In “Hills like White Elephants” and “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway the reoccurring use of the thought of death is found in both stories. His minimalistic style of writing makes it difficult to see at first, but toward the end, the importance of understanding the impact of the characters’ thoughts of death becomes clear. The characters in both stories are completely different, but there feelings on the thought of death are very similar. In “Hills like White Elephants” the antagonist Jig and the antagonist the older waiter in “A clean, Well-Lighted Place” have similar feelings of sorrow and despair on the thought of death. On the other hand, both protagonist the American and the younger waiter both feel burdened and have a …show more content…
Hemingway has created a situation where she is forced to depend on him because she is a young, immature, girl in an adult situation. It is when the American tells jig that “we will be fine afterward. Just like we were before, it is the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy” that she realizes nothing will ever be the same no matter what he says. During one discussion she says “we could have everything” the man agrees, then she says “no we can’t it isn’t ours anymore and once they take it away, you can never get it back.” He says “But they haven’t taken it away” and her response is “we’ll wait and see.” The American doesn’t realize that at this point she has discovered that if he cannot love her and be happy while she is pregnant how he will ever truly love her as much as she loves him. According to Robert Barron many critics believe that the couple’s relationship has a bleak and ultimately poor ending (Barron). The older waiter in “A clean, Well-Lighted Place” is dealing with a similar situation when a wealthy old man who is a regular at the café he works at comes in after a failed suicide …show more content…
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
The main characters’ conflict over not wanting the same things in life is the root of the women’s disillusionment. The theme is furthered by the complication of the antagonist manipulation of the Jig’s feelings for him. Similar to Cisneros’s written work, Hemingway uses the narrative point of view to illuminate the growing disillusionment the women feels about not being able to have everything if she terminates the pregnancy. Hemingway leads the audience to this conclusion when the protagonist states “no, we can’t it isn’t ours anymore… Once they take it away, you never get it back” when referring to her disappointment that the antagonist will not change his mind and they can no longer have everything they ever wanted
In Hemingway's short story there are three characters, two waiters and their customer. Of these three, two are older men who are experiencing extreme loneliness. The customer sits alone drinking his glasses of brandy slowly, and very carefully, peacefully becoming drunk. While he is meticulously drinking his alcohol, the two waiters talk about him. They discuss his suicide attempt of the week past. The younger waiter doesn't seem to understand why a man with money would try to end his life. Although the older waiter seems to have an insight into the customer's reason, he doesn't share this with the younger one. He seems to know why this deaf old man is so depressed, and sits there alone and silent. When the younger waiter rushes the customer, the older waiter objects. He knows what it is like to go home to emptiness at night, while the younger man goes home to his wife. The older waiter remarks on the differences between him and his younger companion when he says, "I have never had confidence and I am not young.&qu...
Ernest Hemingway has a superbly unique style of writing in Hills Like White Elephants. His short, to the point syntax and sentence style plays a great role in helping readers understand the theme of this short story. The critique M.A.K. Halliday observed, “The story is frequently generated by the repetition of words, clauses, and groups of related words or ethical sets” (Link, Alex). The first set of dialogue that can be pulled from this story is story is short and to the point. The American states, “We can have the whole world.” Jig replies with “No, we can’t” (Hemingway, Ernest). The sentence length is very short, yet there is a hidden meaning behind the small talk. Jig is referring to not having the baby. She can have everything, but her will to decide things. She can’t have a baby due to unloving pressure from the American. It is in sync with the tone of the story perfectly. The tone is forward, direct, and shallow. That is exactly what happens in this dialogue. There is no emotion, just pure sarcasm on a huge topic. Abortion to this couple is nothing more then a qui...
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills like White Elephants." Responding to Literature. Ed. Judith Stanford. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 841-44. Print.
In “Hill Like White Elephants”, the story is about the conversation about the baby and getting abortion between a couple, the American man and his girlfriend. The story begins with the scene of them having a drink. Alcohol plays a big role in this story. They order two big beers and they think that beer will helps them to avoid the problems and fill their free time with anything but discussion about the matter. After a while, at one point, the girls says, “I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks?” (Hemingway 30). This is not a statement that someone would say if they are in a healthy, happy relationship. The girl, in fact questions
Hemingway presents takes the several literary styles to present this short story. Hemingway’s use of Foreshadowing, Pathos, Imagery and Personification allows the reader to enter the true context of the frustration and struggle that the couples face. Although written in the 1920’s it the presents a modern day conflict of communication that millions of couples face. At first glance the beautiful landscape of the Barcelonian hillside in which Jig refers to frequently throughout the text appears to have taken the form of White Elephants. The Americans’ response to Jigs’ observation was less than enthusiastic as he provides a brief comment and continues on with his cerveza. This was but the first of the many verbal jousts to come between Jig and the American. The metaphorical inferences in those verbal confrontations slowly uncover the couple’s dilemma and why they may be on the waiting for the train to Madrid.
‘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.
Abortions were occasions that would be found in books and motion pictures that depicted young ladies in bad positions or ladies that had been pushed to the edge. For example, Ernest Hemingway’s Hills like White Elephants. The story focuses on a conversation between an American man and a girl at the Spanish train station while waiting for a train to Madrid. Throughout the story we read about two people talking about a certain operation that will eventually make things better for them. We get the clues that he is talking about abortion. The girl does not seem to want to have the procedure but the man pressures her about it. Although the American attempts to frame the fetus as the source of the couple’s discontent with life and one another, the tone and pattern of dialogue indicate that there may be deeper problems with the relationship than the purely circumstantial. Back then the procedure was extremely hazardous and accompanied numerous dangers. To choose to have an abortion was to choose to be degraded. Women were jailed for having abortions and discriminated against. In 1973, the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade changed the way abortion was viewed, and since then, controversy over the legitimacy of abortion continues to
In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” Jig changes her position completely when she claims her dominance over her situation, and possibly ends the relationship with The American Man. She changes from powerless, weak, and ambiguous to taking complete control and deciding to make her own decisions about the circumstances in which she is in.
Hemingway, considered to be a modernist writer, makes his readers work by implementing the well-known theory of omission, which “Hills Like White Elephants” is a perfect example of. As he stated in Death in the Afternoon : ‘If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, […].’ (259). It seems that Hemingway assumed the reader would know what is being omitted, nevertheless many features of “Hills Like White Elephants” have already been covered by various critics. At the end of the story the reader is forced to unravel the most...
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006. 268-272.
In Hills Like White Elephants, a couple sits at a train depot in Europe on their way to Madrid. Their conversation seems social and casual at first but quickly exposes an unspoken struggle between the two. "That's all we do, isn't it -- look at things and try new drinks?()" This statement by the unnamed girl shows a hint of discontent with the blasé lifestyle she and her companion live. The conversation soon turns to an "operation" that the gentleman appears to be persuading the girl into having. Phrases like "letting the air in" (Hills, 276) lead the reader to believe that they are talking about an abortion procedure. He tells her it is "the best thing to do" (Hills, 276). The man clearly wants her to have the abortion, forget about the child, and continue living the simple life they live together. However, she is quite obviously not satisfied with this and wants more, but for some reason, she refuses to stand up for herself in the face of this issue. She sarcastically states, "Oh, yes. But I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine"(Hills, 275).
Without the close insight to the American’s true feelings and thoughts, the disconnect between the American and Jig is more prominent. Hemingway utilizes the word “look” at an attempt to bring readers into the true feelings of the characters, but each “look” is seemingly meaningless without the words and thoughts meant behind it. The American’s words are the only insight to his feelings on the situation him and Jig are in. He truly seems to believe an abortion is no big deal when he declares “it’s really an awfully simple operation Jig, it’s not really an operation at all…I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple” (116). His outward total lack of concern for Jig in regards to the operation further shows how much a difference in point of views changes how readers’ interpretation of love exists between two very similar
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. DiYanni, Robert. 2nd ed. New York. Mc Grew Hill. 2008. 400-03. Print.
In a symbolic reading, the opening paragraph describes the crisis that exists in the marriage of the couple. In other words, the description of the bad weather, of the "empty square"[1](l.10) and of their isolation, reflects this conflict and also sets the negative mood. In fact, since the beginning, Ernest Hemingway insists on the isolation of the couple that "does not know any of the people they passed" (ll.1-2) and are "only two Americans"(l.1). Here it is interesting to notice that they are isolated from the outside world but also from each other. There is no communication and they have no contact, they are distant from each other.