Preview

Critical Analysis of the Short Story ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway. Essay Example

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1512 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Critical Analysis of the Short Story ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway. Essay Example
-------------------------------------------------
Critical Reading of Literature in English
Critical Analysis of the short story ‘Hills like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway.

Word Count: 1367
Hills like White Elephants – Ernest Hemingway “Will Jig have the abortion and stay with the man; will Jig have the abortion and leave the man; or will Jig not have the abortion and win the man over to her point of view?” (Hashmi, N, 2003). These are the three different scenarios that have been seriously considered in Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills like White Elephants”.
Ernest Hemingway is a great writer, he worked as a reporter after graduated from high school and continued this career on and off for the rest of his life. He was badly wounded while helping to rescue another wounded man. These experiences stayed with his for lifetime and influenced his work greatly. After the war he returned to his work as a reporter and moved to Paris, where he met other expatriate writers (such as: Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce, etc), after his marriage. However, Hemingway finished his own life with a shotgun in 1961 when he was suffering from physical and mental pains. His life was filled with highest adventure and deep depression that influenced him a lot on his writing, thus his stories are all brilliant and meaningful.
“Hills like White Elephants” first published in August 1927 which became a significant piece in Hemingway’s “Men without Women” short stories collection. The story is mainly about an American and his girlfriend, Jig, are having some sort of disagreement of an “operation” outside of a train station while they are waiting for the train. However, the story ends before the train arrives and with little indication of what the final decision or the status of the relationship might be in the future.
Hemingway’s early short stories are considered to be among his finest work, and “Hills like White Elephants” has been widely-anthologized that

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

    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
  • 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

    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
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants”. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 7th ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 171-175. Print.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 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
  • Powerful Essays

    Hemingway led a difficult life full of martial affairs and misfortune. Some of these experiences have set the foundation for Hemingway's greatest works. This essay will analyze the influence that Hemingway's separation from Pauline and divorce from Hadley had on "Hills like White Elephants." Before writing "Hills like White Elephants," Hemingway had been residing in Paris with his wife Hadley and son, Bumby. During their stay in Paris, Hadley and Ernest Hemingway met a woman named Pauline Pfeiffer. Pauline was more of a friend to Hadley than Hemingway was. Pauline did not think much of Hemingway at first, she thought he was lazy and a no-doer. Later Pauline and Hemingway fell in love and had an affair. Once Hadley knew of their affair, Hemingway requested a divorce. Hadley agreed under one condition, Hemingway and Pfeiffer had to separate for 100 days. After the 100 days if they were still in love, then Hadley would grant the divorce (Baker 174). This separation period left an indelible effect on Hemingway's life and…

    • 2205 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Flannery O’Connor’s essay “Writing Short Stories”, she offers a range of advice that she believes to both improve and enrich short fiction. The most key among these are the importance of developing strong characters, a story’s inability to reduced, and the priority the dramatic action takes over the author’s personal thoughts and emotions. It is these traits that truly define a great story, and although many of the stories from our class good examples of O’Connor’s advice put into action, Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is certainly the strongest and most prominent. Hemingway’s distinct, succinct style leaves no room for extraneous and unimportant details within his stories, while also encompassing a rich, unbiased dramatic action…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “ Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was the first published in August 1927, in the Literary transition,than later in the 1927 short story collection Men without Woman. The story takes place at a train station in the Ebro River valley of Spain. This particular day is oppressively hot and dry, and the scenery in valley is barren…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Snow of Kilimanjaro

    • 3451 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Baird discusses the life of Hemingway, beginning with his birthplace and ending with the taking of his own life. Hemingway was well versed in the finer things in life with his mothers teachings but much preferred hunting and more masculine activities with his father. Another important influence in his writings is his experiences on great expeditions to Africa.Watts, Emily S. "Iconography..." Ernest Hemingway and the Arts. Chicago: Illinois P, 1971. 51-95. Watts explains that Hemingway does not write much on the topic of suicide. One might think this would be a large subject in his stories, but he mentions suicide only briefly in one story. Although Harry in The Snows of Kilimanjaro does die, he has little choice in the manner.Works CitedBaker, Carlos. "The Slopes of Kilimanjaro." Ernest Hemingway A Life Story. New York: Scribner 's, 1969.Hemingway, Ernest. "The Snows of Kilimanjaro." The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories. New York: Scribner 's, 1970.Nahal, Chaman. "The Short Stories." The Narrative Pattern in Ernest Hemingway 's Fiction. Madison: Fairleigh, 1971. Plimpton, George. "An Interview with Ernest Hemingway." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York: Hill, 1961. Shuman, R. Baird. "Ernest Hemingway." Magill 's Survey of American Literature. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 3. New York: Marshall, 1991. Watts, Emily S. "Iconography and technical expression: the agony of man." Ernest Hemingway and the Arts. Chicago: Illinois P, 1971. Word Count: 2024…

    • 3451 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In “Hills Like White Elephants,” published in the literary magazine Transition, author Ernest Hemingway portrays the difference in the implicit and explicit dialogue in the couple’s conversation. In this short story, a young couple is faced with a crucial decision of going through with an abortion or keeping the baby. The girl, named Jig, is confronted with the struggle of deciding, while the American man, unnamed, already had his mind set on getting the abortion. While Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” portrays a simple conversation between two lovers, the hypertext of their dialogue reveals the conflict between them. Throughout the couple’s conversation, it might be known for him to make a comment, but really he means something…

    • 2376 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ernest Hemingway is known for much of his great short stories he wrote during the twentieth century. After graduating high school, Hemingway instead of going to college decided to take a job as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star newspaper. The Star's style guidelines influenced his writing style for the rest of his career: Use short sentences, short first paragraphs, and vigorous English. Soon World War I came along and Hemingway left the newspaper to join the U.S. Army so that he could fight in the War. However, The Army rejected him because of his poor eyesight, so he volunteered as a driver with the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. As a ambulance driver he was severely wounded and his driving career ended. While recuperating in a Milan hospital, Hemingway fell in love with an American nurse six years his senior named Agnes von Kurowsky. They made plans for her to join him in the United States. Hemingway returned to the United States only to find out that Agnes had fallen in love with an Italian Officer permanently making him doubt his loved ones. Hemingway wrote the A Farewell to Arms inspired by this event later on in his career. After the war, Hemingway moved to Toronto, Ontario to take a job as a reporter for the Toronto Star newspaper. Then in 1921, Hemingway moved to Paris where “the Most interesting people in the world” lived. This is what many called it Hemingway's turning point of his career. During his first 20…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When you read the many novels and short stories of Ernest Hemingway, there is one thing that you discover upon closer examination. His writing style is almost the same in all of his work. The use of phrases and sentences, the repeated use of the same word for emphasis, the irony, the detailed graphic description of scenes that deal with death, and even the portrayal of his significant characters in the stories are surprisingly similar to each other.…

    • 2193 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hemingway Story Analysis

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Based on the stories I studied in the collection The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, it seems Ernest Hemingway had a very naturalistic and pessimistic view of life. His stories often emphasize gruesome violence and tragic deaths or the pain the world has to offer in different places, such as lifelong shortcomings of character or tumultuous relationships. Naturalism is evident in that characters are never the masters of their fate. For good or for bad the world does not let on what’s in for the characters, and it could care less. His stories are not all completely pessimistic, but he puts a lot of emphasis on his point that most stories are not happy endings. His protagonists usually end up either dying, failing, or somehow unsatisfied, either because the world is simply not fair or because they lacked some kind of grit or manliness.…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays