The fundamentals of identity are complex and distinct, varying in specificity for each human being. Identity is what is commonly used to describe who people are and what they stand for or care about. In "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway, the basis of the story is a man and a woman who are debating the process of getting an abortion, building us a perspective of the two characters' identities using their speech and body language. Professor Hilary Justice observes this in her evaluation of Ernest Hemingway's manuscript of "Hills Like White Elephants", which she has titled "Well, Well, Well". Similarly, in Ernest Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River", the main character, Nick Adams suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and forms …show more content…
Parents typically decide what religion and moral guidelines a child should follow, so they are the biggest influence on the early stages of identity. Often times, this thought process is a tool to rationalize real-world situations on into adulthood. The readers see in Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", when the two characters debate an abortion, a process that is typically questioned or supported based off of religious or moral views. Here Hemingway writes " "I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to""(Hemingway 4). This is the man in the story explaining to the woman how he feels about her having the procedure. He bases his opinions on how his parents raised him, seeing abortion as an ethical choice. In "Well, Well, Well" by Professor and Hemingway scholar Hilary Justice, she uses ideas from "Hills Like White Elephants" to expand upon and explain the story using Hemingway's own history as a rationale. She pens "Consider the couple in "Hills" as a very heavy fictionalized, cross-gendered representation of Ernest and Pauline's relationship"(Justice 8). Hemingway shows his relationship with Pauline Pfeiffer in the story. In order to coerce Pauline to pursue their relationship, he played on her devout Catholic values and compared leaving their relationship to an abortion. Pauline's religious values …show more content…
Anna Garvey accentuates this in the text "The Oregon Trail Generation: Life Before and After Mainstream Tech". This article draws on the ideas of a generation and its environment changing the way people behave and think as a whole. Garvey says "We came of age just as the very essence of communication was experiencing a seismic shift, and it's given us a unique perspective that's half analog old school and half digital new school"(Garvey 2). By elaborating about the technology changes through time, Garvey explains how the changes in technology and readiness of information have changed not only her identity, but that of an entire generation. Likewise, Ernest Hemingway was a byproduct of his own generation. However, he was less affected by readiness of information, but rather lack thereof. In "Big Two-Hearted River", Nick Adams, who represents Hemingway, deals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after World War I, changing his thought process and perception of those around him. As Nick attempts to make sense of the mess inside of his head, it is hard to help but wonder if he had dealt with future situations better if he were born in modern times. In a time when PTSD was still misunderstood, Hemingway likely knew very few ways to cope with his trauma. Perhaps if he had been in a different time, modern ideals and innovation could have saved his thoughts and quite possibly his life. The
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...
In Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” and Wallace’s “Good People,” both of the young females, Jig and Sheri, experience an unplanned pregnancy and must decide whether an abortion is the right choice. While the former story employs dialogue to depict the relationship of an adventurous, carefree couple in the 1920s, the latter uses third person limited point of view to show a faithful young couple whose religion is their source of morality. Thus, Wallace digs much deeper since both religion and love are a factor in Sheri’s ultimate decision. The enigmatic endings of both stories leave us questioning Jig and Sheri’s choice and its impact on the future of their relationship with their respective partners. The text suggests that Jig will not comply with the American’s wish of aborting the baby because of her vision and the indicative dialogue between her and the American, and Sheri will conform to her religious beliefs and carry the child.
Hills like White Elephants takes place in the early twenties, a time when abortions were not only illegal, but negatively impacted ones reputation detrimentally. In the 1920’s, some 15,000 women a year died from abortions because they were shamed into having them done illegally by those who were not medically trained to perform such an operation. (Pollitt) This was because of the extreme prejudice against women and their rights to their own bodies and to making their own decisions. In a time where a woman was viewed as her husband’s property, Jig is torn between making the decision she feels is right and the decision that she is being told is
In the short story Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemmingway's characters situation is greatly a product of the social standards for men and women of the time around the 1930s. Their problems which come into play other than the topic of the abortion, such as their relationship, their nationalities, and their financial situation all help to create that feeling of helpless indecision and inevitability that are apparent throughout the story. The style of writing that is used leaves much of the meaning of the story hidden and an understanding of the relationships between men and women of the era can lead to a deeper understanding of the story.
The theme of physical and emotional burdens has a strong connection to Hemingway 's life. Hemingways alcoholism was more of a physical burden as it caused him to have liver disease whereas his fight with depression was more so of an emotional burden. However, the physical and emotional burdens in “Hills Like White Elephants” is focused around a completely different topic than depression or alcoholism. “Hills Like White Elephants” main focus is on a woman named Jig and her lover whose name is never told. All the readers know it that he is an American man. Jig is currently pregnant with what seems to be an unplanned and unwanted child, at least from the point of view of Jigs boyfriend. The couple begins to talk about the pregnancy and, at first, it seems that they have both agreed that the child should be aborted. However, as Jig and her boyfriend continue their conversation about the baby it becomes painfully clear that Jig does not want to have an abortion. Instead, the only reason that she is even considering the abortion is because her American lover does not want the baby and continuously tries to persuade her into having the abortion by emphasizing how simple the procedure will be. Jig’s boyfriend notices how apprehensive she is and tells her that if she truly doesn’t want to do it he’ll support her decision but also tells her that her having the abortion will make their relationship happy once again. Once again insinuating that it is the best decision. Jigg agrees to the abortion but only because she says she “does not care about herself”. Jiggs agreement to the abortion while also saying that the reason she is agreeing is due to her not caring about herself shows just how heavy of an emotional burden she is carrying. Jig loves her boyfriend and wants him to be happy, however, she wants to keep her baby. This causes
In “The Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, the theme of abortion is illustrated by the clash of a male and female relationship and the symbolic meanings of the Middle East. While in Spain the American and the girl are torn between one decision: whether to have an abortion or to have a baby.
‘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.
The story "Hills Like White Elephants" is a conversation between a young woman `Jig' and an American man waiting for a train at a station in Spain. The author never names the topic of their discussion but as their dialogue progresses; it becomes evident that Jig is pregnant. The man wants Jig to abort the unborn child but she is unconvinced and wants to become a mother. Hemingway has brilliantly written the story's dialogue which "captures the feel of a private conversation while at the same time communicating the necessary narrative background" (O'Brien 19). At the end of the story, it is unclear as to what decision has been made; however, Hemingway gives the reader several clues regarding what Jig feels, and what she wants to do. Jig's private thoughts are illuminated by Hemingway's description of the setting, the character, and the conflict. Stanley Renner suggests that, as a result of the couple's discussion, "Jig has become able to make a more clear-sighted estimation, and perhaps a better choice, of men" Wyche(59). The couple's inability to communicate effectively their true thoughts and emotions makes their dialogue very appealing. The story examines the gender differences and miscommunications as they influence the decision whether to abort the unborn child or not (Smiley). In his book on Hemingway, published in 1999, Carl P. Eby points out that "[f]or the past two decades, Hemingway criticism has been dominated by a reconsideration of the role of gender in his work" (Bauer 125).
In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” the character Jig is submissive to her counterpart The American Man, who is encouraging her to have an abortion. While Jig is not sure what she wants, she does not wish to press the subject of the operation because The American Man is intent upon persuading her to go through with the procedure. Throughout this story Jig’s helplessness, indecisiveness, and her lack of education become apparent, although by the end of the story she becomes confident, decisive, and ultimately takes back control of her decisions and life.
In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” it is important that we know the couple is struggling with the decision of an unwanted pregnancy; although, we are not directly given this information within the story without analyzing it first. In the first part of the story The Americans girlfriend is willing to discuss possibly having an abortion. An example of her though process would be “They look like white elephants” which is what the Americans girlfriend said to him about the clouds. I believe that she was trying to point out to him that the pregnancy would be a costly lifetime event that they both didn’t want at that point in time. This couple struggles to talk about the pregnancy throughout the entire story. Instead of talking about
Ernest Hemingway wrote a challenging short story about a couple that faces an awful issue. He sets his story, “Hills Like White Elephants” on a hot day at a train station, which is actually a stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid for the two main characters. They have to then decide where to go, whether or not to go with each other and/or to continue their relationship. The difference between the white hills and barren valley emphasizes the division between life and death, which comes to the choice Jig faces between having the baby and going through with the abortion. She seems very caught up between the two issues she has because she is very indecisive on what she wants to do.
In the short story by Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants," a couple is delayed at a train station en route to Madrid and is observed in conflict over the girl's impending abortion. In his writing, Hemingway does not offer any commentary through a specific character's point of view, nor, in the storytelling, does he offer his explicit opinions on how to feel or think about the issues that emerge. The narrative seems to be purely objective, somewhat like a newspaper or journal article, and in true Hemingway form the story ends abruptly, without the couple's conflict clearly being resolved. The ambiguity of the ending has been a subject of much debate; however, the impact of what is not said in words can be gleaned through the symbolism of their surroundings. Upon examination of the setting, the couple's final choice becomes instantly apparent.
One of the most controversial topics in America today is abortion. It is the topic that determines people’s political stances and ends other people’s relationships, but it is also the topic that many people tend to avoid. Everyone has their opinion on the matter, but most do not make it known. This is portrayed in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. The author writes this story mainly through dialogue, and avoids using extremely descriptive language. The white elephants in the story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, symbolize the elephant in the room the characters face, which is deciding whether or not to abort their child.
When a woman gets pregnant, she and her partner make a serious decision whether they should give birth to the unborn child or abort it. However, sometimes every couple can have a different outlook about giving birth or aborting because every male and female has his or her ways of thinking. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” the author, Ernest Hemingway tells a story of an American man and his girlfriend, Jig, who have a disagreement in the train station on the subject of whether to keep the unborn child or to abort. However, the author uses binary opposition of life and death to portray the polemic argument a couple encounters regarding abortion. As a symbol for the binary opposition of life and death, he represents the couple’s expressions, feelings, and the description of nature.