Free Essays on Hills Like White Elephants

An Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in 1927, which is set at a train station in Spain. In this story the reader eavesdrops on a conversation held by â€Å"the American and the girl with him†. Most of the story is predominately dialogue between the two characters. During this conversation, the reader may determine that the couple is at a critical point in their lives when they must make a life-or-death decision on whether the woman should have an abortion. Although this short story crosses timelines to become relevant to both the early twentieth century and today, Hemingway uses setting and symbolism throughout the story to show that making a decision on whether to have an abortion or not is indeed a difficult decision to make. The setting of the train station symbolizes the decision that the couple must make. On one side of the station, there is vegetation and â€Å"fields of grain†; the other side is dry and barren. The fact that the station divides these contrasts of environments represents each choice in the abortion decision. The choice to have the abortion is represented by the dry and barren side, while the lush fields of grain represent the fertility of having the baby. Our first encounter with Hemingway’s symbolism is in the title, â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, which offers some hints to the ensuing conflict within the story. The imagery associated with the hills can be taken to represent the pregnant woman’s abdomen and breasts swollen when she is with child. White elephants are considered to be a sacred being something to be revered, whereas in American culture a white elephant is a gift that is unwanted. As a result of symbolism, the title gives us the first indication of the conflict to come. Hemingway never mentions the word abortion directly to let the reader know that this is the pos... Free Essays on Hills Like White Elephants Free Essays on Hills Like White Elephants â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† is a short third person perspective limited story by Ernest Hemingway. An American man and a woman are sitting at a train station in the northern part of Spain. They are on their way to an operation for the women. The two seem to be a couple but unknown of what their status is but unlikely they are married. The title of the story fits into the story in many different ways, it all depends on how the reader understands it. This will explain the reason for their location and departure. The women seems to be more in love with the man at the present moment because of the way that they are acting towards each other and their tones of voice. She is trying to make him feel bad by telling him things, and then being sarcastic but also trying to make him forget about the operation he is trying to force her to have but she doesn’t want to. They are sitting outside of a train station drinking beers and other alcoholic beverages while waiting for the train. She mentions the hills that are in front of them on the other side of the railroad tracks and how their color resembles a â€Å"White Elephants† color. White Elephants is a rare Asian elephant but it also means about a handful of other things such as a rare and expensive possession that is difficult to maintain or an article no longer wanted by its owner. Another meaningful meaning it has is an endeavor or venture that is proved a conspicuous failure. She feels that their journey will end now because of this operation. The man feels as if it won’t and if they do have the operation that things will be as they were before with no problems. The reason of the operation is unknown but if she does not have the operation it will be the only problem they’ve ever had in their relationship. He tells her that everything will be the same as before after the operation and it is not even an operation, all it is, is just letting the air in, and that’s it. Af... Free Essays on Hills Like White Elephants An Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in 1927, which is set at a train station in Spain. In this story the reader eavesdrops on a conversation held by â€Å"the American and the girl with him†. Most of the story is predominately dialogue between the two characters. During this conversation, the reader may determine that the couple is at a critical point in their lives when they must make a life-or-death decision on whether the woman should have an abortion. Although this short story crosses timelines to become relevant to both the early twentieth century and today, Hemingway uses setting and symbolism throughout the story to show that making a decision on whether to have an abortion or not is indeed a difficult decision to make. The setting of the train station symbolizes the decision that the couple must make. On one side of the station, there is vegetation and â€Å"fields of grain†; the other side is dry and barren. The fact that the station divides these contrasts of environments represents each choice in the abortion decision. The choice to have the abortion is represented by the dry and barren side, while the lush fields of grain represent the fertility of having the baby. Our first encounter with Hemingway’s symbolism is in the title, â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, which offers some hints to the ensuing conflict within the story. The imagery associated with the hills can be taken to represent the pregnant woman’s abdomen and breasts swollen when she is with child. White elephants are considered to be a sacred being something to be revered, whereas in American culture a white elephant is a gift that is unwanted. As a result of symbolism, the title gives us the first indication of the conflict to come. Hemingway never mentions the word abortion directly to let the reader know that this is the pos... Free Essays on Hills Like White Elephants The most striking feature of this short story is the way in which it is told. It is not a story in the classical sense with an introduction, a development of the story and an end, but we just get some time in the life of two people, as if it were just a piece of a film where we have a lot to deduce, This story doesn't give everything done for the reader, we only see the surface of what is going on. It leaves an open end, readers can have their own ending and therefore take part in the story when reading. The story told here is that of a woman and a man in their trip to a place where she can have an abortion. Everything in the tale is related to the idea of fertility and barrenness. This main topic can be seen from the title Hills Like White Elephants, where Hills refer to the shape of the belly of a pregnant woman, and White Elephants is an idiom that refers to useless or unwanted things. In this case the unwanted thing is the foetus they are going to get rid of. In the beginning we find a narrator that describes with a simple language the area where it is going to take place. We can see that the story happens in Spain, in the Valley of the Ebro, and we also see that the train the characters are going to take is an express train that comes from Barcelona and goes to Madrid, but we don't know exactly where they are or the time ordate in which it takes place, we don't even know if they really take the train. The train here symbolizes change, movement but in some way they are scared of it as movement is not always forward but it can also be backwards in this case in their relationship. It is the "train of life". Another thing we must take into account is the fact that the train is stopping only for two minutes, a very short time. This limited time symbolizes the time she has to have the abortion, she cannot think it over for a long time first because the later she has the abortion the more risky for her health it gets and second, becaus... Free Essays on Hills Like White Elephants Hills Like White Elephants The story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is about two lover’s false perceptions and disillusion. A man and a girl constantly travel never staying in one place because the two are insecure about settling down. The couple’s insecurities directly effect their irresponsible behavior. The major conflict in the story arises when the girl finds that she is pregnant. The characters disillusionments and false perceptions ultimately lead to an unhappy lifestyle. The man and the girl depend on their separation from the world. The two are drifters traveling to different cities, staying in hotels. They have limited to no involvement with society. The characters believe that if they don’t stay in one place they will have no commitment to anything in their life. Traveling around is their way to avoid life’s problems. The setting of the story is in a train station which symbolizes their need to be away from home and distant from their problems. While in the station they are waiting having cocktails. The girl says â€Å"I wanted to try this new drink: thats all we do, isn’t it – look at new things and try new drinks.† The quote is describing that the girl is upset with their lifestyle of traveling around seeing new things to preoccupy themselves. The characters use alcohol to dull their experiences adding to each others disillusionment. Throughout the story the two are discussing their lives over drink. It seems like the couple are frequent drinkers as conveyed in the girl’s the quote, â€Å"thats all we do, isn’t it† referring to drinking all time every where they go. Alcohol abuse is consist with some people trying to escape from their problems. The characters drink all time to forget about their sad lives and farther propel their journey to no where. Drinking impairs the character’s judgements for the decisions they face. Alcohol is a mask for thes...