Hills Like White Elephants
Complications
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility” (Roosevelt.) This quote by Eleanore Roosevelt shows the severity of certain decisions that individuals’ like the two main characters in Ernest Hemingway’s, Hills Like White Elephants, have to make. He uses symbolism to describe the two main characters decision that will either change their life forever or to remain the same. In his short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism in the Title, the Train, and the Repetition of the Word ‘two.’
The first example of symbolism made know in the short story “Hills like White Elephants,” is the title. Throughout the story, the two characters mention multiple times how the hills and/or mountains look like white elephants. One example of this is “the mountains…white elephants.” (Hemingway …show more content…
The whole story is based in a train station with the two main characters disputing with each other over a decision that will change their lives. This conversation is going on while the train is threatening to draw nearer. Towards the end of the conversation the man continues to warn about the train. This is evident in the repetition of the line “the train is coming in five minutes” (Hemingway 109.) The man is very impatient with the train and wants it to arrive. This is shown through the line “He looked up…could not see the train” (Hemingway 109.) This is symbolic of him wanting to run away from the truth of the situation and have everything go back to the way things were before the pregnancy. As James Nagel mentions in this line “His comments reflect…free of obligations” (Nagel,) it shows how the man just wants to be free and be with his girlfriend, but his girlfriend does not want the same thing. Her difference of opinion is what causes the animosity to
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility” (Roosevelt.) This quote by Eleanore Roosevelt shows the severity of certain decisions that individuals’ like the two main characters in Ernest Hemingway’s, Hills Like White Elephants, have to make. He uses symbolism to describe the two main characters decision that will either change their life forever or to remain the same. In his short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism in the Title, the Train, and the Repetition of the Word ‘two.’
The first example of symbolism made know in the short story “Hills like White Elephants,” is the title. Throughout the story, the two characters mention multiple times how the hills and/or mountains look like white elephants. One example of this is “the mountains…white elephants.” (Hemingway …show more content…
The whole story is based in a train station with the two main characters disputing with each other over a decision that will change their lives. This conversation is going on while the train is threatening to draw nearer. Towards the end of the conversation the man continues to warn about the train. This is evident in the repetition of the line “the train is coming in five minutes” (Hemingway 109.) The man is very impatient with the train and wants it to arrive. This is shown through the line “He looked up…could not see the train” (Hemingway 109.) This is symbolic of him wanting to run away from the truth of the situation and have everything go back to the way things were before the pregnancy. As James Nagel mentions in this line “His comments reflect…free of obligations” (Nagel,) it shows how the man just wants to be free and be with his girlfriend, but his girlfriend does not want the same thing. Her difference of opinion is what causes the animosity to