Hills Are Like White Elephants Iceberg Analysis
Men are from Mars; women are from Venus; this statement best describes Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills are Like White Elephants.” The statement forces you to ponder what is really meant, are men and women literally from different galaxies, or does it implies they interact as if there are from different worlds? Although not directly stated, the short story gives insight as to how a man and a woman, who are going through a crisis together, have a very different outlook on how to communicate, remedy the situation and discuss what they want and need from one another. “While giving the words, metaphors, writers execute ‘concept plan learning’ to shape significant words games called the iceberg theory”. The iceberg theory, also known as the theory of
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Because I don’t care about me.” She does not seem to have the strength to resist his demand, but she is aware of the significance of her capitulation. She looks at the beauty, the life, the bounty across the tracks — fields of grain, trees, the river, and mountains. “We could have all this,’ she said. ’And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.” The abortion is not merely a “perfectly natural” or “simple operation” to her; it is a symbolic act as well, which will cut her off irrevocably from what is good and alive in the world: “It isn’t ours anymore.” The man takes exception to her compelling negative vision of their situation, but she has heard enough: “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” He desists, moves their bags; wonders, while he drinks his anisette, why she cannot act “reasonably” like other people, and then returns to her as if nothing had happened. Perhaps Jig’s perception that their lives are sterile and that the man does not truly love, or know, or care for her will enable her to leave him and struggle alone to live a meaningful life, yet Hemingway gives the reader no substantial reason to believe that she will do so (Holladay). The story ends with an obvious lie: “There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” Hemingway pushes readers to resolve their own conclusion. Presumably, they board the train; she has the abortion, and their relationship continues its downward drift into emptiness, insincerity and hypocrisy, her level of dependency on the American indicates she is willing to agree to his
Because I don’t care about me.” She does not seem to have the strength to resist his demand, but she is aware of the significance of her capitulation. She looks at the beauty, the life, the bounty across the tracks — fields of grain, trees, the river, and mountains. “We could have all this,’ she said. ’And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.” The abortion is not merely a “perfectly natural” or “simple operation” to her; it is a symbolic act as well, which will cut her off irrevocably from what is good and alive in the world: “It isn’t ours anymore.” The man takes exception to her compelling negative vision of their situation, but she has heard enough: “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” He desists, moves their bags; wonders, while he drinks his anisette, why she cannot act “reasonably” like other people, and then returns to her as if nothing had happened. Perhaps Jig’s perception that their lives are sterile and that the man does not truly love, or know, or care for her will enable her to leave him and struggle alone to live a meaningful life, yet Hemingway gives the reader no substantial reason to believe that she will do so (Holladay). The story ends with an obvious lie: “There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” Hemingway pushes readers to resolve their own conclusion. Presumably, they board the train; she has the abortion, and their relationship continues its downward drift into emptiness, insincerity and hypocrisy, her level of dependency on the American indicates she is willing to agree to his