Moving to the Girl’s Side of “Hills Like White Elephants”
Moving to the Girl’s Side of “Hills Like White Elephants”
In the article, “Moving to the Girl’s Side of ‘Hills Like White Elephants”, Stanley Renner carefully analyzes the movements of the female character and argues the different view from the general conclusion while still pondering on the open-end question the writer, Ernest Hemmingway, has left with the readers. Renner is left unsatisfied with the unresolved ending of the story. Although the majority of critics conclude that the girl will have an abortion to keep her lover but the existing relationship between the American and the girl deteriorated, Renner gives a new twist to the majority conclusion. Renner assets that “published commentary has not looked closely enough at the development of the female character through the story.” (27). In Renner’s conclusion, “the pregnant girl as she struggles with the American’s wishes and her own feelings points, in my view, toward the conclusion that she decides not to have an abortion, and her companion, though not without strong misgivings, acquiesces in her decision.” (27). The author breaks the story into three different evidences to move to the girl’s side of “Hills Like White Elephants”; setting where in the female character’s development takes place, four movements of the girl’s feelings that the girl develops as time goes, the remaining details of the story. Renner breaks down symbols of setting to clarify the conflict between the girl and her companion. Renner notes that “To follow the girl’s development in “Hills Like White Elephants,” it is essential to have a clear sense of the setting in which her development takes place.” (28). Hemmingway wrote this story through symbolism as though it was meant to be a work of poetry, for example, the setting of the story is at a train station where the two railroad lines heading opposite directions and hills on either side. The hill on one side is described to look barren and dry while the other has an imagery of
In the article, “Moving to the Girl’s Side of ‘Hills Like White Elephants”, Stanley Renner carefully analyzes the movements of the female character and argues the different view from the general conclusion while still pondering on the open-end question the writer, Ernest Hemmingway, has left with the readers. Renner is left unsatisfied with the unresolved ending of the story. Although the majority of critics conclude that the girl will have an abortion to keep her lover but the existing relationship between the American and the girl deteriorated, Renner gives a new twist to the majority conclusion. Renner assets that “published commentary has not looked closely enough at the development of the female character through the story.” (27). In Renner’s conclusion, “the pregnant girl as she struggles with the American’s wishes and her own feelings points, in my view, toward the conclusion that she decides not to have an abortion, and her companion, though not without strong misgivings, acquiesces in her decision.” (27). The author breaks the story into three different evidences to move to the girl’s side of “Hills Like White Elephants”; setting where in the female character’s development takes place, four movements of the girl’s feelings that the girl develops as time goes, the remaining details of the story. Renner breaks down symbols of setting to clarify the conflict between the girl and her companion. Renner notes that “To follow the girl’s development in “Hills Like White Elephants,” it is essential to have a clear sense of the setting in which her development takes place.” (28). Hemmingway wrote this story through symbolism as though it was meant to be a work of poetry, for example, the setting of the story is at a train station where the two railroad lines heading opposite directions and hills on either side. The hill on one side is described to look barren and dry while the other has an imagery of
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