Communication is the tether that holds the world together. This is what Ernest Hemingway tries to show the world with his short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, published in 1927. Set at a train station in Spain, the story revolves around a very important conversation between an American man and a young woman, referred to as "the girl”. Ernest Hemingway develops the theme that communication, especially between couples, can be crucial in many scenarios. He does this by using similies, logos, and dialogue to show that communicating instead of hiding one’s words can lead to happiness or better outcomes for the people involved. To begin, the author uses metaphors to address the main conflict in this story. Even though the story does not give a straightforward answer as to what their conversation revolves around, the reader can identify this by the following similie, “They look like white elephants," (229). Metaphorically, a white elephant represents something undesirable that has no value but holds value to some. In the story, that white elephant would be the …show more content…
Even though the dialogue in the story does not hold a lot of weight on the surface, it still has key elements that give the story more depth. The American and the girl are showing the stereotypical “gender roles” since “the man insists on the facts and “proof” while Jig talks of fantasies, emotions, and impressions “(Smiley, 12). Their dialogue is characterized by its terse and indirect nature, with much left unsaid and implied, "Well, let's try and have a fine time." All right. I was trying to get it. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn't that bright, he said?" That was a bright day”. This exchange illustrates the tension and underlying conflict between the characters as they dance around the topic of the girl's potential abortion instead of being head-on and being straightforward with each other as to how they
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote about Christopher McCandless, a nature lover in search for independence, in a mysterious and hopeful experience. Even though Krakauer tells us McCandless was going to die from the beginning, he still gave him a chance for survival. As a reader I wanted McCandless to survive. In Into the Wild, Krakauer gave McCandless a unique perspective. He was a smart and unique person that wanted to be completely free from society. Krakauer included comments from people that said McCandless was crazy, and his death was his own mistake. However, Krakauer is able to make him seem like a brave person. The connections between other hikers and himself helped in the explanation of McCandless’s rational actions. Krakauer is able to make McCandless look like a normal person, but unique from this generation. In order for Krakauer to make Christopher McCandless not look like a crazy person, but a special person, I will analyze the persuading style that Krakauer used in Into the Wild that made us believe McCandless was a regular young adult.
In Orwell’s reflective narrative, “Shooting an Elephant”, he reveals the truth on imperialism. Through the utilization of irony and the method of appeals, Orwell shows the reader that imperialism is just a definition because the people are in control, not Britain.
Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is a short story that deals with the idea of conformity and the conflict caused by internal desire and pressure from another party. The short story is very subtle, and often uses these subtleties in combination with incredible amounts of symbolism interlaced throughout the narrative to cause the reader to look and think deeper into the motives, values and convictions of the conflict between the two protagonists respective desires. When two parties are at an impasse of desire, the conviction of their opposing beliefs becomes increasingly unshakeable. This results in dissension due to the severe lack of understanding between the parties involved and furthermore, they refuse to be held responsible for the inability to communicate their feelings to one another.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills like White Elephants." Responding to Literature. Ed. Judith Stanford. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 841-44. Print.
“Hills Like White Elephants” fits with the curriculum of Junior Year by relating to specific values and social conventions, by having literary merit and lastly by transcending time by influencing modern society’s media themes and motifs. It does all this by using a truthful method of writing, dialogic. Hemingway is able to paint a brilliant picture of the Human condition. He does this by incorporating motifs which depict societal qualms. Hemingway was able to influence society today by displaying how identity and autonomy are important to the individual. He was against a single tyrannical power telling an individual what they should do, how they should write. He stood for an individual having a choice, an opinion. He wanted people to be people He wanted to send a message and a message can be sent with just one single, meaningful, four letter
The two short stories “Hills like white elephants” by Ernest Hemingway’s and “The lady with the dog” by Anton Chekhov’s have many unspoken messages throughout the text. Both stories involve romantically involved partners with very emotional decisions. In Hemingway’s story the couple lacks communication and does not resolve this issue. However, In Chekhov’s story the main character finds love for the first time and doesn’t know how to start this new chapter in his life. Both authors use language and setting to communicate these unspoken desires from the two couples in each story.
During the forty-minute snippet of time in Jig and the American’s conversation, a decisions are rendered that will have a life-long impact. Jig must overcome her dependence of the man in order to truly decide for herself what is more important – to continue the relationship, or to save the life of the baby inside her. The fate of their baby, their “white elephant” will be decided in these few moments of time. Throughout their conversations, numerous references to the setting are stated. The symbolisms in the descriptions of the setting by the narrator allude to the abortion that the American wants Jig to have, and the dialogue between the couple alludes to their superficial relationship.
Hills Like White Elephants, written by Ernest Hemingway, is a story that takes place in Spain while a man and woman wait for a train. The story is set up as a dialogue between the two, in which the man is trying to convince the woman to do something she is hesitant in doing. Through out the story, Hemingway uses metaphors to express the characters’ opinions and feelings.
Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" touches on an issue as ageless as time: communication problems in a relationship. He tells his story through conversations between the two main characters, the American and the girl. Conflict is created through dialogue as these characters face what most readers believe to be the obstacle of an unexpected pregnancy. Their plight is further complicated by their inability to convey their differing opinions to each other. Symbolism and the title's meaning are other effective means of communicating conflict.
The art, literature, and poetry of the early 20th century called for a disruption of social values. Modernism became the vague term to describe the shift. The characteristics of the term Modernism, all seek to free the restricted human spirit. It had no trust in the moral conventions and codes of the past. One of the examples of modernism, that breaks the conventions and traditions of literature prior to Modernism, is Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”. The short story uses plot, symbolism, setting, dialogue, and a new style of writing to allow human spirit to experiment with meaning and interpretation.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Fiction 101: An Anthology of Short Fiction. James H. Pickering. Twelfth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. 638-641
Hemingway, considered to be a modernist writer, makes his readers work by implementing the well-known theory of omission, which “Hills Like White Elephants” is a perfect example of. As he stated in Death in the Afternoon : ‘If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, […].’ (259). It seems that Hemingway assumed the reader would know what is being omitted, nevertheless many features of “Hills Like White Elephants” have already been covered by various critics. At the end of the story the reader is forced to unravel the most...
Hemingway's Personal Life and its Influence on his Short Story "Hills Like White Elephants" "Hills like White Elephants" is not the normal story where you have a beginning, middle and end. Hemingway gave just enough information so that readers could draw their own conclusions. The entire story encompasses a conversation between two lovers and leaves the reader with more questions than answers. Ernest Hemingway was a brilliant writer. People that study Hemingway's works try to gain insight and draw natural conclusions about Hemingway and his life.
Olivia Mandell 6/3/2024 Kelly 1 English 10 Final. Addressing the Elephant in the Room When dealing with a life-altering decision, would you give into the pressure of others weighing in or stay true to yourself and do what is right? In Ernest Hemingway's short story, “Hills like white elephants'', the author presents a strained relationship that is held on by a thread as the couple decides how to juggle their own bias’ and determine how they will make the right decision and not leave an everlasting scar on their bond. Through a seemingly mundane conversation between a man and a woman waiting for a train, there is an unspoken element that Hemingway sprinkled in to invite the reader to dig deeper to uncover secret meanings and themes that otherwise
“Hills like White Elephants” is told in a vague way that holds the reader at bay. Hemingway’s genius use of symbolism helps the reader understand the story. One of the most prevalent use of symbolism is the term white elephant, which represents “an unwanted gift, a seemingly remote and but immense problem,” that the couple are forced to deal with (Kozikowski 107). The white elephant denotes the unwanted unborn child that is resented by the father, although the mother is curious to see through. The use of the railroad symbolizes the divide in the relationship. The young couple is in different directions, however, neither one listens to each other. The girl is pressured by the man to choose one side of the tracks, but at the train station, she is in a position where her choice is visible. His actions are haughty and she is submissive to him. Objects like the alcohol and the bamboo care carefully chosen by the author. The previously stated Absinthe is a symbol for sensuality and a narcotic. The bamboo curtains denote its hollowness and letting the air in; consequently the same manner that the American refers to the operation as “letting the air in” (215). Color plays an integral function in understanding that the couple is at parallel ends like the train track. The “blackness of the licorice and the whiteness of the hills contrast between sorrow and joy”; furthermore, the way the couple seem divided and