Communication Problems in Hills like White Elephants Ernest Hemingway’s short story, Hills Like White Elephants, mainly consists of dialogue between the two characters. Although the entire story is a continuous conversation amongst the couple, there is very little communication going on. Without a critical perception, most readers may think of this story as nothing more than an everyday conversation between a man and woman. This lack of understanding causes readers to miss the point of Hemingway’s story. Hills like White Elephants uses a particular setting to help convey the theme and symbols found within the story. It begins with a description of a train station and its’ surroundings of fields, trees, and hills. Upon meeting the main characters, the
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Everything from the setting, to the hills, to the train station, to the consumption of alcohol signify significant importance. As previously stated, the story takes place at a train station. Already, one can guess what the symbolism means. First a decision needs to be made about where to go, in this case the man and woman are waiting for a train to Madrid. The next decision the two must make is whether or not they will continue their journey together. Another object of symbolism are the hills referred to in the title. The woman makes a whimsical comparative, “they look like white elephants” (130). There can be multiple assumption drawn from this quote. One, the woman is possibly weighing her options and thinking more seriously about keeping the baby, thus fantasizing about being pregnant. Or, it may be her way of addressing the “elephant in the room” as it is possible that the couple have yet to have a serious discussion about what to do. One of the last symbols found in the story is alcohol. Although it cannot be completely proven that the characters were already having problems in their relationship before the pregnancy, it is safe to
Everything from the setting, to the hills, to the train station, to the consumption of alcohol signify significant importance. As previously stated, the story takes place at a train station. Already, one can guess what the symbolism means. First a decision needs to be made about where to go, in this case the man and woman are waiting for a train to Madrid. The next decision the two must make is whether or not they will continue their journey together. Another object of symbolism are the hills referred to in the title. The woman makes a whimsical comparative, “they look like white elephants” (130). There can be multiple assumption drawn from this quote. One, the woman is possibly weighing her options and thinking more seriously about keeping the baby, thus fantasizing about being pregnant. Or, it may be her way of addressing the “elephant in the room” as it is possible that the couple have yet to have a serious discussion about what to do. One of the last symbols found in the story is alcohol. Although it cannot be completely proven that the characters were already having problems in their relationship before the pregnancy, it is safe to