Ernest Hemingway, chronicles the events leading to the short-lived figurative adulthood of Francis Macomber, a wealthy American man on a hunting safari with his wife Margaret and professional hunter Robert Wilson. Macomber has two encounters with big game animals (a lion and three buffalos) that lead his developmental growth on the path of maturity. On his journey to adulthood, Macomber experiences fear. And that fear stands in the way of him meeting important needs. However, when his fear is faced it enables him to overcome anything; kill game and liberate himself from Margaret's dominant position. Francis Macomber “[Is] thirty-five years old, [keeps] himself well built, [is] good at...
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...Cristian Uribe The war without end, selfishness, nothing to do against death and the scars of the war in Men without women In this essay I’m talking about the main issues present in the following short stories in Men without women by Ernest Hemingway (1928): In another country (25-29), Hills like white elephants (29-33), The killers (33-40) and Now I lay me (83). In another country is about a wounded American soldier recuperating from an injury by receiving treatments from machines in a hospital in Milan, Italy. Machines. With him there’s an Italian major receiving treatment for a shriveled hand. There is a strong optimism of a physician employing the new machines which is contrasted with the skepticism of Italian major who, disbelieving in the machines, nevertheless comes regularly for therapy to his hand. That daily attendance is interrupted only with the sudden death of the major’s wife. The machines were new, as result, the narrator and the major were trying them. And although they both didn’t trust in the machines they were under their treatment because they really wanted to recover. The major wanted to be his wife and the narrator probably wanted to clean his pride because his wound and medals were “fake”. What I think can be infer from the text is that even if the machines have success healing the soldiers, the war for them won’t end because is not just facing enemy on the front line but also picking up the pieces of their damaged lives and facing the prospect...
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...Colin Bodet Mrs. Jane Everest ENG 123.15 31 January 2012 The Sun Also Rises: The Design of an Alcoholic Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is permeated with a multitude of references to alcohol. Hemingway once described it as a “book about a few drunks” (qtd. in Dardis 163). Matt Djos, author of “Alcoholism in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: A Wine and Roses Perspective on the Lost Generation” and English professor at Mesa State College in Colorado, goes as far as to describe the novel as a “description of the alcoholic mentality” (64). The copious amounts of alcohol consumed by the characters of the novel can presumably be attributed to boredom. As the official biographer of Hemingway Carlos Baker puts it, the characters are “floundering in an emulsion of ennui and alcohol” (Baker 90); he suggests that the characters actions are fueled merely by boredom and an unhealthy consumption of alcohol. However, the hedonistic over-consumption of alcohol by Hemingway’s characters cannot be blamed on boredom alone; there are millions of people on this planet that suffer from boredom every so often, and yet they do not all keep themselves occupied by drinking to excess. Regardless of the reasons, “the drinking behavior in The Sun Also Rises was pronounced and addictive” (Djos 65). As the characters develop, it becomes clear that Hemingway designed the characters of The Sun Also Rises with past lives and personality traits that predispose them to alcoholism. Before determining...
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...compared, as well as contrasted, to Ernest Hemmingway’s short story, “Hills like White Elephants”. Both of these stories have marital themes incorporated in, and present many similarities and differences. One striking comparison found within both is the implied marital necessity between the characters involved. The contrasted settings, both physical and emotional, in these short stories are also quite noticeable. Lawrence’s character, Miss Mabel Pervin shows a self-reliant woman of twenty-seven who, although could have been attractive, has a permanently cold expression, “She would have been good-looking, save for the impressive fixity of her face, “bull-dog,” as her brothers called it”. (p. 840). When Jack Ferguson rescues Mabel from attempted suicide, it is the beginning of unique love story. Nearing the end of the story, both Mabel and Jack have declared their love, even though Jack had never entertained the thought of loving her before, “He had never thought of loving her. He never wanted to love her”. (p.848). Without her pride or financial security, Mabel’s identity seems to have disappeared; by becoming Mrs. Jack Ferguson, she has the opportunity to recreate herself. Jack could also benefit from a marriage, as his lonely lifestyle does not fulfill his needs, “He had a horror of yielding to her. Yet something in him ached also”. (p.849). A marital union between Mabel and Jack would solve her poverty predicament and his lonesome way of life. Prior to the rescue, there were...
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...Indian camp written by Ernest Hemmingway Indian Camp is a novel about a white doctor helping an Indian woman giving birth to a child, he brought his son and brother to the camp, the son to help him grow up, the sons name is Nick. The Indians are described as a “ wild man “ in the text, the reason for that lies in their odd way of looking at pride, the Indian Woman who is in labor is having a really hard time letting the uncle hold her down while she is in pain. She tries to bite him and get away from him, which indicates a certain form of hatred towards him. Her husband is lying in the bed with his foot greatly injured, it was cut with an axe. When Indians feel bad inside they inflict the pain they feel to their body, that’s a symbol to let everyone know how bad they feel. The Uncle arrived at the other side of the lake before Nick and his father, which means he had probably been there before, there is a connection between all this. The Uncle probably visited the Indian camp several times before, raping the woman and unfortunately got her pregnant. The husbands pride is therefore completely gone and he has no other way to get rid of his frustration than cutting his own foot with an axe, after hearing his wife screaming while delivering her baby he cut his throat to end his life, he simply couldn’t live with the shame brought upon him by the uncle. Nick was brought to the camp to see what it was like to be a doctor, as a teenager he was soon to become an adult and had...
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...Sara Hinton June 21st, 2015 In the “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemmingway we have a struggling conflict between a couple. At first I didn’t realize what the couple was talking about. After reading it twice it dawned on me. Interesting how this example of them and symbolism comes out in this story. The specific conflict in the story is a couple that is talking about getting an abortion. There are various references that currently they are not very happy and that getting the abortion will somehow make them happy. He is very clueless to her emotions regarding this life changing event and the feelings she is experiencing. He also says that he doesn’t want her to do it if she doesn’t want to. "You've got to realize," he said, "that I don't want you to do it if you don't want to. I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you." I think the conflict is very significant as Jig is looking for a connection regarding the baby and clearly there is little hope for one as the insensitive American is frustrating her. I find from the text there are very similar elements of symbolism, metaphor, allusion and allegory apply sort of mixed and sprinkled into most of the stories I have read. I really enjoyed the symbolism and how the Hills stood for life giving and yet highlights her aloneness and emotional disconnect to the American. Ernest Hemingway writing style leaves hints throughout the scene and yet never directly states the plot...
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...people don’t see the beauty surrounding them. The Beauty and Majesty of the Natural World and Spirituality Through praise people are supposed to gain understanding. This is how other religions promote God and the messages he has sent down through the ages. It is the claim of spiritual leaders that through their guidance we will have a better understanding of faith. All a person has to do is spend some time in the local church of any denomination sit down listen to the reverend, preacher, minister, priest or rabbi. Each one will stand on their pulpit read a passage out the bible or torah. The goal is tie that gospel to a person’s everyday life. At the end of their sermon the goal is to have inspired the people sitting before them, those who are part their congregation to learn a valuable lesson that will help them their daily life. And if they are a truly gifted orator have inspired...
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...where Fitzgerald finally broke out of his cocoon of a shy kid and turned into a fascinating writer. After prep school Fitzgerald then attended Princeton College, a very prestigious school. However Fitzgerald ended up dropping out of college and going to fight in the war like all the heroes at the time. Fitzgerald never got any real action however while deployed he did find the love of his life, Zelda. Zelda was a stern women and needed a man to support her financially, and to do so Fitzgerald published This Side of Paradise. And in between books Fitzgerald also printed little stories to get by. In the end Fitzgerald published one...
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