Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway

Words: 1157
Pages: 5
Open Document
Many times within a short story, poem, book, etc., the author masks the underlying meaning through certain elements, such as a specific phrase, image, or word choice, in order to further his/her argument. Within the short story, Hills Like White Elephants, written by Ernest Hemingway, the specific phrase, “they look like white elephants,” is repeated in order to emphasize the fact that the two main characters, an American man and his girlfriend, are at a crossroads within their relationship. With very little information given about two characters, Hemingway purposely uses the phrase “like white elephants” as a way to expose who they are and why there has been a path change on the journey of their relationship. The repeated phrase ultimately …show more content…
It would have also been an extremely difficult conversation to have in the 1920’s when Hemingway penned this short story as having a child out of wedlock was unacceptable according to societal norms. Its also important to note that women did not have power, as it was more so what the man in the relationship wanted. The woman is given no name, nor is her nationality stated, ultimately making it clear that she withholds no control in her life, or in the baby’s life. She states further into the story again, “I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?” The man responds with, “Oh, cut it out.” The girl then directly after reconsiders her statement and says, “They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the color of their skin through the trees.” In relation to gender roles and power, as she senses he is ignoring her feelings and references to the abortion, she changes her mind to please her significant other. From the beginning of the story, everything alludes to the man wanting the girl to have the abortion and is unaffected by what she wants and the feelings she is expressing. He gives her feelings no attention, as he shows no interest in what she has to say and disagrees with the fact she thinks the hills look like white elephants. The girl, at this point, has …show more content…
The woman in the story projects her concerns at the hills, giving them significance as she compares them to white elephants. Hemingway purposefully makes her do this in order to subliminally symbolize the hardship she is going through with herself and significant other. The phrase, “they look like white elephants” is repeated throughout the story, and in each instance alludes to one main idea—the elephant in the room. Ultimately, the white elephants reference embodies the problem causing a crossroads in their relationship. The problem, however, remains unaddressed throughout the story, but becomes evident further into the plot as the couple discuss how it will impact their future, all while they remain indecisive in the present in regards to what to do about it. With the abortion at hand, the white description of the elephants signifies the purity and renewal of birth, but because the elephants are in the distance, that purity and peace cannot be obtained as they look forward to their future. Without ever mentioning the true meaning of the “white elephants,” Hemingway ultimately pulls the reader in by giving the story a mystical atmosphere by providing no background information and using vague descriptions of the characters and their circumstances. By looking at repetition, we see how Hemingway was trying to expose
Show More

Related Documents: Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway

Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway: Literary Analysis

Intro to Literature 19 March 2017 Puzzles Pieces Hills Like White Elephants is a puzzling short story. Ernest Hemingway uses both figurative and literal pieces to tell this story. The reader must then take those pieces and put them together. This paper will summarize how the characters in this story are on an emotional journey in search of freedom. Here is a summary of the short story. The short story, Hills Like White Elephants, is about a couple. The couple has traveled to Spain from…

Words 558 - Pages 3

Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway As A Form Of Modernism

Modernism Ernest Hemingway demonstrated in his story “Hills Like White Elephants” a style of writing that was normally present with the modernist movement, a style of writing from the beginning of the 1900s to the mid-1940s. He used things like a lack of explanation but an increase in details, images as symbolism, and using ambiguous words to let the reader choose the meaning of the story. These two things are what show that this story was a form of modernist literature. Hemingway describes the…

Words 524 - Pages 3

english II Essay

something personal can be referred as a “white elephant” (Sample). A short story called “Hills Like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemingway is mainly a dialogue between a couple debating a lifelong situation. The setting takes place at a bar near a train station, which symbolize a stepping-stone in their life to reconsider their old habits. However, during the discussion at the bar, the girlfriend, Jig, continuously brings up a subject about the white elephants over the hills. Therefore, this short story consists…

Words 423 - Pages 2

Compare/Contrast: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" with "Hills Like White Elephants" Essay example

Compare/Contrast: "Good Man" with "Hills" Currently, a plethora of outstanding stories have been written. What makes a story, though? The answer is the elements that the author includes into his or her writing, such as symbolism and imagery. "Hills like White Elephants," written by Ernest Hemingway, and "A Good Man is Hard to Find," written by Flannery O'Connor, are just two examples of admirable work. Each writer incorporated plenty of elements to improve the story. Since the amount…

Words 917 - Pages 4

Sibille W5 Essay

Literary Analysis Name: Allana Sibille ENG: 125 Introduction to Literature Professor: April Mac Grotty March 10th, 2015 Conflict in literature is a category that creates tension between two or more characters. Two poems that contains both conflict, similarities and differences are “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway (1927) that involves young lovers and an unplanned pregnancy, the second one “Let America be America Again” By Langston Hughes (1935) displays the labor man has…

Words 1339 - Pages 6

Theme Analysis - Abortions" Essay

Paula Bowers D. Rury ENGL 1302 18 April 2013 Theme Analysis – Abortion Hills Like White Elephants The story begins with the introduction of the American; a rugged, testosterone-driven man, who has loved his way across Spain with Jig. Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” takes place in 1927, while abortions were legal with a doctor’s referral, birth control was not, and discussing birth control (or sex education) was considered pornographic and a federal crime. The topic…

Words 1193 - Pages 5

Essay about Hills like white elephants

Analysis: Hills like White Elephants In the short story “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway we zoom into a couple at a train junction in Valley Ebro. As we read into the story we uncover the journey to be taken by the couple. There are choices to be made, important decisions to take. The change in the relationship can be foreshadowed by the separations created by the tracks and various other objects in the story. Hemingway sets out the setting at the beginning before starting with…

Words 333 - Pages 2

Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis Essay

A Literary Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” Most girls during their adolescent and even early adulthood years have had experiences similar to that in which Hemingway describes in this short story. From the beginning of the story, it is not clearly stated that the couple is having an argument about an abortion. During this time period, abortions were not as advanced nor common as they are today. The artificial ideas and the realistic views of the main characters in the…

Words 1017 - Pages 5

A Lovely Scene: An Analysis On The Writing Of Ernest Hemingway And F. Scott Fitzgerald

Milton Jeremy Robles Husbands AAA 3 December 2014 A Lovely Scene: An Analysis On the Writing of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald Self­identity can hardly be found by merely occupying the same world and society as family and friends. No, the self may be found through the traumas, accolades , fall­outs, and acceptances of one’s experiences. At the turn of the 19th century, shortly after World War 1, people were beginning to find themselves lost in insatiable antics: traveling; dreaming; drinking…

Words 1002 - Pages 5

The Hills Like White Elephants Essay

Sexual perspectives based on Existentialism ——3130000216 黄时敏 Abstract: The main thoughts of The Lost Generation, especially in their writings, contribute a lot to Existentialism. Through the conversation in Hemingway’s The Hills Like White Elephants, different perspectives based on gender difference are presented to readers. One is the way to perceive the meaning of life, and the other is the way to choose the life. Those gender differences lead to the thinking of how to reach a harmonious state…

Words 2148 - Pages 9