Eric Hanks Hanks 1
Mrs. Jardin
Short Fiction
16 October 2015
The Real Hemingway In Ernest Hemingway’s stores, the idea of male dominance is often shown in the relationships between the characters. Whether it’s intentional or not, these subtle traits can often be related back to Hemingway’s personality, and the time in which he grew up in. Constantly on the move and living in a time when males were often associated with being strong and brave due to the war, Hemingway’s characters often exemplified common sexist stereotypes that were normal at the time. These stereotypes were due to Hemingway’s personal life as well as the time he was living in. While the subliminal sexism wasn’t obvious in all his stories, it can give a better perspective on the characters, conflict, and setting. The story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, opens up with a man and a woman sitting at a table in a train station ordering two …show more content…
The train station is actually very significant to the rest of the story, for it resembles the crossroads at which the couple is at. There isn’t much conversation until the woman points out how the hills look like white elephants. That one phrase is filled with a bunch of subliminal metaphors that reveals the entire conflict and begins to reveal the character’s personalities. White elephants are a type of gift that nobody really wants and by the girl to comment on the hills looking like white elephants, she is subtly addressing the main conflict of the story, the baby she is carrying. In the next line we get a glimpse at the man’s personality when Hemingway says, “I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his beer.” This shows the man’s attitude towards the conflict, the white elephants or the baby. How he doesn’t really care for the baby and just wants
Mrs. Jardin
Short Fiction
16 October 2015
The Real Hemingway In Ernest Hemingway’s stores, the idea of male dominance is often shown in the relationships between the characters. Whether it’s intentional or not, these subtle traits can often be related back to Hemingway’s personality, and the time in which he grew up in. Constantly on the move and living in a time when males were often associated with being strong and brave due to the war, Hemingway’s characters often exemplified common sexist stereotypes that were normal at the time. These stereotypes were due to Hemingway’s personal life as well as the time he was living in. While the subliminal sexism wasn’t obvious in all his stories, it can give a better perspective on the characters, conflict, and setting. The story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, opens up with a man and a woman sitting at a table in a train station ordering two …show more content…
The train station is actually very significant to the rest of the story, for it resembles the crossroads at which the couple is at. There isn’t much conversation until the woman points out how the hills look like white elephants. That one phrase is filled with a bunch of subliminal metaphors that reveals the entire conflict and begins to reveal the character’s personalities. White elephants are a type of gift that nobody really wants and by the girl to comment on the hills looking like white elephants, she is subtly addressing the main conflict of the story, the baby she is carrying. In the next line we get a glimpse at the man’s personality when Hemingway says, “I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his beer.” This shows the man’s attitude towards the conflict, the white elephants or the baby. How he doesn’t really care for the baby and just wants