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Hills Like WHite Elephants

            In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants," Ernest Hemingway uses many literary elements to create the tone of the story. The use of irony, theme, setting, point of view, and dialogue help the reader to understand all aspects of this story.
             The story is written in objective narration. This means there is no real narrator and the story tells itself through the dialogue and actions of the characters. Hemingway uses the dialogue of a man and woman to slowly reveal an argument over abortion. The dialogue of the man shows he is very much for the abortion. He does keep assuring the girl that it's only if she wants it, but also keeps pushing it on her by saying it's a very simple operation.
             The setting plays a vital role in the importance of this story. The story seems to be set in the 1920's. During this time period abortion was a very taboo subject. This type of surgery really was not prevalent due to a stronger sense of family and the high medical risk associated with it. The story also takes place at a train terminal where the young couple is waiting to continue on what seems like an around the world party. Hemingway shows this fact by referencing all the labels on their luggage from the hotels they had spent nights at. .
             I don't really see too much of irony in this story. I guess there might be sense of in the case of the woman. The timing of this pregnancy is really undesirable but as the woman thinks about it the pregnancy itself becomes desirable to her.
             This overall theme of abortion in the story shows the different perspectives between the men and women on the subject of abortion. Since the story is written in objective point of view the narrator give no real opinion. The reader himself forms an opinion on the conversation of the characters and whatever their own views and values may be. Hemingway never actually uses the word abortion in his story; he just uses the symbolism and the dialogue to get this point out.


Essays Related to Hills Like WHite Elephants

1. Hills Like White Elephants

As I read over Ernest Hemingway's short story, Hills Like White Elephants, there is one powerful theme that clearly stands out. ... In today's 21st century women are beginning to become more independent and educated which seems to have made the roles of the man and woman more equal, but during Hills Like White Elephants I feel the men were the dominant member of the relationship. ... For example, during the opening conservation it seemed to me that when the woman said she felt the mountains looked like white elephants. ... The woman comments on the hill looking like white elephant...

  • Word Count: 963
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Symbolism in "Hills like White Elephants"

A good example is the short story "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemmingway. ... The barren hills that look like white elephants have a deeper meaning than it might occur. First of all, a white elephant has both good and bad connotations. The hills are like white elephants for the girl because it has ambivalent meanings and that is what her inner child represents to her since a white elephant can evoke an unwanted gift or bad luck. ... The train station, the hills like white elephants and the drink are all connected together for representing the inner conflict and evolution of the girl...

  • Word Count: 757
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Hills like white elephants

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. ... The title "Hills like White Elephants- can tell you something if you think about symbols and the meaning of them. ... On one side there is no shade, no trees, only hills, which are white, like elephants. ... The title of this novel "Hills like White Elephants- symbolize her pregnancy where the hills symbolize her belly and the white elephant symbolize something that a person normally does not...

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

4. Hills Like White Elephants

Analysis of "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway. ... "Hills like White Elephants." ... ""Hills Like White Elephants:" lean Vintage Hemingway." ... "Leitmotif and Irony in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants."" ... "Hemingway Hills: Symbolism in "Hills Like White Elephants."" ...

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

5. 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. ... 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. ... 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. ... Another use of symbolism in "Hills Like White Elephants" is during on...

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

6. 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. ... 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. ... 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...

  • Word Count: 300
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Hills Like White Elephants

Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway Hills Like White Elephants Hills Like White Elephants, is a short story, written by author Ernest Hemingway. ... She looks at the hills in the distance and says They look like white elephants (282). ... The fact that she is not surprised he's never seen a white elephant. ... A white elephant is something that is unwanted. ... In conclusion, Ernest Hemingway's short story Hills Like White Elephants is about a man and a woman struggling to deal with an unwanted baby. ...

  • Word Count: 1085
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Hill Like White Elephants

Indulging the reader with his masterful literary techniques, Ernest Hemingway produces the story of a young couple in his short story, "Hills Like White Elephants." ... Throughout, "Hills Like White Elephants," Hemingway utilizes the element of characterization to describe the young woman's distraught situation. ... A spectacular setting is created by Hemingway in his short story, "Hills Like White Elephants." ... Just as when the girl says, "They look like White Elephants" (514) referring to the hills in the background. ... Mastering the element of language, Hemingway floods his shor...

  • Word Count: 1498
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Hills Like White Elephants and The Metamorphosis

The short story, "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway, and the novella, "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka, both contain covert alternate meanings that emanate from the authors' literary style preferences. ... Hemingway has stated that "the main point of the work is under the surface," and this is certainly the case in the story, "Hills Like White Elephants," which alters the readers' perceptions of the story's meaning (Darzikola 9). ... The iceberg theory affects "Hills Like White Elephants" because it leaves room fo...

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

10. Hills Like White Elephants

In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants" the author Ernest Hemingway sets the setting in about the 1930's of an "American" and a "girl" sitting at a table together in a small train station bar somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid. ... "And if I do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me"(249). ... On the other side, were there are fields of grain and green tree, the river, beautiful mountains that look like "white elephants" in the sun. ... In the title Hemingway uses the world "white elephant" looking up the definition of the world, "An ...

  • Word Count: 897
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

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