“Hills Like White Elephants” is a one-of-a-kind short story. Hemingway clearly felt the need to be straightforward and direct stylistically, a trait that is said to have carried over from his work in journalism . In this story, he decided to use the third person objective point of view, making the plot both thought-provoking and confusing. One might ask, was it really necessary for Hemingway to use such a detached and vague narration? Is the third person objective point of view crucial to the story? The third person objective point of view was absolutely necessary for the story: without it, the story would cave in on itself.
As the title implicates, the setting of the story carries great significance for various reasons. The couple is about to board the train, meaning that in spite of the conversation being presented, the decision about the abortion had already been made. The narrator also states that the couple is in Spain, a highly Catholic country at the time. A connection could be drawn between the stark Catholicism of the country and the couple’s inability and/or unwillingness to speak about the abortion candidly. However, it is very unlikely that the narration would have provided such a descriptive view of the setting had it not been in the third person objective. If the story had been told from the point of view of one of the characters, there would be so much to explain as far as their conversation went that the setting would get lost and remain unmentioned.
Since the story was written in the third person objective, it is easier for the reader to remain objective while analyzing the story. If we one were to hear the story from on of the character’s point of view, the retelling of the story would be clouded with various em...
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...hey would be bound to have emotional attachments that would make it difficult for them to recount the story in a completely true and objective manner.
Hemingway packed plenty of theme, symbolism, and overall meaning into this short story. However, the story would not have been nearly as meaningful had it been written from another point of view.
Works Cited
Balakrishnan, Professor Ganesan. "The London School of Journalism." London
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Kelly, Joseph. "Hills Like White Elephants." The seagull reader. 2nd ed. New York:
W.W. Norton, 2009. 203-208. Print.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Hills Like White Elephants Narrator:." Shmoop.com.
Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. .
When writing literature, authors will adapt points of view to mold the perceptions of their readers. Three points of view that authors use to draw readers into their works of fiction are the limited perspective, the first-person perspective, and the objective perspective. Three stories will be examined and critiqued for their use of these narrative techniques. Of the three perspectives that will be examined, the first-person perspective is the most useful for sharing the authors’ vision.
“Roman Fever” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are two stories that on surface seem very different from one another, but through careful analysis the two are quite similar. Their similarities are mainly evident through the significant use of the dialogues in the both stories. “Roman Fever” has a third person omniscient narrator which the author allows to know the inner private thoughts of both characters, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. In contrast, “Hills Like White Elephants” is composed in a third person limited narrative where very little is known about the thoughts of both Jig and the American. At first Ernest Hemingway’s short story can clearly be viewed as the most ambiguous out of the two. With its simplistic style, written mostly in straightforward dialogue which leaves the readers to contemplate over the ultimate outcome of the story and forces them to ...
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway, was published in 1940. It is a novel set in the Spanish Civil War, which ravaged the country in the late 1930’s. Tensions in Spain began to rise as early as 1931,when a group of left-wing Republicans overthrew the country’s monarchy in a bloodless coup. The new Republican government then proposed controversial religious reforms that angered right-wing Fascists, who had the support of the army and the Catholic Church. Hemingway traveled extensively in Spain, and grew very interested in Spanish culture. Specifically, he writes about bullfighting, not only in this novel, but also in his other works as well. While Hemingway’s novels carry a common theme, For Whom the Bell Tolls is no different. In the form of suicide, inevitability of death, and sacrifice, death is the major theme that wraps around this story.
In Hemingway’s realistic story, “Hills like white elephants” an idea about the plot is given from the author. He states that the couple waits at a train station for the next express train to come by and take off to their next destination, Madrid. While they wait, they go to a nearby bar to have a few drinks and talk among themselves. In this setting the author shows how the woman seems to be focused at the lines of the hills. He describes the hills to appear white in the sun, and the view to be brown and dry. This proves how Jig imagines the hills to appears as white elephants. “They look like white elephants” (Jig line 20). Hemingway makes the reader believe that white elephants symbolize something big and noticeable. In this case, white elephants are used as the big meaning behind the pregnancy.
‘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.
Hemingway's characters in the story represent the stereotypical male and female in the real world, to some extent. The American is the typical masculine, testosterone-crazed male who just ...
Ernest Hemingway’s story “Hills Like White Elephants” is written in third person. This narrator is objective and limited. It is objective, by not giving thoughts or opinions about the story. The narrator is limited by having no insight to thoughts of the other characters in the story and has
... seemingly simplistic. Hemingway discovered a way to demonstrate the complexity of the human spirit and identity through simplistic diction, word choice, and sentence structure. The story is only a small part of the deeper inner complex of the narrative. The short story allows a fluidity of thoughts between the individual and the characters without ever actually describing their thoughts. With no ending the story is completely left to interpretation providing no satisfactory ending or message.
openly. In fact, he says he likes Cohn. It is in his subtle critique of
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...
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.
... from one friend to another. The quality, the control Hemingway had in weaving his theme through his story is the work of a true master. Philosophy is never an easy subject to tackle, with it’s complex theoretical basis, it’s seeming unending list of unanswered questions, and the frustration and sadness it can bring forward. Applauding Hemingway for his attempt at divulging into his own philosophy would be an understatement and, for the most part, would mean little to the author. He comes across as this mythical figure, who’s intellect was far superior to most, but who’s own faults brought him back down to humanity, revealing that he is far more similar to most humans, a thought that, almost certainly, would have terrified him to no end.
Through the characters' dialogue, Hemingway explores the emptiness generated by pleasure-seeking actions. Throughout the beginning of the story, Hemingway describes the trivial topics that the two characters discuss. The debate about the life-changing issue of the woman's ...
...writing this story to fully understand it. This story supplies the reader with insight into Hemingway's personality and controversial theme.
Hemingway has a very simple and straightforward writing style however his story lacks emotion. He makes the reader figure out the characters’ feelings by using dialogue. “...