“Hills Like White Elephants”, is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was first published in August 1927, in the literary magazine Transition, then later in the 1927 short story collection Men Without Women. “Hills Like White Elephants” tells the story of an American man and a woman having some beers outside the station bar as they wait for the train to Barcelona. It elaborates on how an irresponsible couple unaccustomed to serious communication interact in a poison relationship and try to manipulate each other to get what they want. “Hills Like White Elephants" is an extraordinary example of human communication. The story depicts a couple at a crisis point in their relationship, as they struggle to communicate their opposing views, and the course their relationship should take. Ego prevents the couple from seeing each other’s view point. Although Jig comes off somewhat submissive, both parties are strong willed and consumed by the power of their ideas and it prevents them from understanding one another’s outlook on the situation. When that occurs, any chance of compromise is lost. Not even halfway down the page of the story, the couple begins to bicker at each other. Jig: (the hills) They look like white elephants, The American: I’ve never seen one, Jig: No, you wouldn’t have. The American: I might have, just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything. (1) Immediately, a tension between the two builds until the man says, "Oh, cut it out"(1), and then The American changes the subject. He is the one who starts the argument by dismissing Jig's white elephant comment and bringing up the abortion. The author makes the man to be very selfish in wanting the girl to have the operation so that he can keep his lifestyle o... ... middle of paper ... ...afe to say neither of them wins the argument and a solution is not found. Hemingway has manufactured a fleshed-out characterization of the couple and a clear and complete exposition of their dilemma using almost nothing but dialogue. The title of the story has led many to speculate on what the “white elephant” symbolizes. It is notable that "white elephant" is a term used to refer to something that requires much care, yielding little profit; such as a relationship. A white elephant is generally thought of as unusual and cumbersome: better referred to as, in short, a problem. Hemingway disguises the true underlying problem with this couple, with the subject of abortion. It almost distracts the reader and encourages them to take sides: either relating to Jig or The American, when the problem was not in the operation, or the child, but their poor commutation skills.
Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is a short story that deals with the idea of conformity and the conflict caused by internal desire and pressure from another party. The short story is very subtle, and often uses these subtleties in combination with incredible amounts of symbolism interlaced throughout the narrative to cause the reader to look and think deeper into the motives, values and convictions of the conflict between the two protagonists respective desires. When two parties are at an impasse of desire, the conviction of their opposing beliefs become increasingly unshakeable. This results in dissension due to the severe lack of understanding between the parties involved and furthermore, they refuse to be held responsible
Renner, Stanley. "Moving To The Girl's Side Of "Hills Like White Elephants.." Hemingway Review 15.1 (1995): 27-41. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
“The Hills as White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, tells a story about a couple who are expecting a baby, but want to have an abortion. The setting of the story takes places at a bar situated across of a train station in Madrid, Spain. The couple sits by the bar, and order some drinks. They began discussing about whether or not having the abortion. While they wait for the train the man convince the girl. Within the two works there are many similarities but also differences between the central idea, conflict and the language devices.
‘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.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." The Norton Introduction to Literature.Eds.Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. Shorter 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2006.128-132
Ernest Hemingway 's “Hills Like White Elephants” contains at least two themes that are difficult to express directly but are thoroughly prevalent within the story as well as our own lives. We
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.
---, "Hills Like White Elephants." The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1953. 273-278.
In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” the character Jig is submissive to her counterpart The American Man, who is encouraging her to have an abortion. While Jig is not sure what she wants, she does not wish to press the subject of the operation because The American Man is intent upon persuading her to go through with the procedure. Throughout this story Jig’s helplessness, indecisiveness, and her lack of education become apparent, although by the end of the story she becomes confident, decisive, and ultimately takes back control of her decisions and life.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Fiction 101: An Anthology of Short Fiction. James H. Pickering. Twelfth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. 638-641
Stukas, Jake. "Literary analysis: Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway." Helium.com. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .
Hills Like White Elephants, written by Ernest Hemingway, is a story that takes place in Spain while a man and woman wait for a train. The story is set up as a dialogue between the two, in which the man is trying to convince the woman to do something she is hesitant in doing. Through out the story, Hemingway uses metaphors to express the characters’ opinions and feelings.
“Hills like White Elephants” is told in a vague way that holds the reader at bay. Hemingway’s genius use of symbolism helps the reader understand the story. One of the most prevalent use of symbolism is the term white elephant, which represents “an unwanted gift, a seemingly remote and but immense problem,” that the couple are forced to deal with (Kozikowski 107). The white elephant denotes the unwanted unborn child that is resented by the father, although the mother is curious to see through. The use of the railroad symbolizes the divide in the relationship. The young couple is in different directions, however, neither one listens to each other. The girl is pressured by the man to choose one side of the tracks, but at the train station, she is in a position where her choice is visible. His actions are haughty and she is submissive to him. Objects like the alcohol and the bamboo care carefully chosen by the author. The previously stated Absinthe is a symbol for sensuality and a narcotic. The bamboo curtains denote its hollowness and letting the air in; consequently the same manner that the American refers to the operation as “letting the air in” (215). Color plays an integral function in understanding that the couple is at parallel ends like the train track. The “blackness of the licorice and the whiteness of the hills contrast between sorrow and joy”; furthermore, the way the couple seem divided and
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 ...
In the short story by Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants," a couple is delayed at a train station en route to Madrid and is observed in conflict over the girl's impending abortion. In his writing, Hemingway does not offer any commentary through a specific character's point of view, nor, in the storytelling, does he offer his explicit opinions on how to feel or think about the issues that emerge. The narrative seems to be purely objective, somewhat like a newspaper or journal article, and in true Hemingway form the story ends abruptly, without the couple's conflict clearly being resolved. The ambiguity of the ending has been a subject of much debate; however, the impact of what is not said in words can be gleaned through the symbolism of their surroundings. Upon examination of the setting, the couple's final choice becomes instantly apparent.