Desperation in the Hills like White Elephants' Novel

The basic plot of the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, is about a couple in between stops on their journey through Spain for an unsaid purpose. The only hint to their purpose is that they are on their way to have an “operation” done for the female protagonist. Hemingway has a careful and precise way of writing (Allen 142). This specific story that he wrote is “deceptive with its simplicity” (Bloom 1). The word “operation” actually means “abortion” which gives this story a darker meaning. However, there is nothing in the story that signifies the morality of abortions. It is about the personal struggle between both characters and their relationship. The couple and main characters of the story are a man and a girl.

Hemingway may purposely call the female protagonist a girl, instead of a woman, because she is naïve to be so desperate to want to keep the man at the cost of her unborn child. All she wants is to love and be loved yet there is no guarantee that he will stay with her despite either choice. The girl knows that the man may leave so she could be scared and confused on what she should do. Her desperation shows when she repetitively asks him what will happen after the procedure is done and when she uses elaborate descriptions that allude to wanting unity, life, and happiness. There is tension between the couple based on her indecisiveness. He keeps telling her that he loves her, he will be there for her afterwards, and that they will be happy yet it seems like an empty promise to her which is why she continues to ask. The man just wants it to be done so he can move on yet she holds on to this situation desperately because she wants something sentimentally deeper than what he wishes to provide.

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...or herself. She had just confined to what he wanted to hear and see since she smiled at him while saying this. She could have realized that he took his time coming back and gave up her desperate attempts to keep them together and given up hope that he will be there after the procedure is done.

Works Cited

Allen, Walter. “Ernest Hemingway.” The Modern Novel.1964. Contemporary Literary Criticism.

Print. 6 March 2014.

Bloom, Harold, ed. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Bloom’s Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 4

Mar. 2014

Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Handout.

Oliver, Charles M. “Jig” Bloom’s Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 6 March 2014.

"white elephant." The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Houghton

Mifflin Company. 07 Apr. 2014. .