Theme Of Gender Roles In Hills Like White Elephants

Throughout history there has been gender roles that individuals belong to and follow. The use of literature lets a reader look back in time and see how gender divides and gender expectations affect different characters. Gender roles can be found in many stories and stories with the same subject can lead to separate deductions. Traditional gender roles can be found in the short story “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. “Hills like White Elephants” is a short story of a young couple who is at a train station and anticipating going to get an abortion. An Initial look at the story does not reveal a considerable amount about the conversation and what is happening. An analysis of the work sheds light on the issue of abortion and woman’s

The setting is set in a café at a train station. On one side of the station there is a lush and green landscape and the other is a deserted barren landscape with browns and whites. They are sit in the café drinking and covertly discus the decision the American is insisting. The setting starts with “there was no shade and no trees” this reflects that there is nowhere to hide from the topic of abortion. It was all there to be seen by the sun. It is set in a hot and uncomfortable place which is the position the young girl is in. She sees a “passing cloud shadowing the white hills with darkness is a subtle portent of doom to Jig’s pregnancy” (Abdoo 238). There is two contrasting landscapes that the girl sees one that is fruitless and has a wind to it and the other has trees and is lively. This represents her options by keeping the baby she can have a fulfilling life or have the abortion and be left sterile and barren. The setting reinforces the idea that there is a divide between the couple and if they should have the

“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