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Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants
Critical analysis of Hemingway's short story "Hills LIke White Elephants
Hemingways thoughts on hills like white elephants
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Themes are central to the plot of any story. In fact, themes are the purpose to an author writing anything. By definition, a theme is the subject or topic of a work. Some themes, like that in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” are more obvious, while others, such as, “Hills Like White Elephants” are less clear and require readers to do some deep reading and critical thinking in order to identify the purpose of it, and through strong reading techniques, audiences will find valuable lessons embedded within the themes can enlighten and even revive our thinking. Ernest Hemingway 's “Hills Like White Elephants” contains at least two themes that are difficult to express directly but are thoroughly prevalent within the story as well as our own lives. We …show more content…
As stated in an essay by Donald E. Hardy and Heather K. Hardy, the setting of being caught between “brown and dry” country and luscious fields and a river with mountains behind it. The “death,” although not made completely clear upon first reading, would represent the abortion of the child that the man and woman discuss throughout the story. If the woman chooses to have the operation and the man stays with her, they would be metaphorically traveling into the dry country, thus living a monotonous, dull life together. Choosing to keep the child and stay together, the couple can live a more fruitful and beautiful life. While the woman seems to be more confident in her decision to abort, and then, later on, to keep, the baby, the man clearly struggles with both choices which can be observed by his lack of acknowledgment of the scenery beyond the train station. As the couple ultimately chooses life, love, and to live a life together with their child, the story is …show more content…
Feminism is defined as the goal of perfect equality between the sexes socially, economically, etc. Clearly, the marriage in this story is dominated by the husband, who is also the narrator 's doctor. The first the narrator mentions of her husband, John, is when he laughed at her for asking questions regarding the house (which, according to the narrator, is to be expected when married) that they would be moving to in order to cure her of her mental illness. Like many other married couples at the time, if a woman is convinced that she was ill and tried to ask her husband for assistance, she was often not believed because men, especially those that were very educated, thought of themselves as wiser and more intelligent and regarded their wives as simple-minded, inferior and almost stupid. Because of John 's social standing, he reassures friends and family members that his wife is suffering from nothing more than “temporary nervous depression.” Due to her inability to communicate with anyone other than her husband and Jennie, the narrator writes in a journal that she keeps hidden because her husband hates having her doing almost anything other than rest, which is supposed to cure her of her depression. The yellow wallpaper and the woman within the pattern add to the narrator 's anxiety, and instead of acknowledging
Gale. Weeks, Lewis E., Jr. "Hemingway Hills: Symbolism in 'Hills like White'" Elephants. Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77.
Weeks Jr., Lewis E. "Hemingway Hills: Symbolism In 'Hills Like White Elephants'." Studies In Short Fiction 17.1 (1980): 75. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
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
“Hills Like White Elephants”, published in 1927, gives insight into a couple struggling with an unexpected pregnancy. The woman, Jig, is deciding if she should get an abortion or not. Throughout the story, the man pressures Jig constantly. Stating that, “it would be no big deal [to have the abortion] and that everything will go back to normal” (Hemingway 312). The woman, confused enough, soon realizes that if she does decide to keep the baby, the man will not support her. This short story has a strong impact, not only in the 1920’s, but also in today’s society. Although the story is purely fictional, Hemingway engulfs the readers by giving reference to real world things such as cities. The story deals with real life situations such as abortion,
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.
In the “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, the pregnant girl, Jig, that drinks alcohol tells her boyfriend, American, that she is going to aborts the fetus. In a sense she just tells him this to get him to shut up because he is nagging at her to get an abortion. Jig and the American, her boyfriend talks about her having an operation and he emphasizes how much he cares for her and how much he loves her. The man tells Jig that the best thing she could do is have the operation. Jig wants to drink different types of alcoholic beverages and have a baby too. She has not come to reality that she is hurting the fetus. The man knows she is hurting the fetus by drinking alcohol that is why he wants her to have the operation to have
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Miller Hemingway is one of his famous short stories. He introduced many autobiographical elements into the story, specifically his lifelong effort trying to build meaningful relationships. The whole theme of the story is an ongoing conversation between two couples, both making the decision of their life. Hemingway reflects his struggle with depression and alcoholism in his story of these two couple, and also how nature plays a role in peoples lives and may contribute to important decisions in their lives.
1. Who is the main character? Does this person’s character change during the course of the story? Do you feel sympathetic toward the main character? What sort of person is she or he? Does this character have a foil?
All works of literature follow one or multiple characters in their choices as they progress through their individual story. Their choices change them, typically into better people. A character’s choices and actions also give rise to conflict in a story, which drives the plot forward to a climax and resolution. “Hills Like White Elephants” is no different. The choices made in the short story both drive the story and conflict forward and allow the reader to get a glimpse into the two characters’ identities. The central
She has already lost a sense of security in her relationship. She doesn’t feel like he loves her anymore; unsure if he will again. Then, she will lose the life of a child. Heartbreakingly, she is hoping that this “simple” choice will renew the freedoms she had been enjoying. By Deciding to abort, she is “thereby rejecting the opportunity for a new, vital, and meaningful relationship. (Lanier 280)
Ernest Hemingway is an incredible writer, known for what he leaves out of stories not for what he tells. His main emphasis in Hills Like White Elephants seems to be symbolism. Symbolism is the art or practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations (merriam-webster.com). He uses this technique to emphasize the importance of ideas, once again suggesting that he leaves out the important details of the story by symbolizing their meaning.
In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway the couple faces a crisis. The couple seems to be torn: the girl wants one thing but the man wants another thing. They have been traveling for quite awhile but they are eventually brought back to reality by the news of her being pregnant with his child. The two lovers are carrying on a conversation in Spain waiting for a train to arrive, enjoying some of their cold drinks they keep ordering, and the beautiful hills that come up in their conversation multiple times. Throughout the context in this story you find out that the couple is trying to decide on whether or not they should keep their unborn child. The American man wants the girl to get the operation, but the girl is
The train station setting is essential in creating the idea of two pathways diverging, each character given the decision to choose their path in both this conversation and where that will lead them. If Jig chooses to carry out the surgery and board the train with her American man, she can live a life that she describes as being “nice again” (Hemingway 591), as the American man will once again be happy and love her. But, if she chooses to not carry out the surgery, it appears as though she is given an ultimatum, and will be led on the other train, figuratively speaking. If Jig chooses to not carry out with the surgery, the American man implies that he will be too worried, as the cause for the operation is “the only thing that’s made us unhappy” (Hemingway 590). As a result, the two will most likely part ways, as they do not have the same ideas about their future. The train station illustrates the growing disconnect between the characters, as they do not wish to carry out the same journey throughout their lives, as the American man is insistent that life will change drastically for the worse if Jig does not carry out the surgery, as he will be unable to love her without
Hills Like White Elephants is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway that follows the conversations of a young woman and her supposed loving boyfriend while they are stopped at a junction waiting on the next train. The story, without ever clearly stating it, is about the young woman’s external (and internal) struggle as to whether or not to have an abortion. She must consciously decide what the right thing to do in her situation is. With this as the premise, it is very clear to the reader that the main conflict in the story is one of man vs. self.