In “Hills like White Elephants”, the setting of the story is symbolic to the main character’s dilemma. The author, Ernest Hemingway gives just enough information by using symbols in the story so the reader can draw a deeper meaning to what is being detailed. As the main theme of the story, he relies on symbolism to convey the idea of an abortion. The description of the two different landscapes of the railroad tracks represents Jig’s difficult decision of whether she should keep her baby or continue a ruthless lifestyle with the American.
Ernest Hemingway uses the title “Hills like White Elephants” to symbolize Jig’s pregnancy. A “white elephant” is a defined as something that is of a great burden or a possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of, and is especially of something that is expensive to obtain (White Elephant 1). Symbolically, the hills can also be interpreted as swollen breasts and the abdomen of a pregnant woman.
“On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway 1). Although the term “abortion” is never found in the story, the American man and Jig are confronted by this complicated decision. From the symbolic interpretation of the setting, there are only two choices, or two directions, similar to how there are only two rail lines that pass through the station. (Rankin 1). Unfortunately, both characters have different view points on the situation. “Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies”(Hemingway 2). The bamboo curtain is a symbol of boundaries, and separations of their different feelings...
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...a decision a right one or the wrong one? Ultimately, what may be right to some may be wrong to other people. There is are no correct or incorrect decisions in life but those that people come to choose and believe to be right differ from each person. In Hemingway's realistic story, “Hills like White Elephants”, Jig attempts in trying to make a critical decision in her life by making the right decision, but is unable to because of manipulation from the American, and also wanting to please him. Jig is indecisive
about her choice and depends on the American as well. Jig does realizes the possibilities of her decision but, she has difficulties letting go of old habits, has a low self-esteem that leads her to being a passive person, and putting up a front by hiding true her feelings Jig faces an crucial decision of abortion that will change her future. (Blackmore 4).
In Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” and Wallace’s “Good People,” both of the young females, Jig and Sheri, experience an unplanned pregnancy and must decide whether an abortion is the right choice. While the former story employs dialogue to depict the relationship of an adventurous, carefree couple in the 1920s, the latter uses third person limited point of view to show a faithful young couple whose religion is their source of morality. Thus, Wallace digs much deeper since both religion and love are a factor in Sheri’s ultimate decision. The enigmatic endings of both stories leave us questioning Jig and Sheri’s choice and its impact on the future of their relationship with their respective partners. The text suggests that Jig will not comply with the American’s wish of aborting the baby because of her vision and the indicative dialogue between her and the American, and Sheri will conform to her religious beliefs and carry the child. Whereas Jig will leave the American due to his lack of obligation, Lane Dean Jr. will marry Sheri in his effort to be a good person.
“The Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story that is about an American man and a girl called Jig. They are sitting at a table outside a train station, waiting for a train to Madrid. While they wait they order drinks and have a heated ongoing conversation over whether or not Jig will have an operation that would be of great significance to their relationship. “The Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway has two important symbols in the story, the hills and the drinks both of which help to give us a better understanding of what is going on between the American and his girl.
...ision is left to be made that the 1930's society hasn't already made for them. The social makeup of the era lifted the ability of women to make such decisions on their own. Pro-choice wasn't even a concept at this time of near total male domination of the social and legal scene. It would be some time before women would actually have the ability to choose what to do with their own bodies and this choice is why this story wouldn't translate very well into a modern time. The ability of women now days to choose what to do with themselves and their ever increasing independence makes them less reliant on a man for support. This is power which Jig is lacking and has left her in her situation. Her complete dependence upon the American has granted him the control over her to do as he wishes. Unfortunately, Jig would have many years before the situation would change.
Hemingway provides the reader with insight into this story, before it is even read, through the title. The girl in the story mentions the hills that can be seen from the train station and describes them as looking like white elephants. Jig is at a crossroads in her life, accompanied by her partner. She is pregnant and cannot decide whether to choose life for the baby, or to get an abortion. Throughout the story, she experiences persistent uncertainty over what she wants to do with her life. Whatever decision she makes will have a drastic impact in her later years as a woman. While seated at the bar inside the train station, the girl says, “The hills look like white elephants” (Hemingway). The hills that are spotted in the distance directly parallel the decision that Jig must make. Critic Kenneth Johnston was recorded stating, “A white elephant is a rare pale-gray variety of an Asian elephant held sacred by the Burmese and Siamese. The girl’s reverence for life is captured by this meaning of the phrase.” Johnston also says, “A white ...
‘Hills Like White Elephants’ is a short story authored by Ernest Hemingway about an American and a girl named Jig. In the story, the two are sitting in a train station waiting for the train to Madrid. While they wait, they have an intense ongoing debate on whether or not to abort Jig. At the end of the story, the train is about to arrive and the man carries luggage on the tracks as they prepare to leave. The end of the story does not clearly define the outcome of its decision. She said I feel good at the end of the story - happiness is a central theme of the story, but we wonder if she went through with the operation. The paper discusses the manner in which symbolism has been employed in the story to communicate about an abortion, the couple is considering to go through.
As stated in an essay by Donald E. Hardy and Heather K. Hardy, the setting of being caught between “brown and dry” country and luscious fields and a river with mountains behind it. The “death,” although not made completely clear upon first reading, would represent the abortion of the child that the man and woman discuss throughout the story. If the woman chooses to have the operation and the man stays with her, they would be metaphorically traveling into the dry country, thus living a monotonous, dull life together. Choosing to keep the child and stay together, the couple can live a more fruitful and beautiful life. While the woman seems to be more confident in her decision to abort, and then, later on, to keep, the baby, the man clearly struggles with both choices which can be observed by his lack of acknowledgment of the scenery beyond the train station. As the couple ultimately chooses life, love, and to live a life together with their child, the story is
Renner, Stanley "Moving to the Girl's Side of `Hills Like White Elephants'." The Hemingway Review, 15 (1) (Fall 1995): 27-41. As Rpt. in Wyche, David "Letting the Air into a Relationship: Metaphorical Abortion in `Hills Like White Elephants'. The Hemingway Review, 22 (1) (Fall 2002): 56-71. EBSCOhost.
Ernest Hemingway is an incredible writer, known for what he leaves out of stories not for what he tells. His main emphasis in Hills Like White Elephants seems to be symbolism. Symbolism is the art or practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations (merriam-webster.com). He uses this technique to emphasize the importance of ideas, once again suggesting that he leaves out the important details of the story by symbolizing their meaning.
The character of Jig is also very indecisive. After The American Man is persuading her to have an abortion, she states that she is willing to have the operation if it will make The American Man happy, and insures he will no longer worry. She also states that since she doesn’t care about herself, she will have the procedure because it will please The American Man. Later during the story, while they are outside looking at the hills, the two have the conversation of:
In “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway relies on symbolism to convey the theme of abortion. The symbolic material objects, as well as the strong symbolic characters, aid the reader’s understanding of the underlying theme.
The setting is set in a café at a train station. On one side of the station there is a lush and green landscape and the other is a deserted barren landscape with browns and whites. They are sit in the café drinking and covertly discus the decision the American is insisting. The setting starts with “there was no shade and no trees” this reflects that there is nowhere to hide from the topic of abortion. It was all there to be seen by the sun. It is set in a hot and uncomfortable place which is the position the young girl is in. She sees a “passing cloud shadowing the white hills with darkness is a subtle portent of doom to Jig’s pregnancy” (Abdoo 238). There is two contrasting landscapes that the girl sees one that is fruitless and has a wind to it and the other has trees and is lively. This represents her options by keeping the baby she can have a fulfilling life or have the abortion and be left sterile and barren. The setting reinforces the idea that there is a divide between the couple and if they should have the
In Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants," the story starts with a scene that opens on a railway station in Spain where the Barcelona-to-Madrid express is. The American and Jig, his girl, sit at a table drinking beer. The landscape surrounding the station plays a role into a part of the conversation the American and Jig will have later on in the short story. The landscape is described as the valley of the Ebro River, with long white hills on each side. Jigs remarks about the hills looking like white elephants which is a defined as something that is of a great burden or a possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of, and is especially of something that is expensive to obtain. This remark starts the conversation that is very serious but is being portrayed by the American as not a big deal. The meaning of the conversation is never just bluntly stated, but through clues and a bit of interpretation it is easy to tell that they are having a conversation about Abortion. The man plays off the conversation as not a big deal and a very easy thing to get done, but Jig knows that, that is not the case, and that there is more to the surgery than what the man knows. Through the conversation, the relationship between Jig and the American can be seen as ...
Ernest Hemmingway uses time, place, and symbolism in "Hills like White Elephants" to intensify the central dilemma in a story about a man and a woman deciding on whether to go through with an abortion. Although a literal reading of the title may not seem to have any relation to the story, the title is rich in implications. Critics suggest that "Hills" refers to the shape of a woman's stomach when pregnant, and Webster's 21st Century Dictionary defines white elephant as: "[An] awkward, useless possession." The term is also defined in Webster's as an item that is worthless to some but priceless to others. According to Victor Lindsey, the child in the story is a white elephant in the view of the man, who is trying to convince the girl to get rid of it. Hemingway hints about how the man and the woman each feel about the unborn child, but he never tells us why they have such different views on the prospect of an abortion. The man in the story, referred to as "the American," claims that the abortion is necessary because it would save their relationship, whereas the woman, Jig, has doubts as to whether or not she should have an abortion at all.
...ings from a metaphorical perspective. They are advised that the train will arrive in five minutes; meaning while they are at the height of their clash their decision must be made almost immediately. After a moment the American picks up "the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks"(146) from their initial position on the side with the stark, ominous hills, thus signifying his affirmation of her wishes. He takes, what is to him the emblem of their past life together, his "baggage", and brings them to her side of the tracks, the side of life. They've both chosen the same direction in life. Though the text itself does not implicitly reveal their final decision, Hemingway's use of symbolism within the setting make their choice crystal clear: she decides not to have an abortion, and he, though not without staunch reservations, acquiesces.
On average, around 15 million abortions occurred among younger, unmarried women ranging within the childbearing ages of 15-44. In which case, the reader could infer that Jig was among that age range in the text because she was bearing a child. It does not state if the man and Jig were married, but one could infer that they were not married due to the way they were described as young and were traveling instead of settled while Jig was pregnant. This could also infer that Jig became pregnant unexpectedly and very sudden. Becoming pregnant unexpectedly leaves a woman at a higher risk for considering an abortion. The higher risk could be due to her or her partner unready for a child or have an unmet need for contraception. Which could explain why the young couple was highly considering the abortion. Allowing the reader to know this information, it could enlighten them to realize why the man is encouraging Jig to have the abortion at a subtly aggressive extent. He is unready to have the responsibility of a child or a family. In Spain, where the story occurs, abortion is a legal option for women in the first 14 weeks of their pregnancy. This implies that Jig would receive a safe abortion, meaning after receiving the