Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway Symbolism

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Many stories contain symbolism such as the conch in the well known story Lord of the Flies symbolizing order on the island, or the name "Fortunado" in the story The Cask of Amontillado, symbolizing an ironic ending to the character. One story in particular that uses symbolism throughout the whole story to represent many different things is the short story Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemmingway. Hemmingway is an outstanding author and writes magnificent stories. This short story of his is about a couple who is discussing abortion in Spain and how difficult their problems are. Hemingway does a tremendous job using symbolism to show their problems throughout the story. Ernest Hemingway had a very interesting life and was a man who lived …show more content…

Clarence Edmonds and Grace Hall Hemingway. His father was a practicing doctor, and later taught him how to hunt and fish. Hemmingway also liked to box.Unlike the bond with his father, Hemingway did not have a good relationship with his mother. Hemingway's education consisted Oak Park and River Forest High School. Here is where he realized he had a gift of writing. Hitting the age of 18, Hemmingway decided to move to Kansas City instead of attending college. While in Kansas City, he obtained a job as a cub reporter on the Kansas City Star. During this time, he kept to himself. His writing style was first introduced by the Kansas City Star, it was brief and straight forward. Although his career was doing well, in May of 1918, Hemingway wanted to join the Army but was rejected due to a defective left eye which he inherited from his mother. Instead of joining the Army he joined the Red Cross. When he was overseas, one night he was sneaking smokes and chocolate into the soldiers. While doing so, he was hit in the leg by an Austrian machine gun and got over a hundred pieces of metal stuck in his body from grenades. Through unbearable pain, he managed to save a wounded soldier and carry him to safety. …show more content…

One could be obstacles that we as people must climb in order to achieve things. Being that they are hills and not giant mountains, we are able to get over them. This represents that the Jig's baby is a major obstacle in their life that they both can overcome and go on with normal lives. The Hills could very well be viewpoints to see from, but they block the views for people that live in the valley of the hills. This represents that in the story Jig views the Hills and finds opportunity while the man sees nothing because he is worried that the child will cause him to not have a happy and successful future. The Hills also could present a form of imagery being that the hills represent the shape of a pregnant woman. Jig could view the hills as a woman bearing a child is lying on her back with her stomach and breasts swollen from the pregnancy. During a part of the story, Jig mentions while viewing the scenery that they could have all this. Saying this, she was meaning that the hills represented a challenge to face, new life to partake in, and possibility for the both of

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