Elephants, specifically white elephants, the Bible, and the beautiful red bud of a blooming rose, all have a similar idea. The answer to these material objects would be curtains, tall and wide mountains like the Appalachians, and trains. These may just be material objects but the allegory, or symbolism, is alive and useful in both history and present day. "Hills Like White Elephants", "A Rose For Emily", and "Where Are You Going, Where have you been?" are all fictional short stories, with numerous amounts of symbolism to be analyzed by the use of quotes from each story, and all with both a short term symbolic meaning and a long term overall theme. I was intrigued by all of the symbolism in “Hills Like White Elephants”. At first, I did not realize …show more content…
the symbolic meaning of these material objects. After hearing the ideas of my classmates, I decided to research the meanings. The beaded curtain doesn’t have the best meaning today, but along with the train track and the hills they all mean the same thing. Jig (a dance, and also a black person), the beaded curtain, the tracks, the hills, could all mean BOUNDARIES. Ernest Hemingway writes, “Well, let’s try and have a fine time. All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright? That was bright” (312). The girl and the woman were discussing if the girl wanted water in her alcoholic drink. She did not know what she wanted so she tried. She goes on to say how nasty the drink tasted, which is replied with, “Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for” (312). They go back to their original conversation, but the girl wants to know if what she said was intelligent. Why does she need to know this? The answer is in the time period. The time period separated the human race in terms of age, race, and gender. They created these boundaries between each other. However, change is being implied when Hemingway writes, “I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks? The girl looked across at the hills” (312). When the girl “looked across at the hills”, Hemingway is not only implying her struggle, but also the entire human race, who is struggling every day whether to stick with traditional boundaries or to try new diverse ideas. This new idea is considered the big picture in Hemingway’s story. He uses abortion as one form of diversity in “Hills Like White Elephants”. It is difficult to interpret this, but the beaded curtains, that boundary, and the white elephant, show us there is a boundary between the girl having the abortion. The white elephant is one of the few ways we know this is about ABORTION. The lingering question is whether she has the abortion. Could the beaded curtain mean a curtain at a hospital, and that she had the abortion and felt fine afterwards? While answering these questions, consider the quote, “They were all waiting reasonably for the train. He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him. Do you feel better? He asked. I feel fine, she said. There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine” (314). In 1927 drinking was still okay in Spain and Mexico. But prohibited in USA. Most likely they got their beer from these places. Where else would they get it legally? I think she went to parties at a young age and got pregnant. How do we know if this is even his baby? He wants the abortion. She struggles with her maturity level. This is similar to Arnold Friend and Connie, but at a higher level. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, tells the story of Arnold Friend and Connie, or a story of innocence of a young teenager, temptation from a pedophile, and giving in to the sin whether by choice, curiosity, or fear. Could we be trying to change too much that we are causing fear? Is there a limit on change, or does Connie commit her actions by choice and curiosity, breaking away from that limit on change? I was amazed at the connection to the verse from the Bible. This verse is from Judges 19:17. Judges being the 33rd book of the Bible. Joyce Oates writes, “Can’tcha read it? … This here is my name, to begin with, he said. ARNOLD FRIEND was written in tarlike black letters on the side, with a drawing of a round grinning face that reminded Connie of a pumpkin, except it wore sunglasses. … Ellie brought his transistor radio up to his shoulder and balanced it there. Now these numbers are a secret cod, honey, Arnold Friend explained. He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn’t think much of it” (148). That is a deep quote. The majority of the symbolism in this story is in this quote. The tempting yet deceiving letters spelled friend. The evil pumpkin like grin portrayed him as the God of Evil. Yet she thought nothing of it. I would beg to question why I cannot bring up an example of Adam and Eve but we can speak of Greek Mythology.
There it is alive and well. The world is full of inequality and intolerance. This intolerance is one of many evils in this story. Once we get old enough to see the world for what it really is, it angers us. We are innocent, but then we become angry and bring that anger among others, as in the story. This story could beg the question as to why don’t we begin talking about Pedophilia. Yeah, that’s extreme, but it happens. Why don’t we talk about anything? Why have we lost our freedoms in Amendment 1 of the United States Constitution? So far I have been very intrigued by these stories, because it gives us the opportunity to talk about it if we aren’t fearful of it. I feel like the symbolism is much more present here than in a Rose for Emily, but it is definitely significant in …show more content…
both. A lot happens in these stories.
Enough happens to the point we could have endless conversations. In A Rose For Emily, A rose could either foreshadow her death and his, or it could be a symbol of love and how she cannot let go. She must have a lover. That is why in my eyes, this story is more psychological than sexist or racist. The reason why no one can visit her is not because of class. It is because she has a dead body (homer) in her house. Homer tried to leave, but when he came back for his stuff she killed him so that she would never be lonely. That is how I interpret this story. It sickens me, but intrigues me being that I am going into education and psychology. Most likely she learned her behavior, but the situation she grew up in as a child could be of some significance. For example the way her dad treated her. And where was her mom? All this, which could be caused by her previous and current social class, has caused her to be impacted to the point of murdering for love. We see from William Faulkner that, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (96). Faulkner then shows us that, “only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps – an eyesore among eyesores” (96). We see that humanity must change. There is one group of people still in this world who are intolerant. If we let inequality be okay right now, our kids will see it. We
just cannot require our kids to act this way, which I fear has already happened. Hopefully what happened in the story will not ever happen again. Hopefully, what happened in all of these stories will never happen again. If people stop asking what is history and instead ask how we learn from history I know society will be solved. Life will be much more peaceful. Tolerance and Equality lead us to Unity. Unity being the human race coexisting with each other. While we may have differing beliefs, we need to find the beliefs that are leading to the ultimate goal. These are the beliefs that all of humanity agree on, which will lead us to the higher power, the higher prize. While these three stories use material, yet symbolic, objects, these symbols tell us what life currently and always has been. Are we just so unwilling to change, or are we so used to and happy with where we are in our lives that we are too lazy and fearful to change?
All of three essays say that people’s attitude toward the reality and explain the reasons why people like to stay in their “cave” and are unwilling to face the reality is because of their fear and ignorance. Moreover, “The Allegory of the Cave” and “Shooting an Elephant” are more similar because both of them use symbolism to expand notions and use allegory in their essay. In“The Allegory of the Cave,” the darkness, the shadows, and the sunlight all represent ignorance and enlightenment. The fire, the prisoners, the puppeter and the light all had abstract qualities that go back to mankind’s behavior and Plato’s argument. In the“Shooting an Elephant,” the elephant represent the British Empire. The death of the elephant symbolize imperialism of British Empire will fade and die off, as well as cowardice of the police and the ignorance of the
“Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is about a couple, the American and Jig, who contemplate whether or not to have an abortion. The premise of the story seems simple enough, but the outcome is highly debated. Critics argue that the baby was kept by the couple ( Renner ) and others claim the baby was aborted.( Fletcher ) Others have even simplified the story, claiming that the issue was not resolved because the couple was drunk by the end of the story. ( Sipiora ) Although the conclusion is in questions many have agreed with the idea that the couples relationship would be changed and would end prematurely. ( Wyche ) Dialogue is the main technique in conveying this argument but we can only understand the complexity of Hemingway’s work by looking at the story as a whole. By looking at the many symbols, intrinsically and
In a well-written short story, different literary elements and terms are incorporated into the story by the author. Ernest Hemingway frequently uses various literary elements in his writing to entice the reader and enhance each piece that he writes. In Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway uses symbols to teach the reader certain things that one may encounter during daily life. Symbolism may be defined as relating to, using, or proceeding by means of symbols (Princeton). The use of symbols in Hills Like White Elephants is utterly important to the plot line and to the fundamental meaning of the story. Through this use of symbolism, the reader can begin to reveal the hidden themes in this short story.
“The Hills like White Elephants” takes place in a train station in Spain. “The station [is] between two lines of rails in the sun”(Hills Like White Elephants-Litarary Analysis ). The rails run through a river valley with hills on one side of the valley; dry and barren and those on the other side are described with imagery of living, growing thing; in choosing whether to abort or to have the child, the couple have to choice between two ways of life. The two rails go separate ways, foreshadowing what will become of the couple after the story is over. The bamboo bead curtain in the station is acting as a curtain that is limiting the couple’s options, and their conversations; symbolizing that the pregnancy is also acting as a curtain between the couple, and at the end becomes a wall between them. The couple then has two choices: have an abortion and stay together like the American wants, or to have the baby and go their separate ways, leaving the girl to settle down and have a family of her own. The abortion is associated with the dry infertility of the hills on the barren side of the valley and by extension with the aimless, self-indulgent life they have been leading, and having the child is associated with the lifelike features on the other side of the valley, the “fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro,” (DiYanni) that symbolizes the stream of life.
In conclusion, the short story ‘Hills like White Elephants’ contains symbolism to a high degree. The most important of all symbolism is perhaps the "white elephant". As we all know, a white elephant is a gift that nobody wants. To correlate this to the story, the white elephant is the baby who wants to abort template hesitant.
While reading short stories, two stood out: Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants and Raymond Carver’s Cathedral. The themes in both stories are powerful and convey strong messages that really pose existential thoughts. Not only is each story’s theme attention grabbing, but so is the common and reoccurring use of symbolism throughout the stories. They did not just use the Element of Fiction symbolism, but even used one common symbol. Ernest Hemingway’s story Hills Like White Elephants and Raymond Carver’s story Cathedral each contain existential and similar themes such as talking versus communicating and looking versus seeing, as well as demonstrating creative and comparable symbolism throughout.
Emily Grierson, referred to as Miss Emily throughout the story, is the main character of 'A Rose for Emily,' written by William Faulkner. Emily is born to a proud, aristocratic family sometime during the Civil War; Miss Emily used to live with her father and servants, in a big decorated house. The Grierson Family considers themselves superior than other people of the town. According to Miss Emily's father none of the young boys were suitable for Miss Emily. Due to this attitude of Miss Emily's father, Miss Emily was not able to develop any real relationship with anyone else, but it was like her world revolved around her father.
In “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway relies on symbolism to convey the theme of abortion. The symbolic material objects, as well as the strong symbolic characters, aid the reader’s understanding of the underlying theme.
Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", is a story about a doomed relationship. Hemingway uses symbolism, dialogue, and also setting to tell this story. Behind the words said by the characters, and sights explained to the readers, are hidden meanings that when analyzed, bring the story to another level.
In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”, we never hear the mention of a rose. The rose is a symbol of sympathy and pity that we feel towards her. Emily reflected the rose. She wanted to blossom and bloom but she was held down and lock up from the real world. Emily was the daughter of a rich man, a town hero. Her father, although he was looked up to by the town, was demanding and controlling. He turned down every man that he didn’t feel was worthy of his daughter. He set her up for a life that she could not escape. She became used to this lifestyle and it became who she was. When her father passed,
The title of the story “Hills Like White Elephants” already implies that there is an uncomfortable subject matter that is going to be discussed. The euphemism “white elephant,” refers to a possession that is useless or troublesome,
One can analyze the story of “Hills Like White Elephants,” in the form of the structuralist perspective by using the system of binary oppositions. Robert DiYanni states in the text “Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama,” that “Structuralist critics find all kinds of opposition in literature, from small scale elements, such as letters and syllables; through symbols, such as light and dark; to motions or directions (up and down)... places (inside and outside)... to elements of plot and character , such as changes of feeling and reversals of fortune” (1583). In addition, Isaiah Smithson’s definition of structuralist criticism supports Robert DiYanni’s statement. He defines it as “A method of analyzing phenomena, as in anthropology, linguistic, psychology, or literature, chiefly characterized by contrasting the elemental structures of the phenomena in a system of binary oppositions” (Smithson 145). Also, one can use Richard Webster’s definiti...
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 "Hills like White Elephants", Hemingway exposes the complexities of a relationship between an American man and a girl. In order to do this, he clarifies unspoken opinions of the main characters through the symbols of the white elephants, beaded curtains and the landscape; showing that a compromise can never be achieved. As with every relationship, couples need to communicate effectively to be happy. Hemingway uses the symbols to not only give us a better understanding of the story but also to carry out the theme of communication vs talking in his story.
In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner's use of setting and characterization foreshadows and builds up to the climax of the story. His use of metaphors prepares the reader for the bittersweet ending. A theme of respectability and the loss of, is threaded throughout the story. Appropriately, the story begins with death, flashes back to the past and hints towards the demise of a woman and the traditions of the past she personifies. Faulkner has carefully crafted a multi-layered masterpiece, and he uses setting, characterization, and theme to move it along.