Comparing A & P, A Rose for Emily, and Hills Like White Elephants

The short stories “A & P,” “A Rose for Emily,” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are like puzzle pieces because they are all hooked together by common similarities. “A & P” by John Updike, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway may be different in some aspects, but they are very similar to one another. The similarities between the three short stories are themes, symbolism, inner conflict, and tragic occurrences.
By reading a short story, you learn valuable messages that you can use in life. The three short stories share a common theme of the mystery of other minds. In “A & P,” the protagonist Sammy used very sexist language when he says, “With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light” (Updike 561). In addition to the sexist comments, when Sammy calls women sheep and witches readers are puzzled because they cannot believe why he would say these comments about women. In “A Rose for Emily,” Tobe never goes to the authorities and tells them about Emily, but instead, “He walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again” (Faulkner 96). Readers suspect that Tobe has mental issues because they question how someone in their right mind would not tell the authorities there is a dead body in Emily’s house. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Jig thinks about getting an abortion when she says, “And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine” (Hemingway 1). Some readers question how someone in their right mind would ever consider getting an abortion.
The symbolism in all three stories is similar because they all cover something. In “A & P,” the bathing suits that the three girls wear are a symbol for the attempts to