Hills Like White Elephants Essay Example

In the story “Hills like White Elephants” the vague dialogue conveys an allusive tone, in order to be represented correctly the author puts more emphasis in the character’s interaction with the setting. The setting is at a stopping point before their final destination. The dialogue mainly transpires throughout between the Girl and the American. This story is based around a vague dialogue, but is filled with the observations of the setting in order to express the pressure, significance, and opinions upon the subject at hand. In order grasp these messages, the reader interprets through the vivid imagery that is depicted by the author. The style of writing conveys this picture with an intended amount of clarity to leave the rest up to the reader to elucidate. This clarification is necessary in order for the reader to truly grasp the decision at hand and the weight of it as well. A metaphorical aspect of the setting is the “Elephant in the Room [2]”. This implies that there is a subject that no one truly wants to discuss, and is left there to fester within the subconscious of these two characters until they have finally reached their decision. Another extended metaphor throughout the story is “…Like White Elephants”. This symbol can be interpreted as a great gift given to a person, but it is also a heavy burden that most would not desire. At this time they are having the discussion on whether or not to have an “Operation”. There are four main aspects of the setting that reflect upon the tone. The first are the hills mentioned in the beginning of the story. The second is the isolation between the two characters within the train station, and this is mainly because of it’s opposition to the tone,
The first part of the setting that is mentioned is the hills along the Ebro Valley that from their perspective has no shade or trees. The absence of shade represents the blatant manner of how the American goes about convincing the girl in this story. Over and over again he