In Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway the reader gets look into a tense conversation between a man and a woman regarding a serious moment in their relationship. Using Deborah Tannen’s theories regarding rapport and report talk I will analyze the talking styles in this short story. The characters in the story are the American and the girl and from what I observed I was able to learn that they speak in report and rapport talk, respectively, just Tannen’s theory would report. Rapport talk is the typical conversational style of women and helps form a connection. Sometimes to form this connection rapport talk can look like imitation or revealing similar experiences. Tannen uses an example of a young girl who says, “’I have a brother …show more content…
Report talk is often more just a way of communicating information, but is sometimes used to establish dominance, because of this it is more often used by men. Deborah Tannen uses an example of this by describing a conversation between three young boys where one said “’ “When we went to Disneyland, we stayed three days.’” (Tannen) the second then says, “’When we went to Disneyland, we stayed four days.’” (Tannen) The third boy then says, “’We 're going to move to Disneyland!’” (Tannen). The mother of the boys lets Tannen know that she is concerned, but Tannen explains that the boys know the truth and her son had just “won that round” (Tannen). In contrast, as mentioned before in rapport talk this wouldn’t happen because it would not help establish a connection. According to Tannen’s theory this wouldn’t be something the boys could help because it is in their nature. Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is about a conversation between a man and a woman in a Spanish bar who are have a tense discussion regarding their relationship troubles while waiting for a train. Throughout the piece the reader can sense the sizzling tension between the couple and one can see that they are taking two different approaches to how they talk with each other. The characters do not have names and are simple referred to as the American and the girl. Most of the short story is conversation which …show more content…
She is trying to forma connection by saying they should have drinks and joking that the “hills look like elephants” (Hemmingway). She continues to try to relate with him and to even simply agree with whatever he is saying. Towards the end of the piece she seems to get more aggressive with the American and the tension becomes more noticeably between them especially after the American says that after the operation “We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before…” (Hemingway). This seems to send her onto the defensive and while she still tries to relate and keep that connection the reader can tell that she is beginning to pull away from that connection, but by the end she is smiling and back to her normal
“Roman Fever” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are two stories that on surface seem very different from one another, but through careful analysis the two are quite similar. Their similarities are mainly evident through the significant use of the dialogues in the both stories. “Roman Fever” has a third person omniscient narrator which the author allows to know the inner private thoughts of both characters, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. In contrast, “Hills Like White Elephants” is composed in a third person limited narrative where very little is known about the thoughts of both Jig and the American. At first Ernest Hemingway’s short story can clearly be viewed as the most ambiguous out of the two. With its simplistic style, written mostly in straightforward dialogue which leaves the readers to contemplate over the ultimate outcome of the story and forces them to ...
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.
“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.
The American in “Hills like White Elephants” is constantly saying how simple of a procedure it is when in actuality he has no knowledge of abortions. He goes on to say that “she doesn’t have to be afraid because he knows lots of people that have done it (Hemingway 476) The taking of a life no matter how it is done is never as simple as saying other people have done it so don’t be scared. Even though the American says he just wants her to be happy. It is clear that the most important thing is not her safety or happiness but him being able to live his care free lifestyle burden free (Wyche). He is constantly pushing the conversation even when she ask him to stop. For him the thought of death is an escape from his responsibilities. Her indecisiveness is hindering his plans to travel and he says if she does have an abortion then he will be happy again and then she will be happy too. He is so simple minded and egotistical that he tells her what she needs to do to be happy and that that’s the only way. At this point the American has indirectly said I cannot love you and be happy if we have a child, but if she has this procedure then everything will be back to normal. In “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” the protagonist the young waiter has a similar outlook but in a different situation. The waiter is constantly saying that “he wishes the old man had just killed
There are a few characters within this short story. Jig is the protagonist and the antagonist is the American. The waitress is supporting the story with quick cameos as she delivers cervezas to the couple. Although these characters were not described in great detail they leave a strong image of a struggling young couple in your mind. Hemingway describing the couple as the American and Jig was purposeful in that it allows for the readers mind to place anyone into that scenario. However, the landscape was described in greater detail to acclimate the reader to the metaphorical inferences and similes that would be exchanged between the American and Jig. The first inference “they look like white elephants” was made by Jig as she describes the hillside past the valley as White Elephants. White could symbolize p...
“Hills Like White Elephants” is a classical short story first published in 1927 written by Ernest Hemingway, who has been generally recognized as one of the most influential writers in American history of literature. Starting with a lengthy description of the story’s setting in a train station surrounded by hills, fields and trees in the valley of Ebro in Spain, Hemingway told the story from a third person limited omniscient, nearly in an entire form of a dialogue between an unnamed American young man and a girl named Jig while they are sitting at a bar near the train station waiting for the train to Madrid. Throughout Hemingway’s direct and clean report...
Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2003. As Rpt. in Rankin, Paul "Hemingway's `Hills Like White Elephants'." Explicator, 63 (4) (Summer 2005): 234-37.
Earnest Hemingway is one of Americas foremost authors. His many works, their style, themes and parallels to his actual life have been the focus of millions of people as his writing style set him apart from all other authors. Many conclusions and parallels can be derived from Earnest Hemingway's works. In the three stories I review, ?Hills Like White Elephants?, ?Indian Camp? and ?A Clean, Well-lighted Place? we will be covering how Hemingway uses foreigners, the service industry and females as the backbones of these stories. These techniques play such a critical role in the following stories that Hemingway would be unable to move the plot or character development forward without them.
Evans, Sara. Wang, Bella ed. "Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "Hills Like White Elephants"". GradeSaver, 10 December 2010 Web. 9 March 2014.
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.
Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" touches on an issue as ageless as time: communication problems in a relationship. He tells his story through conversations between the two main characters, the American and the girl. Conflict is created through dialogue as these characters face what most readers believe to be the obstacle of an unexpected pregnancy. Their plight is further complicated by their inability to convey their differing opinions to each other. Symbolism and the title's meaning are other effective means of communicating conflict.
“The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. […] The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid” (290 paragraph 1). Ernest Hemingway crafts a well written dialogue in this story about a man and a girl. The story begins with a detailed description of a train station in Spain surrounded by beautiful hills. The story then turns into dialogue between the two. A man and a girl who appear to be traveling sit down at a train station to grab a beer and wait for the train. However a conflict is present between the man and the girl. The dilemma is an abortion. It is made clear throughout the story that the man is wanting the abortion and the girl is not really for it and therefore is not really sure what to do. Hemingway’s good use of dialogue and his creative way of using symbolism creates the tone and mood as well as showing the meaning of the conversation without directly stating it.
Conversation Analysis (CA) is the study of talk-within-interaction that attempts to describe the orderliness, structure and sequential patterns of interaction in conversation. It is a method of qualitative analysis developed by Harvey Sacks with the aid of Emmanuel Schegloff and Gail Jefferson in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Using the CA frame of mind to view stories shows us that what we may think to be simplistic relaying of information or entertaining our friends is in fact a highly organised social phenomena that is finely tuned in a way that expresses the teller’s motivation behind the talk. (Hutchby & Wooffitt, 2011). It is suggested that CA relies on three main assumptions; talk is a form of social action, action is structurally organised, talk creates and maintains inter-subjectivity (Atkinson & Heritage, 1984).
Relationships have tend to be compared to the word perfect most of the time but in Hills Like White Elephants, the word perfect is not the word to describe the couple’s relationship in the story. The story is written by Ernest Hemingway, who right before writing this short story was having relationship problems which involved divorce because of his affairs. It seems that he has a lot to saying and can relate to this short story. The author seems to relate to the male in the story. This short shorty is based on a couple who are sitting in at a table at a train station waiting for a train to Madrid, Spain. They seem to have a topic opened up at the table that seems to not be cleared up right away because one feels different than the other. In a relationship, the couple should agree in a topic that is really serious and even though the other feels different there should be a meeting point or both of them or they should both get help in making the decision.