Preview

Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
535 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis
Essay Title : Love and Responsibility in Hills Like White Elephants

“Hills Like White Elephants” written by Ernest Hemingway that is the controversy revolving around the theme of abortion between the American man and the girl named Jig waiting for a train at the station. Through their conversation and their difficult decision that whether or not having an abortion, the story shows love and responsibility in a relationship between the couple.
While waiting for a press, they drinking beer and talking together. The girl was looking at the hills and said “They look like white elephants”. The hills can be symbolized the pregnancy and “white elephants” can be interpreted as baby that is the trouble they are facing.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although most of the features of "Hills Like White Elephants" have been well discussed and understood, so that Paul Smith, in his 1989 survey of opinion on the story, can wonder if there is anything left to say about it (209), what has not been satisfactorily resolved is the question of the ending. In view of the fact that Hemingway leaves virtually everything, even what is at issue between the girl and the American, for the reader to "figure" out, meanwhile unobtrusively supplying what is needed to understand the story's structure and conflict, it seems logical to assume that he also expected the reader to be able to answer the question left by the story's ending: What are the couple going to do about the girl's pregnancy? Yet the ending…

    • 175 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    n Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, set in Barcelona, Spain, a conversation takes place between two lovers sitting outside of a bar. Hemingway’s writing style is very minimalist, and so it is up to the reader to decipher what message, tone, or imagery is being conveyed. In this short story it is a hot day, there are train tracks nearby. The hot weather could have symbolized the tension between the woman, called Jig, and the American man- the train tracks their differing viewpoints. The story begins with the woman asking the man what he would like to drink, to which he replies, “It’s pretty hot.”…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ernest Hemingway wrote the work “Hills Like White Elephants”. His story is about abortion although within the text, the word abortion is nowhere to be found. The reason why Ernest Hemingway portrayed abortion the way he did was because in 1927, abortion was something that nobody really talked about. It was a something that would be looked down upon. So he writes “Hills Like White Elephants” with multiple metaphors to mask the idea of abortion. Not one time does the man or the woman say the word “abortion.” The man goes through everything that the girl says in his mind and takes the literal meaning of her words. On the other hand, the girl says almost everything metaphorically. Also the actions of the man and the girl have metaphoric meanings as well.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the years short stories have become popular for readers to be able to read and connect with the story that isn’t drawn out. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” (Oates, 1966) and “Hills Like White Elephants, (Hemingway, 1927)”. Both of these short stories tell about decisions that have to be made through different conflicts and really just making decisions for what is best for oneself.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, focuses on a couples struggle to communicate and finding common ground which leads to a crisis point in their relationship. This story sets place in Spain where a woman named Jig and the American man are seated outside of a bar near a railroad junction. The couple starts out by having a few beers and discussing a problem they are facing in their relationship, as the conversation continues between the two, you can see that the couple is starting to get slightly angry and aggravated with each other whether or not they should proceed to Barcelona in order to have an abortion. Jig disagrees with the American’s choice, although she refuses to say her thoughts openly. The…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, “Hills like White Elephants” is talking about this couple possible having an abortion. In end, they do not get the abortion because Jig wants to have this unborn baby and the man finally agrees to stay with her and have this baby. Even though the man is afraid that his feelings possibly may disappear. He is willing to stay and make her happy and have their future…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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
  • Better Essays

    “Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story that begins with a man and his girlfriend waiting for a train in Spain. They drink alcoholic beverages and speak about an unnamed operation. As one reads further into the story, it becomes evident that the operation being discussed is an abortion. The man is trying his best to persuade his lover to abort their unborn child, but she is uncertain about what she ought to do.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Writers and Artists have something in common, they both paint the pictures and have a meaning in their work. People interpret their work differently and come up with similar results.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway is a fascinating story about one couple having faced with an unexpected pregnancy. The theme of the story is about the couple's decision between life and death. The main character Jig and The American are in disagreements on weather to keep their baby, or have an abortion. The couple's lack of communication creates the conflict in the story. For example, Jigs says, "We can have all this..." "And everyday we make it more impossible" While this problem is going on, the couple is sitting at a train station in the middle of a valley. Each side of the valley represents either life or death. As Jig moves about in the story, she faces different sides of the valley, which helps to determine the decision she will make. With the many descriptions and symbolism throughout the story, the final decision seems as if Jig is keeping the baby.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ernest Hemingway’s "Hills Like White Elephants," tells the story of an American man and a girl who is named Jig. They are both sitting outside of a train station in Spain looking across a valley while drinking beer. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway discusses the landscape before them, the valley of the Ebro River, that has long white hills. As the American and the girl begin to have a conversation, the girl remarks on the Ebro River of the way it looks. After a while the American asked her if she wanted to do the operation (an abortion which was learned in the author's comment at the end) and explained to her that she would be fine. However, she began to think if she participates in the operation would the American lover still be with her. Nevertheless, the American knows that if the operation is not done he would not be able to do certain things; therefore, he is trying to eliminate the reasons to settle down with Jig. Towards the end of the story, Jig and the American would argue about the operation; even though the American does not want a child.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Does Ernest Hemingway’s use of direct presentation of the subjects; simple, direct language, and compression make it impossible for the audience to emotionally connect to the story? Most writer’s goal is to intrigue their readers with their work. They want their reader to connect, emotionally, they want their complete attention. For this to happen you must be interesting, paint pictures in their minds, get them involved in the reading, build a relationship, and tell a story! Although Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” has great use of direct language, direct presentation of subjects, amazing characterization…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good 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
  • Good Essays

    Ernest Hemingway's "Hill's Like White Elephants" consists mostly of a dialogue between a pregnant girl and her husband, who would like her to have an abortion. The story defines a two-part theme. The first is a commentary about the way selfishness can corrupt a relationship. The second comments on life and what it means to bear life. This story is developed in a short period of time by Hemingway's use of two central elements, character and setting. Though the setting is heavily symbolic, and characters are drawn mostly in dialogue, both are strongly evocative of the theme.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When a reader reads a short story they need to pay attention because even the smallest of details are important. This proves to be true due to analysis of the surroundings of the characters and how they react to them. In Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants," the main conflict is a man who is trying to convince his female companion to have an abortion but the girl is resistant to the whole idea. Between the description of the couple's surroundings, their dialogue, and how they react to the setting, Hemingway manages to clearly depict the complexity of the situation and the two different points of view of the couple who are the main focus in the story.…

    • 1830 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays