Emily Moscatello
Professor Goldman
ENC 1102
1/23/2017
Hills Like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway published “Hills Like White Elephants” in 1927 in his collection of stories called, Men Without Women. Hemingway tied in his personal struggles of building meaningful relationships in to each of his short stories. Hills Like White Elephants is a short story about a young couple struggling with the idea of having an abortion or keeping their unborn child. However, since the word “abortion” is nowhere to be found in the story, Hemingway uses themes, motifs and symbols to help the reader understand the meaning of the short story.
At the beginning of this short story we meet our two main characters: The woman named Jig, and the man who has not …show more content…
As previously stated before, Jig looks up at the hills and describes them as White Elephants, which is a symbol for her unborn child. The color white seems to describe the innocence and pureness of her unborn child and the elephant seems to recall “the elephant in the room,” which is something both characters do not want to talk about. A theme that occurs quite a bit in this short story is the idea that the two characters seem to talk but not communicate thoroughly. Jig and the American have a full-blown conversation about the operation but never seem to actually call it an abortion. The two “beat around the bush” the whole time while conversing about the abortion and what will happen after if Jig goes through with having the operation.
Hills Like White Elephants was a very thought provoking short story. Hemingway did a wonderful job at telling a story but not giving it away. Hemmingway used a lot of symbols and metaphors to get the reader to question the story quite a bit. Although the reader does not know what happens to Jig and The American, the ending left us with different concepts of what could have happened
Professor Goldman
ENC 1102
1/23/2017
Hills Like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway published “Hills Like White Elephants” in 1927 in his collection of stories called, Men Without Women. Hemingway tied in his personal struggles of building meaningful relationships in to each of his short stories. Hills Like White Elephants is a short story about a young couple struggling with the idea of having an abortion or keeping their unborn child. However, since the word “abortion” is nowhere to be found in the story, Hemingway uses themes, motifs and symbols to help the reader understand the meaning of the short story.
At the beginning of this short story we meet our two main characters: The woman named Jig, and the man who has not …show more content…
As previously stated before, Jig looks up at the hills and describes them as White Elephants, which is a symbol for her unborn child. The color white seems to describe the innocence and pureness of her unborn child and the elephant seems to recall “the elephant in the room,” which is something both characters do not want to talk about. A theme that occurs quite a bit in this short story is the idea that the two characters seem to talk but not communicate thoroughly. Jig and the American have a full-blown conversation about the operation but never seem to actually call it an abortion. The two “beat around the bush” the whole time while conversing about the abortion and what will happen after if Jig goes through with having the operation.
Hills Like White Elephants was a very thought provoking short story. Hemingway did a wonderful job at telling a story but not giving it away. Hemmingway used a lot of symbols and metaphors to get the reader to question the story quite a bit. Although the reader does not know what happens to Jig and The American, the ending left us with different concepts of what could have happened