Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants Essay

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I believe that Hemingway’s writing in “Hills Like a White Elephant” is good writing. It is Hemingway’s style to write in vague conversations and nondescript characters or settings. However, while he seems to be writing a very simple dialogue, there is in fact a much more complex story behind what he writes. His simplicity makes his stories compelling and mysterious, and they can pertain to many situations and feelings. This makes them applicable to most situations and readers can use their inferencing skills to make the story what they want. All of these attributes make Hemingway’s writing style different and exciting.

When I finished reading “Hills Like a White Elephant”, I had a “what now?” response. At first read, the story is simply a conversation between two bickering people in a relationship. It seems unimportant and harmless, but it is actually about a much bigger subject. However, this subject is never clearly defined for the reader. While some people may find this to be annoying and irrelevant towards the plot of the story, it provides room for creativity and intuition while reading. Instead of having the story laid out for you, you have to provide yourself with some of the details that come from reading. This is not only engaging but allows you to use your imagination and come up with your own storyline. Also, it allows room for you to connect with the storyline. If the story was about something exact, it may not interest or pertain to your life. If there are certain gaps in a story, however, you can use it to reflect on your own life and feelings and you are more able to get involved in the story. For instance, in this particular story there is a line “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig, It’s not really an operation after all.” In the story, many analysts believe that Hemingway was speaking about an abortion. However, as a reader, you can believe anything you want. You can bend the story into whatever makes you interested in reading it, and the story would make perfect sense. I believe that this writing style is good because it leaves room for the imagination, which makes his stories more exciting. They are also easy to read, because the language is simple and he elaborates on very simple subjects. If you are someone that struggles with metaphors or symbolic reading, this is an easy story to read because you can make up anything that
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