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Hills Like White Elephants

            In the commentary on Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", we are asked why the title refers to the setting. By using certain aspects of the surrounding landscapes Hemingway has portrayed the conflict taking place within Jig. .
             The setting of Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" is comprised of two landscapes. One landscape is long and barren with white hills that stretch out over the Ebro valley. The landscape located on the other side of the tracks is made up of a flowing river lined with shade trees and fields of grain. .
             These contrasting landscapes are symbols of life and death.
             In Hemingway's title "Hills Like White Elephants", he has used Jig's thoughts about the landscape surrounding her to provide the reader with insight into her indecisiveness concerning the abortion. I have always thought that the hills were symbolic of the decision she has to make. While she is trying to decide on having the surgery or not she is standing at the foot of the hill. If she chooses to have the child, she will be climbing the hill; she will be overcoming a difficult decision. If she chooses to have the abortion, she will have never moved from the foot of the hill. She will be in the same situation with the American that she was in before she became pregnant. Jig makes this known when she comments, "That's all we do, isn't it-look at things and try new drinks?" (Pg 397) Their life never changes; they always do the same thing.
             By using the setting in the title, Hemingway has allowed the reader to go through Jig's thoughts, showing us how the setting is representative of her feelings toward having the child or aborting it. .
            


Essays Related to Hills Like White Elephants

1. Hills Like White Elephants and The Metamorphosis

... quot;The Metamorphosis" contains many interpretative values similar to Hemingway's use of the iceberg principle. The conscious literary choice to use the iceberg principle in "Hills Like White Elephants," and the unintended translational impact that occurred in "The Metamorphosis," combined with Kafka's ambiguous literary style, both provide explanations to the deeper meanings ... that each story contains, that most readers would not consider upon their initial understanding. In "Hills Like White Elephants" there is a commonplace opinion that the implied meaning of the two characters' di...

  • Word Count: 3072
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Jig and the American - Hills Like White Elephants

"Hills Like White Elephants," by Ernest Hemingway is a short story about an American man and a girl named Jig who are confronted with a difficult issue of whether or not terminate ... However, the American does not seem at all interested in changing his ways. This tension is also seen at the bar when they begin talking about the hills that look like white elephants. The girl asks to order more drinks to put off the inevitable conversation about the baby. Although they drink mainly to avoid thinking about the pregnancy, readers ... the most significant symbol within this story. The comment mad...

  • Word Count: 1455
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Hemingway, Feminism and Hills Like White Elephants

... . The American orders for both of them, not letting her to choose, which is perfectly fine with her. Then, while drinking beer, Jig looks at a line of hills and says: "They look like white elephants"" (Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants"). This is one of the many symbols in this story. With this line the girl is referring to her pregnancy, to the unborn child; she means that the ... . The girl finally starts to think with her head. She walks to the end of the station and sees "across, on the other side"" (Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants"), where are "fields of grain and trees alo...

  • Word Count: 1401
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Hills Like White Elephants

... came to a point of her life, when she has to make a choice, a difficult choice, which will affect her life from now on. Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" explores the ability of people to talk their way back to health and happiness, once they reach certain points in their life and in their relationships. Down ... they are for Jig, but still a decision must be made. Yeremuk 5 Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills like White Elephants." Discovering Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays. 2nd ed. Ed. Hans P. Guth and Gabriele L. Rico. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice hall, 1997. 22-5. Joh...

  • Word Count: 1359
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Literary Analysis - Hills Like White Elephants

... themes, and symbolism. Hemingway's short story dates back to almost ninety years ago, initially appearing in a collection titled "Men Without Women" in 1927. In "Hills Like White Elephants," the reader finds themselves eavesdropping in on a younger man and woman communicating at a train station in Zaragosa, Spain. Focusing on the dialogue between the girl "Jig& ... Lastly, the theme of how man and woman relate to one another is an ongoing theme is much of Hemingway's work, including "Hills Like White Elephants." The majority of Hemingway's short stories overly demonstrate masculinity, bu...

  • Word Count: 1134
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Hemingway Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism

... to you with the best of intentions yet is completely unwanted. The loose translation of the title would then be, A Pregnancy Like an Unwanted Gift. This title is the first example of the many forms of symbolism used throughout Hills Like White Elephants. On the first read through, it would be difficult to pick up on the various symbols Hemmingway uses. After two or three ... days with Hills Like White Elephants, one becomes acquainted with more of the details throughout these forty minutes of a couple's life together. The use of nature ... ...

  • Word Count: 1509
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

7. White Elephants

... much debate for many years, and is many times linked to the feminist movement and the liberation of women. However, in the short story "Hills like White Elephants" Ernest Hemingway uses abortion not to represent the liberation of women but their oppression by using an argument between a couple to open our eyes to ... the reader to focus on the couple's argument and their dynamic, causing one to recognize the negative treatment of Jig by "the American". In "Hills like White Elephants" Hemingway takes great care in his portrayal of the characters because this is essential to his argument. ...

  • Word Count: 2067
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Hills Like White Elephants and Araby

... . A conflict can come from a disagreement, an argument, or a misunderstanding in which then develops into a bigger situation. In the short stories "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway and "Araby" by James Joyce we see that love is the conflict presented in both stories. While the conflict of ... stories show characters stuck in a conflict about love, While in "Araby" the situation is more of an unrequited love, in "Hills Like White Elephants" two characters are confused about their love towards each other, the situation they are currently in is making them doubt their love for...

  • Word Count: 1531
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Hills Like White Elephants

An Analysis of Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" "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 "the American and ... having the baby. Our first encounter with Hemingway's symbolism is in the title, "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 el...

  • Word Count: 1031
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

10. Hills like white elephants

... not say what is going on though it is up to the reader to figure out. The symbols in "Hills like white elephants- give the reader clues of what the writer wants to say. In "Hills like White Elephants- the author does not actually say in the text what is happening. Then a short story cannot be too ... reading the story you figure out that she probably is pregnant and that her American boyfriend is not too happy about it. The title "Hills like White Elephants- can tell you something if you think about symbols and the meaning of them. In this short story the American and his girlfriend are...

  • Word Count: 499
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

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