Elephants

His essay “Shooting an Elephant” was published in 1936 after he quit his job as a member of the Indian Imperial Police in Burma (Orwell). Orwell points out that he “had already made up his mind that imperialism was an evil thing” (“Shooting an Elephant”). He also shows his ability to express his own thoughts and feelings in a way that translates over to 1984. The character in the book…

response to the story. Orwell also forges an intimate and personal relationship with the reader by discussing his innermost thoughts, admitting his own flaws, and incorporating self-analyzation while narrating the story. This is evident in “Shooting an Elephant” when he admits his embarrassment of succumbing to pressure from the people he polices saying, “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool”. This technique of being completely…

the country of Spain while experiencing more with each other than the formulated travel guide’s intent suggested. At a train station, or a crossroads, their lustful escapade ends and the two go separate ways. Hemingway in the “Hills Like White Elephants” accurately displays the masculinity found in his own life as well as the difficulty of building perpetual relationships. This short story contains distinct symbolism and diction that allude to the basis for the narration and allow readers to…

In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway depicts two lovers faced with a serious problem: unexpected pregnancy. During the time period of this story, the early twentieth century, abortion was dangerous, taboo, and morally wrong. The girl is undecided for obvious reasons, while the man doesn’t want the responsibility of a child. In this short story, the American man portrays a persuasive attitude to convince his girl, Jig, to have an abortion. Ernest Hemingway constructs a persuasive…

The story, “Hills Like White Elephants” is primarily a conversation between an American man and his girlfriend, neither of which truly communicates with the other. Both talk, but neither listens, nor understands the other’s point of view. The American man, although the operation is not specifically mentioned, is trying to convince the woman to have an abortion; a subject the woman does not want to talk about and avoids by drinking. In this story, the white elephant symbolizes something…

The short story, Hills like White Elephants, is essentially a conversation between a woman (Jig) and a man (unnamed, but referred to as The American) at a train station. Although this story is a conversation, neither of them truly communicate with each other, and they do not seem to care about the point of view of one another. The American is exasperatingly trying to convince the girl to have an operation. The nature of this operation is never clearly stated, but it is assumed to be an abortion.…

Looking at Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” we will just see a couple arguing about abortion and whether the girl would go through with it. The couple believes that when Jig goes through with the abortion the relationship will automatically fall back to the blissful state it was before the obstruction of the baby come along. Hemingway said, “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me” (361). The girl is willing to go through with abortion,…

fictional relationships have been known to capture our hearts for decades. But what lies beneath the surface of these seemingly wonderful pairings can only be shown through the characters themselves. In the classic short story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, characters play an important and necessary role. With little plot or background information to follow, readers must rely on the descriptions of the main characters and their surroundings to understand the tone of the writing…

“Hills Like White Elephants” A typical well-written short story incorporates various literary elements into building up an underlying message from the author. Specifically, an author would strive to deftly utilize the essential structural elements of a story such as a well-developed plot, detailed characterization, and concrete settings in creating a compelling narrative. Or, an author may put emphasis on one particular literary element to convey the theme. In “Hills Like White Elephants”, a…

I remember it clear as day, as if it was yesterday December 10, 2015. The day my sister and I had arrived in Slidell, Louisiana to witness the next day she was due to give birth to the unknown sex who is now my niece. In that day I had discovered that my monthly cycle of mother nature had soon yet to arrive. “No worries” I thought to myself sometimes my cycle could be irregular. As we arrived back home a week later there was still no sign of my monthly cycle, I had begun to worry. I…