Hills Like White Elephants Rhetorical Analysis

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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

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