Preview

Two Critical Analyses of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1000 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Two Critical Analyses of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"
Two Critical Analyses of Hemingway 's "Hills Like White Elephants"
In "Hills Like White Elephants: The Jilting Of Jig," Nilofer Hashmi explores the many different layers of symbolism, the role of the American male, and the possible outcomes of the story. The use of symbolism is great in this story; therefore Hashmi uses the words of many critics to get through the various layers that the symbolism poses. Hashmi uses Doris Lanier 's argument for support in his article. Lanier states, "everything in the story contributes in some way to the meaning" (Hashmi 74). Hashmi continues to state that the symbolism in the title might shed a light on the outcome of the story. Hashmi also makes a point to highlight the powerful role that the male is given in this story. He pays special attention to the dialogue between the American and Jig and the balance of power that is exposed. Hashmi concludes that as a reader one must see every object as symbolizing the greater theme of the story.
Hashmi begins his article by trying to define the meaning behind the use of the title "Hills like white elephants." For Hashmi the hills "appear to symbolize the glimmering hope, remote yet real like the hills themselves, that her sexual relationship with the man might change the solid relationship of family and permanence" (Hashmi75). Paul Smith For the white hills represent, "the dream of a family" in the other hand they could also represent the "harsh stifling of the dream, manifested by the American 's cold response" (Hashmi 75). Hashmi uses Dante 's rhetorical theory on how we should read literature through the concept of layers to uncover the true meaning in the story.
Hashmi continues the article with the problem of open interpretation that arises because Hemingway gives no clear closure to the story. According to Hashmi there could only be three possible out comes in the story: 1. "Jig will have an abortion and stay with the American 2. Jig will have an abortion and leave the



Cited: Hishma, Nilofer. " Hills Like White Elephants: The Jilting Of Jig." The Hemingway Review Vol. 23 (Fall 2003): p 72-83. Link, Alex. " Staking Everything On It: A Stylistic Analysis of Linguistic Patterns in "Hills Like White Elephants" The Hemingway Review Vol. 23 (Spring 2004): p 67-73.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The different symbols in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemmingway are used to convey the different opinions, feelings and emotions of the characters and meaning of the story at hand. The symbolic devices and setting are used to effectively communicate the conflicts and obstacles that the two individuals are having.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • 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

    In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway surprisingly engages the reader with ambiguous dialogue and character detail necessitating use of extensive symbolism within the setting to encourage the readers active participation. The glaring lack of key details concerning the characters, an American man and a girl named Jig, and their disjointed conversation provide little real substance to comprehend the conflict at hand. In trying to determine what operation is being discussed this statement provides little clue, “I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in” (Hemingway 592). If anything this ambiguous statement promotes further confusion. So it is necessary for the reader…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although we are all humans, we have two very different genders a man and a woman. Each gender comes with a different body and ways our bodies react to things, as well the ability of those bodies. Even within the same gender there are differences in body types and what they are able to do. For example some women are incapable of having children, while other women have an easy time having children. Such as some men are naturally skinny while other men are naturally more big boned and heavier, also having trouble losing weight. There are women with these problems as well. The different body parts that a man and woman have is perhaps the biggest difference between the two genders and is often at the center of argument or debate between the genders. While those are major differences between the genders, the biggest differences is how our minds work and react to different situations in our lives. All those differences between genders also get added on by the diverse cultures and races in…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better 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
  • Good Essays

    A lot of the readers can relate to this because everyone goes through that stage of not feeling wanted. For Jig she was referring to her baby that was not wanted. Personally, Jig wanted the baby. Notice when she said “They’re lovely hills, (Hemingway, 1927)”, meaning that Jig was trying to get off the subject. The America man was trying to persuade her to abort it. Noticing that, when he said, “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig, (Hemingway, 1927).” Then, he continued, “It’s not really an operation at all, (Hemingway, 1927)” Anyone could clearly see that he was talking about aborting the baby because he kept repeating sentences like “I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s nothing. It’s not as painful, as you think, (Hemingway, 1927)”. In the end, Jig doesn’t want to abort the baby, but does anyway because it seemed like she just wanted the situation to end and also the manipulation by her man who keeps saying that if you get rid of the baby everything will go back as it…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hills Like White Elephant is a story that is narrated with very little detail. The subject of the couples argument is never given yet we are able to find out through the writing. This goes on with the whole story as we must dig deeper to see the hidden clues that Hemingway has left us with. Though this narration is very limited, we are able to analyze sections to strengthen the meaning of the…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good 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

    Hemingway continues to imply the issue of time, by using what seems to be a hurried and fast paced dialogue throughout his short story. Again time, seems to be of a relevant matter in this story, Hemingway places many important decisions upon Jig and the American, giving them such a short window of time to come up with a resolution under time’s unkind…

    • 1952 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Week 2 Eng 125

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A plot is a dynamic element in fiction, a sequence of interrelated, conflicting actions and events that are typically build to a climax and bring about a resolution (Clugston, 2010). The couple sits at a table to have a couple of beers and a conversation. At first the girl talks about what they should have to drink and what she sees outside. You can tell that it is more going on at least in their feelings or its more going on in the story. From (Line 41) “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig” the man said. “It’s not really an operation at all. This explains why their conversation they were having earlier been awkward. The seemingly petty conversation here about hills and drinks and an unspecified operation is in actuality an unarticulated but decisive struggle over whether they continue to live the sterile, self-indulgent, decadent life preferred by the man or elect to have the child that Jig is carrying and settle down to a conventional but, in Jig’s view, rewarding, fruitful, and peaceful life (Holladay, 2004). The American was asking his girl to have an abortion without using the word so others would not be entertained or concerned at all. Hemingway knows how to raise suspense to the readers.…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Does she decide to save the unborn life within her? Or does she follow the wishes of the American? Hemingway doesn’t leave us with a straightforward answer to this question. The decision that Jig makes remains a secret. Some literary analysts believe that Jig goes ahead with the operation. Others believe that Jig leaves the man to raise their child by herself. Howard Hannum suggests that Jig doesn’t choose simply one or the other: “She has decided to have the abortion but not in order to resume her life with the American. And this is not so much a question of her having the courage to leave him, after the abortion, as it is a clear case of her being unable to tolerate him—of her having left him in her wake.” Is Hannum correct? Are there any more possible routes that Jig can take? How does Jig resolve this moral…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Doll's House Analysis

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Like most good stories, “Hills Like White Elephants” includes the initial situation, a conflict with complications, climax, suspense, and a conclusion. The initial situation begins with the view of the hills, in an exotic Spanish setting (somewhere in Spain at a train station), where a man and woman are having drinks at a bar. The conflict arises, after Jig states that the hills are like white elephants (591). This simile sparks the conflict (the third element) between the two over who has traveled more. This argument brings on the complication. The metaphor (the hills like pregnancy) and the two argue over an abortion. The girl eventually asks the man “would you please please please please please please please please stop talking” (593) which seems like a pretty climatic part of the story, especially once she announces that she will scream just afterwards. We are left with suspense when the man walks away with the luggage. There isn’t much time for suspense in the moment, but we wonder if she will still be there when he returns. Once he returns, there is little conversation to conclude the story. It is not a very dramatic or exciting ending, as we are somewhat left hanging about the whole things, which gives us room to come up with some questions to help us figure out the meanings in their…

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American sees it as a problem that can easily be solved as where Jig sees it as a beautiful experience. Jig looks to the hills and says; "they look like white elephants" by saying "white elephants" she is referring to her pregnancy. Jig continues to say, "They're lovely hills" meaning having a baby will be lovely. The American tires to minimize the beauty of it and explains, "It's really not anything. They just let the air in." Even though the conflict is the man and Jigs issue with keeping the baby or getting an abortion, it is ultimately up to Jig to decide. Towards the end of the story when the man gets the final say about the abortion, the girl says, "I'll scream." Meaning she has made up her mind and she does not want to hear anymore from the…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    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