Preview

Hills Like White Elephants Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
533 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hills Like White Elephants Essay
Having a baby can be the most important decision a couple can have. In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, a couple indirectly talks about whether or not they should have an abortion. Both of the partners are very vague in talking about their opinion on the situation. In Hills like White Elephants, Hemingway uses symbolism of the hills, it and white elephants to help explain the couple’s opinion on the baby and the situation.
Instead of calling the unborn child a baby or saying the Jig is getting an abortion, Hawthorne uses “it” to explicate the unimportance of the baby and how effortless the operation can be. The man does not what to make the decision of whether or not Jig has the abortion by indirectly telling her he doesn’t want the baby he says “I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple” (337). The man says the operation is “simple” so Jig would think the abortion would be effortless
Hawthorne uses symbolism of "it" to signify the abortion the couple is deciding to have or not. Through the vagueness of the conversation, the man tries to persuade the girl to get the abortion by saying " I wouldn't have you do it if you didn't want to. But I know it's perfectly simple" (337). The man is trying to say that it is the girls decision whether or not she wants the abortion, by saying the phrase this way, the girl can be left with the decision and cannot blame the man if she regrets it. The man is sort of saving himself, but by says "it's perfectly simple" he makes it seem the abortion will be easy so she should go on with the operation. Hawthorne uses symbolism of "it", but in different contexts, to exemplify the unborn child. After the girl had decided to have the abortion to keep her guy happy, she starts to question the abortion when she says "I love it now but I just can’t think about it" (337). Calling the baby "it" signifies the un-importance of the child. When people refer something to "it", they usually

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The next rhetorical strategy is archaic diction. Since this book was published in 1850, and that was maybe a little over one hundred and sixty-three years ago – depending on when Hawthorne had initially started writing the book – the diction is of one we no longer speak. “She hath good skill at her needle… ‘but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way at showing it,” is an example of archaic diction. Basically saying that Hester is good at sewing but she had (the woman speaking) never seen someone do it to seek sexual attention. Other examples of archaic diction is, “hast thou”…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hester is a cautious mother. When her husband tires to give medication to the baby, she states, "Wouldst thou avenge thyself on the innocent babe" (Hawthorne 65). Hester is afraid that her husband is trying to hurt the baby for the sins she has commit; therefore, she asks to clarify her suspicious of his actions.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. Hawthorne uses the quote, “Man had marked this woman’s sin by a scarlet letter, which has such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human sympathy could reach her, save it were sinful like herself. God, as a direct consequence of sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child, whose place was on that same dishonored bosom, to connect her parent forever with the peace and descent of mortals, and to be finally a blessed soul in heaven.” (86), to contrast how man views Hester’s sin as an unforgiveable act that she deserves to be punished for infintely, and God saw the sin and sent her aid in the form of baby Pearl. Pearl’s purpose on Earth is to show her mother happiness and beauty and lead her to heaven.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” he shows the major difference between the two which is a woman’s pregnancy and the difference in reactions between a man and a woman what that occurs. While the man in the story seems to want the woman to have the operation which is an abortion, throughout the story woman is more conflicted and unsure what she wants. By the end although we don’t get a complete resolution and Hemingway leaves some ambiguity the woman seems to have become sure that she wants to keep the baby. The interaction at the end where the man says “do you feel better” which she replies to by saying “I feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with me, I feel fine” seems to let us know that she now believes that being pregnant isn’t something wrong with her and she wants to have the baby.…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” portrays the turmoil a couple endures when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, the choice to hold onto their current life or to begin a new life. Readers are allowed to intrude on a conversation between an American man and a girl, further conflict is presented through Hemingway’s use of symbolism. The man wants to go through with an abortion while the girl is unsure about which track she should take. Throughout the story, Hemmingway’s use of abundant details about the setting, rather than providing much detail about the characters, reveal a conflict between the man’s desire for the girl to have a “perfectly natural” (Hemingway 116) procedure and the decision to forgo an “awfully simple operation”…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Becoming a parent is something most people see in their future, however it often comes at the wrong time for some people. In Ernest Hemingway’s, “Hills Like White Elephants”, we see a couple’s conversation as it leads up to the decision they are making on whether or not to have an abortion. With the white elephants representing a metaphor for the unborn child, we are able to see the struggle of a couple trying to make a decision on whether to keep the child or not, through which it is apparent that the two of them as a couple don’t communicate properly and the girl does not normally know how to make her own decisions.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hawthorne makes a dramatic and surprise turn of events by saying, “As the last crimson tint of the birthmark-- that sole token of human imperfection-- faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight.” to give the reader the feeling that the birthmark will end and Georgiana will live. This resolution affects the theme by adding an extra plot twist that resulted from the decision of the internal conflict. The ending adds to the reader's understanding by changing the theme to the opposite by making the theme, imperfection is beauty, instead of perfection is beauty. The internal conflict created a different resolution then the reader expected.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hawthorne uses diction to showhow Hester’s precious Pearl hurts her on the outside. Even though Hester loves her daughter and her daughter brings her joy, there are certain things about Pearl that frighten Hester and torture her. The auther is able to show this in the quote, “It was as if an evil spirit…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning of the novel,"When the young woman- them other of this child- stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened to her dress" (Hawthorne…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Chapter Two, the narrator describes the scene of Hester Prynne walking out of the prison into the daylight. Hester 's reaction as she walks out of the prison into the crowd of people on her way to the market-place illustrates her motherly instincts. The young mother stands before the crowd with an expression that looks as if she might grasp the infant close to her chest; not to protect the infant, but hide an item sewn onto her dress. She quickly realizes that she cannot hide the shame sewn onto her dress with the shame she holds in her arms, and she then gazes around at the townspeople. A fine red letter A surrounded by fancy sewing of gold thread appears on her chest (Hawthorne 47). The young woman knows of the guilt and shame placed upon her, figuratively and literally. She knows it figuratively by the guilt and shame of having an affair. Literally by the scarlet red letter "A" sewn onto her gown with gold thread. She will not allow others to place fault on her for covering up or taking off the letter "A" from her clothing, giving her some sense innocence. In Chapter Three, Reverend Mr. Wilson tries to pressure and persuade Hester into giving up the name of the father of her baby. She refuses to speak of his name because she does not want him to bear the burden of the guilt. Reverend Mr. Wilson harshly cries out at Hester that she should not sin further than the limits of Heaven 's forgiveness. The baby in her arms will reveal to the counsel the name of Hester 's fellow sinner. He bargains with her that she can take the scarlet letter off her breast if she reveals his name. She refuses to speak the name or take the scarlet letter off her breast. Hester will bear the burden of his guilt and hers so that he can feel innocent and free (Hawthorne 61). Reverend Mr. Wilson tries to find out what man…

    • 2499 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout his work “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism and condensed metaphors to sensationalize the power, yet subtleness of the main theme: happiness. While the title does not blatantly represent the characters pursuit of happiness, the simile used in the title does epitomize Hemingway’s writing style as well as the diverse use of symbolism throughout the narrative. Hemingway uses this symbolism to convey the unspoken thoughts and emotions of the characters and the ultimate decision made to begin her journey on the pursuit of happiness.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Compare & Contrast

    • 2289 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The beginning of the movie is different from the novel and this change changes the message of the book. The beginning in the novel attracts the reader’s attention more. The novel begins at the prison-door, and there is a wild rose-bush outside the portal. In the next scene, one young, beautiful woman is led to the scaffold from the town jail with her infant. Hawthorne states that “This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history” (46). The prison represents the Puritan society and its laws, judgments, and punishments. And outside the…

    • 2289 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In "The Birthmark", Hawthorne uses 3rd person omniscient to supply the audience with a fable-like, allegory style story. The very nature of the All Knowing storyteller implies a God-like moral/message. Georgiana is beautiful to all expect Aylmer, her husband, who becomes obsessed with her physical imperfection and interprets it as impure. And yet, it is what makes her unique and identifiable. “Its shape bore not a little similarity to the human hand.” With such a quotation, one thinks of the Hand of God, as if it is the only thing marking her as human on an otherwise perfect human being. Hawthorne uses irony by making the thing that Aylmer believes will “cure” his wife of her (impurity, sickness, sin) the thing that kills her.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In conjunction with metaphors, Hawthorne uses diction to create a dynamic feel of intelligent language mixed with the reality of Hester’s terrible situation. Even the town began too see the scarlet letter in a new light. “They had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token…”(line 18). The scarlet letter gave the town something to be recognized by, and through is use of diction, Hawthorne presents this. The use of this…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hawthorne is trying to say that though Hester in her lifetime will have to wear the scarlet to remind her and everyone else of the sin, but the bigger more torturing reminder will be her daughter Pearl. All of the guilt and pain Hester feels from committing her sin will not only be sewn on proof, but living proof of the mistake, she feels as though her pained soul is in her daughter.…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays