Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story that takes place in a train station surrounded by hills, fields, and trees in a valley in Spain. In this story, therer’s a young couple, a girl named Jig and an American man. They are dealing with the debate of an abortion · Read Hills like White Elephants Research Paper and other exceptional papers on every subject and topic college can throw at you. We can custom-write anything as well! We use cookies to enhance our website for you · Literary Essay on Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway. January 12, by Essay Writer. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” is about a young woman and an American man having a discussion about issue of abortion and their struggling relationship. However, it is commonly misunderstood and leaves many readers confused since the word “abortion”
“Hills like White Elephants” Literary Analysis Free Essay Example
Trying to decide on a course of action when faced with an unexpected pregnancy, an American and a girl sit outside a train stop in the dusty part of Spain and drink on it.
While they wait for a train to take them to Madrid, the dangers of persuing happiness unfolds choices — how bad do you want something — how restrictions help you to understand yourself…if you put yourself out of your element — thats when you learn the most about yourself. The timeline of the story is significant.
Here, the curtain is a means of concealing their current dilemma. The fertile valley and the hills represent the unborn baby — the potential for life. She mentions these hills and looks over to them many times, whereas the man refuses to acknowledge them, ignoring her when she initially brings them up. The presence of the beaded curtain shows that she does not agree with him. Furthermore, while she is perfectly aware she speaks of the white hills metaphorically, he takes her literally; they do not operate under the same mode of thought.
Throughout the story, the American behaves according to the traditional idea of masculinity: rugged, knowledgeable, and always in control of himself and the given situation. He avoids directly voicing his opinions, but when pressured collapses, oversimplifying the operation and relentlessly pushing her to have it. Compared to the American, Jig is portrayed as being naïve, helpless, and indecisive. Her nickname, Jig, subtly indicates that the two characters merely dance around each other and the issue at hand without ever saying anything meaningful.
Although her mind is constantly changing as it receives new information, she still is being pressured to make a decision while under the influence of his persistent attempts to control her. Jig is very much like the following comment made by Hemmingway on the s, when the story was published: The age demanded that we dance, essays on hills like white elephants. And jammed us into iron pants. And in the end the age was handed The sort of shit that it demanded.
Audre Hanneman, Ernest Hemingway: A Comprehensive Bibliography: Princeton University Press, By the end of the essays on hills like white elephants, Jig seems to understand that her relationship with the American has effectively ended, despite her earlier professed desire to make him happy.
Imagery and symbolism are common themes throughout this story. Liquorice is a popular sweet, essays on hills like white elephants, but in medicine it used to induce vomit, essays on hills like white elephants. This sort of duality runs throughout the text. Here, Jig speaks about how everything possesses two natures: a positive and a negative. One not able to exist without the other.
The curtain appears at the beginning of this scene, when the American orders the drinks. At the end of the forty minutes, it is implied the train has come to pick them up. This too has a hidden meaning: once a train comes, it goes. Like the coming of the train, if she decides to abort the baby, there is no turning back.
The train will keep on going just as her life will keep going; but will she ever be the same? Essays on hills like white elephants looked up the tracks but could not see the train. Coming back, he walked through the barroom, where people waiting for the train were drinking… He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him.
He is still uncertain as to whether she will in fact go through with the abortion, but lets his opinion essays on hills like white elephants known by taking their luggage and setting it by the tracks to be loaded on the upcoming train.
He looks up the tracks, waiting for the train that is supposed to come, but does not see it. Similarly, he anticipates that Jig will listen to his suggestion but is still uncertain whether she will go through with it.
When the American comes back into the barroom, he hopes that Jig has made a decision, preferably in favour of the abortion, but when he reaches her she has still not made up her mind. For instance, the Anis del Toro is a drink that is illegal in many countries because those who gorge themselves on the drink can, and probably will, die of alcohol poisoning.
This overemphasis of the number two could inspire two different readings. Jig is still weighing the possibility of becoming a mother because she has not yet made a decision as to whether she will abort the baby or not.
The overuse of two is definitely symbolic within the story. Even though these elephants were beautifully ornate and were given as great gifts, the upkeep is atrocious. Basically the cost and care for the white elephant would supersede the actual joy of receiving it.
Both the American and the girl drink alcohol throughout their conversation. They start by drinking large beers the moment they arrive at the station. Then, as soon as they begin talking about the hills that look like white elephants, the girl asks to order more drinks. Although they drink primarily to avoid thinking about the issue at hand, readers sense that deeper problems exist in their relationship, of which the operation is merely one.
The girl implies this herself when she remarks that she and the American man never do anything together except try new drinks, as if constantly looking for new ways to avoid each other.
By the end of their conversation, both drink alone- the girl at the table and the man at the bar- suggesting that the two are winding down their relationship and will soon go their separate ways. Accessed May 19, Download paper. Analysis, essays on hills like white elephants, Pages 8 words. Top Writers. Verified expert. Related Essays, essays on hills like white elephants. Pages: 2 words Male-Female Relationships in 'Hills Like White Elephants' Pages: 4 words.
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Words5 Pages Analysis of Hills Like White Elephants “Hills Like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in that takes place in a train station in Spain with a man and a woman discussing an operation. Most of the story is simply dialogue between the two characters, the American and Jig Literary Essay on Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway view essay example Ernest Hemingway Hills Like White Elephants 2 Pages. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” is about a young woman and an American man having a discussion about issue of abortion and their struggling relationship. However, it is Hills Like White Elephants. 11 November Elephants Feminist criticism Feminism’s continual push for equality for men and women has grown and has become more successful. Women have abandoned the traditional roles of submissive housewives that was prevalent in the early 20th century. Early representations of women in literature were often stereotypical and unjust, but the characterization of Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins
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