Hills Like White Elephants

Hemingway is a very interesting writer and a unique one indeed. His work on the “Hills Like White Elephants”, is very intriguing because of the literary elements he used to portray his story. This sort of reminds of when I read the bible, especially the book of Revelation, there are many passages that are parabolas, metaphors, and illustrations that require a second look to understand the true meaning of the reading. And to me Hemingway did that on “Hills Like White Elephants”. Hemingway starts by setting the setting of the story by saying that The American and the Girl are in a station waiting for the express train towards Madrid, Surrounded by hills, fields, and trees in Spain. It’s really hot and the both of them order beers to pass the

The girl says that she just having fun and comments that the hills don’t look like white elephants anymore. The American mentions something about an operation that that the girl, whom he calls “jig”, should have it and that it’s a simple operation. The girl now looks at the ground the table legs rested on. The American now argues that the operation isn’t even an operation at all, implying it’s not even that serious. The girl says nothing for a while and then asks what will happen after the operation. The American answers that everything will go back to normal, how things were before. He also says that he knows many people who have also done this operation and they turned out well and found happiness. The girl sort of agrees with him but not really. The American then says that he doesn’t want to force her to do the operation but thinks its what’s best for them both. The girl now tells the American that she’ll have the operation as long as he still loves her. The American says that he loves her and that she knows it but then the girl tells the man that she’ll do it because she doesn’t care about

Hemingway, did I great job in this part because he didn’t tell you exactly what the operation was, but gave you hints and clues so that you figure it out. And this reminds of the bible, when reading it, especially the book of Revelations, you have to read certain chapters a couple of times to full understand what the verses are saying and sometimes you need to consult other work to understand what you have read. The story also talks about drinking beer a lot and I think Hemingway was trying to portray to us that they both drink alcohol to avoid each other and the problems they had. When the story begins, they order beers hinting that they both don’t want to talk and I think this is all do because of the baby that the girl has, I’m guessing the baby brings problems to their relationship. Also by the end they both go their separate ways and drink alone, the American man inside the bar and the girl outside. I was think deeply about this and what Hemingway is trying to tell us is that they will probably end their relationship and go separate