Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

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Symbolism in Hemingway’s Story ‘Hills like White Elephants’

‘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.

Mainly from the dialogue between America and Jig, it seems that the two are an unmarried couple. Their discussion suggests that they are facing some kind of problem. With further analysis, we can begin to discern that the couple was actually talking about having an abortion. It was not explicitly stated, but with their words, "this is really not an operation at any" one can perceive that they were in fact talking about having an abortion.

Among the many symbols of history, the top three are the hills, white elephants, and the railway station. Hemingway uses these elements to develop the theme of the story. The theme is how Jig sees the opportunity to keep her child and have a happy life, while the man is unable to see the possibilities and work to persuade her to go through with the abortion.

In the story, Jig watched the hills and said: They look like white elephants. The man replied: ‘I h...

... middle of paper ...

...g wrong with me. I feel fine."

I put here the two-time "I feel fine," the emphasis on "I". But it could also mean (emphasis on "fine"): now it is still OK. Jig and his partner speak the real problems between them is not enough.

In conclusion, the short story ‘Hills like White Elephants’ contains symbolism to a high degree. The most important of all symbolism is perhaps the "white elephant". As we all know, a white elephant is a gift that nobody wants. To correlate this to the story, the white elephant is the baby who wants to abort template hesitant.

Work Cited:

Besler, R. Sex, symbolism and psychology in literature. Ohio: Octagon Books, 2005.

Mays, K. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2014.

Meter, M. An Analysis of the Writing Style of Ernest Hemingway. Texas: Texas College of Arts and Industries, 2003.

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