Literary Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephants
“Hills Like White Elephants”
The text “ Hills like white elephants” under analysis comes from the book, the collection of short stories “Men Without Women “(1927) written by American author Ernest Hemingway. “Men Without Women” was Hemingway's second book of short stories. It was published in October 1927 with a first print-run of approximately 7600 copies.
The author is famous for his distinctive writing style, characterized by economy and understatement, influenced 20th-century fiction. Ernest Hemingway produced most of his works between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway's fiction was successful because the characters he presented exhibited authenticity that resonated with his audience. …show more content…
Many of his works are classics of American literature. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works during his lifetime; a further three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works were published posthumously.
The couple in the middle of the story is making a radical decision of the problem where there are only two choices, two directions.
They face this problem and we can observe their conversation and just imagine the result of this discussion because the story is unfinished. The text deals with the idea of abortion. Though the word “abortion” is nowhere in the story, it is doubtlessly understood through Hemingway’s powerful use of two literary elements: setting and symbolism.
The main characters:
The man (referred to only as "the American") and his female companion, named Jig. (there is a deep sense that we don’t know a real name of this man as though the author generalizes the youth of that time).
The minor …show more content…
characters:
The barmaid.
The characters are flat (we don’t know the end of this story), described in an indirect way (as the reader has to define them only by their actions and dialogues).
The conflict is internal as Jig is going to have a little baby so in theory she can change her life, her lifestyle and have a happy family. But instead of this she chooses the dangerous operation with a purpose to save the relations (that are only the illusion of relations), save her life, full of travelling, drinks and material pleasure and not to be a mother and give a birth to a new human. This is in fact is external conflict of society in which people have such a way of life, and actually this is closely related with the term “Lost Generation”.
The plot is simple, open and centres around 2 people’s relations and their problem.
The exposition: presented by the description of the place. We may conclude that the story takes place at a train station in the Ebro River valley of Spain. The year is not given, but is almost certainly contemporary to the composition (1920s). This particular day is oppressively hot and dry, and the scenery in the valley is barren and ugly for the most part. We get acquainted with the characters of the story. The setting is described as follows:
“..The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid…”
The complication of the text:
The couple is in the middle of making a drastic decision where there are only two choices, two directions, just like the two rail lines that pass by the station. The openness and loneliness around the railroad station imply that there is no way to back out of the problem at hand and that the man and the girl must address it now. The heat turns the scene into a virtual teakettle, boiling and screaming under pressure. The landscape that encompasses the station plays a fundamental role in the conflict of the story through its extensive symbolism.
When the girl sees the long and white hills she says that “they look like white elephants.” As she observes the white hills she foresees elatedly the birth of her baby – something unique like the uncommon white elephant. The color white symbolizes the innocence and purity of her unborn child.
“... Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees...”
The fields of grain and trees represent fertility and fruitfulness, which symbolize her current pregnant state and the life in her womb. The Ebro River also represents life, as it germinates the fields. Just as the girl appreciates the panorama and its connection to her unborn child the “shadow of a cloud,” which represents the abortion of the fetus, overcomes her happiness.
After an exchange of words with the man she looks again at the scenery, but this time in a different way, as the following sentence illustrates: “They sat down at the table and the girl looked across the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.” The man is obviously in favor of the abortion, and everything he says is an effort to persuade her into it. As she considers his point of view she looks at the dry side of the valley.
The climax is represented by the extract when the couple continue arguing and stop for a little when Jig says, “Would you please please please please please please please please stop talking?”
“...He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights..”.
The American apparently wants this abortion because he wants to keep his current lifestyle. The bags with all the hotel labels on them are symbolic of his cheery spirit. If the woman goes ahead with the pregnancy, he would have to settle down and raise a family, which would mean forgoing his youthful desires of seeing the world.
The denouement is not presented. The story ends with the couple expecting their train’s arrival in five minutes. There is no resolution and there is no decision stated regarding the abortion.
The tone of the story is informal, conversational and dramatic as it describes such serious problem as abortion.
The style of writing: colloquial.
From the point of view of presentation the text is the 3rd person narrative with insertions of direct speech. Type of composition is narration.
Stylistic devices:
Graphon: “Dos cervezas”, “Anis del Toro”, “an Anis”.
Alliteration: “That’s the only thing that bothers us”
Anaphora:
“ I don't care about me “
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t care about me.’
‘Well, I care about you.’
‘Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me.”
Epiphora:
“With water?” "Do you want it with water?” "Is it good with water?"
“You want them with water?” "Yes, with water “
‘Then what will we do afterwards?’
“We’ll be fine afterwards.”
Chain repetition: "…looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry…”
Catch repetition:
“…if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to”.
Consecutive contact repetition:
“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”
Parallel constructions:
“..They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry…”
Epithet:
"warm shadow", lovely hills, beer's nice and cool;
Metaphor:
“…We can have everything.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can have the whole world.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can go everywhere.’
‘No, we can’t. It isn’t ours any more...’
Miesosis:
awfully simple, perfectly simple, perfectly natural;
Metonymy:
“table legs”;
Simile:
"They look like white elephants", “It tastes like liquorice".
The symbols of the story:
The title of the story, "Hills Like White Elephants," is an allegory of the innocence of what seemed to be but is not (Jig's lust towards an American man) from Jig's perspective in regards to her affair with a man who simply sees the pleasure in being with her in the flesh. Innocence is revealed when Jig orders a drink that she has never had before, and does not know the taste of. This is an allegory which develops into mixed feelings as the story unfolds. Jig muses: "Everything tastes of liquorice.
Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe."
This clearly reflects that, in her innocence, she is confused. She does go on to express his immorality towards her as she expresses that everything to her tastes like liquorice. This reflects her intoxication which goes beyond the physical, as he abused her physically, and also emotionally. The American answers, "Oh cut it out", which is a pun intended as a nod toward abortion, and goes on saying, "Well, let's try and have a fine time."
Furthermore, this symbolism combined with Jig's question "That's all we do, isn't it--look at things and try new drinks" and her statement that even exciting new things she has waited a long time to try, like absinthe (sometimes valued as an aphrodisiac), merely end up "tasting like liquorice," implies that the couple's perpetually ambling, hedonistic circus-like lifestyle has become something of a metaphorical white elephant to her.
It appears that she seeks more stability and permanence in life; "It isn't ours anymore," she states of the carefree lifestyle she and the American have been pursuing from one hotel to the next.
Apart from these, other parts of the setting provide symbolism which expresses the tension and conflict surrounding the couple. The train tracks form a dividing line between the barren expanse of land stretching toward the hills on one side and the green, fertile farmland on the other, symbolizing the choice faced by each of the main characters and their differing interpretations of the dilemma of pregnancy. Jig focuses on the landscape during the conversation, rarely making eye contact with the
American.
At the end of the story, the American takes the initiative to pick up the couple's luggage and port it to the "other tracks" on the opposite side of the station, symbolizing his sense of primacy in making the decision to give up their child and betraying his insistence to Jig that the decision is entirely in her hands.
“Hills like white elephants” was not only intended for the pleasures of reading, but also though provocation. Hemingway has intentionally left the readers to conclude for themselves what will happen next and makes people think over this problematic issue and not to leave it behind their attention. This is too serious to be put on the back burner and with the help of this story Hemingway made the prevention to the future generation.
The text “ Hills like white elephants” under analysis comes from the book, the collection of short stories “Men Without Women “(1927) written by American author Ernest Hemingway. “Men Without Women” was Hemingway's second book of short stories. It was published in October 1927 with a first print-run of approximately 7600 copies.
The author is famous for his distinctive writing style, characterized by economy and understatement, influenced 20th-century fiction. Ernest Hemingway produced most of his works between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway's fiction was successful because the characters he presented exhibited authenticity that resonated with his audience. …show more content…
Many of his works are classics of American literature. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works during his lifetime; a further three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works were published posthumously.
The couple in the middle of the story is making a radical decision of the problem where there are only two choices, two directions.
They face this problem and we can observe their conversation and just imagine the result of this discussion because the story is unfinished. The text deals with the idea of abortion. Though the word “abortion” is nowhere in the story, it is doubtlessly understood through Hemingway’s powerful use of two literary elements: setting and symbolism.
The main characters:
The man (referred to only as "the American") and his female companion, named Jig. (there is a deep sense that we don’t know a real name of this man as though the author generalizes the youth of that time).
The minor …show more content…
characters:
The barmaid.
The characters are flat (we don’t know the end of this story), described in an indirect way (as the reader has to define them only by their actions and dialogues).
The conflict is internal as Jig is going to have a little baby so in theory she can change her life, her lifestyle and have a happy family. But instead of this she chooses the dangerous operation with a purpose to save the relations (that are only the illusion of relations), save her life, full of travelling, drinks and material pleasure and not to be a mother and give a birth to a new human. This is in fact is external conflict of society in which people have such a way of life, and actually this is closely related with the term “Lost Generation”.
The plot is simple, open and centres around 2 people’s relations and their problem.
The exposition: presented by the description of the place. We may conclude that the story takes place at a train station in the Ebro River valley of Spain. The year is not given, but is almost certainly contemporary to the composition (1920s). This particular day is oppressively hot and dry, and the scenery in the valley is barren and ugly for the most part. We get acquainted with the characters of the story. The setting is described as follows:
“..The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid…”
The complication of the text:
The couple is in the middle of making a drastic decision where there are only two choices, two directions, just like the two rail lines that pass by the station. The openness and loneliness around the railroad station imply that there is no way to back out of the problem at hand and that the man and the girl must address it now. The heat turns the scene into a virtual teakettle, boiling and screaming under pressure. The landscape that encompasses the station plays a fundamental role in the conflict of the story through its extensive symbolism.
When the girl sees the long and white hills she says that “they look like white elephants.” As she observes the white hills she foresees elatedly the birth of her baby – something unique like the uncommon white elephant. The color white symbolizes the innocence and purity of her unborn child.
“... Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees...”
The fields of grain and trees represent fertility and fruitfulness, which symbolize her current pregnant state and the life in her womb. The Ebro River also represents life, as it germinates the fields. Just as the girl appreciates the panorama and its connection to her unborn child the “shadow of a cloud,” which represents the abortion of the fetus, overcomes her happiness.
After an exchange of words with the man she looks again at the scenery, but this time in a different way, as the following sentence illustrates: “They sat down at the table and the girl looked across the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.” The man is obviously in favor of the abortion, and everything he says is an effort to persuade her into it. As she considers his point of view she looks at the dry side of the valley.
The climax is represented by the extract when the couple continue arguing and stop for a little when Jig says, “Would you please please please please please please please please stop talking?”
“...He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights..”.
The American apparently wants this abortion because he wants to keep his current lifestyle. The bags with all the hotel labels on them are symbolic of his cheery spirit. If the woman goes ahead with the pregnancy, he would have to settle down and raise a family, which would mean forgoing his youthful desires of seeing the world.
The denouement is not presented. The story ends with the couple expecting their train’s arrival in five minutes. There is no resolution and there is no decision stated regarding the abortion.
The tone of the story is informal, conversational and dramatic as it describes such serious problem as abortion.
The style of writing: colloquial.
From the point of view of presentation the text is the 3rd person narrative with insertions of direct speech. Type of composition is narration.
Stylistic devices:
Graphon: “Dos cervezas”, “Anis del Toro”, “an Anis”.
Alliteration: “That’s the only thing that bothers us”
Anaphora:
“ I don't care about me “
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t care about me.’
‘Well, I care about you.’
‘Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me.”
Epiphora:
“With water?” "Do you want it with water?” "Is it good with water?"
“You want them with water?” "Yes, with water “
‘Then what will we do afterwards?’
“We’ll be fine afterwards.”
Chain repetition: "…looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry…”
Catch repetition:
“…if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to”.
Consecutive contact repetition:
“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”
Parallel constructions:
“..They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry…”
Epithet:
"warm shadow", lovely hills, beer's nice and cool;
Metaphor:
“…We can have everything.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can have the whole world.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can go everywhere.’
‘No, we can’t. It isn’t ours any more...’
Miesosis:
awfully simple, perfectly simple, perfectly natural;
Metonymy:
“table legs”;
Simile:
"They look like white elephants", “It tastes like liquorice".
The symbols of the story:
The title of the story, "Hills Like White Elephants," is an allegory of the innocence of what seemed to be but is not (Jig's lust towards an American man) from Jig's perspective in regards to her affair with a man who simply sees the pleasure in being with her in the flesh. Innocence is revealed when Jig orders a drink that she has never had before, and does not know the taste of. This is an allegory which develops into mixed feelings as the story unfolds. Jig muses: "Everything tastes of liquorice.
Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe."
This clearly reflects that, in her innocence, she is confused. She does go on to express his immorality towards her as she expresses that everything to her tastes like liquorice. This reflects her intoxication which goes beyond the physical, as he abused her physically, and also emotionally. The American answers, "Oh cut it out", which is a pun intended as a nod toward abortion, and goes on saying, "Well, let's try and have a fine time."
Furthermore, this symbolism combined with Jig's question "That's all we do, isn't it--look at things and try new drinks" and her statement that even exciting new things she has waited a long time to try, like absinthe (sometimes valued as an aphrodisiac), merely end up "tasting like liquorice," implies that the couple's perpetually ambling, hedonistic circus-like lifestyle has become something of a metaphorical white elephant to her.
It appears that she seeks more stability and permanence in life; "It isn't ours anymore," she states of the carefree lifestyle she and the American have been pursuing from one hotel to the next.
Apart from these, other parts of the setting provide symbolism which expresses the tension and conflict surrounding the couple. The train tracks form a dividing line between the barren expanse of land stretching toward the hills on one side and the green, fertile farmland on the other, symbolizing the choice faced by each of the main characters and their differing interpretations of the dilemma of pregnancy. Jig focuses on the landscape during the conversation, rarely making eye contact with the
American.
At the end of the story, the American takes the initiative to pick up the couple's luggage and port it to the "other tracks" on the opposite side of the station, symbolizing his sense of primacy in making the decision to give up their child and betraying his insistence to Jig that the decision is entirely in her hands.
“Hills like white elephants” was not only intended for the pleasures of reading, but also though provocation. Hemingway has intentionally left the readers to conclude for themselves what will happen next and makes people think over this problematic issue and not to leave it behind their attention. This is too serious to be put on the back burner and with the help of this story Hemingway made the prevention to the future generation.