What is the plot of hills like white elephants?
The short story "Hills Like White Elephants," is about a couple that is really young and the is having a issue about abortion. The author uses a lot of rhetorical devices to convey his message but mostly use imagery and symbolism. The way that the story is told by the author the reader can see the story told in their head.
What is the ending of hills like white elephants?
The ending of Hemingway’s short story “ Hills Like White Elephants ” is a bit ambiguous. While it is implied that the couple’s conflict was resolved, it is open for interpretation and thus one could rewrite it from several perspectives. The couple in the story is having a restrained, yet...
What is the meaning behind hills like white elephants?
What is the meaning behind Hills Like White Elephants? A white elephant symbolizes something no one wants—in this story, the girl’s unborn child. Comparing the hills—and, metaphorically, the baby—to elephants also recalls the expression “the elephant in the room,” a euphemism for something painfully obvious that no one wants to discuss.
What is the story of hills like white elephants?
The Use of Irony in Hills Like White Elephants, a Short Story by Ernest Hemingway
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- In-text citation: ("The Use of Irony in Hills Like White Elephants, a Short Story by Ernest Hemingway.")
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What operation are they arguing about in Hills Like White Elephants and what are their attitudes towards it?
Even today, most readers are still puzzled by the story. In other words, it will take an exceptionally perceptive reader to realize immediately that the couple is arguing about the girl's having an abortion at a time when abortions were absolutely illegal, considered immoral, and usually dangerous.
What is the awfully simple operation?
Throughout the story, it is clear that the man would like the woman to get an operation, which he describes as "awfully simple," "perfectly simple," and "not really an operation at all." He promises to stay with her the whole time and that they'll be happy afterward because "that's the only thing that bothers us."
How does the symbol of the white elephant relate to the operation?
The white elephant image symbolizes the thing that cannot easily be gotten rid of and that comes with a great cost. The hills represent pregnancy. The arriving train represents decision time.
What does the man tell the girl they could have if she had the operation?
He's making it clear what he wants even though she's not sure if that's what she wants. What does the man tell the girl they could have if she had the operation? The whole world.
What kind of operation does the American want jig to have in Hills Like White Elephants?
In the story “Hills like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemmingway is about a man referred to “the American” and the girl name, Jig, plan on having an abortion because the American man thinks it is better for them.
Does the girl have the abortion in Hills Like White Elephants?
However, there is strong support in the narrative for a fourth outcome that fits in, with the dark overall prognosis presented in other scholarly interpretations: the girl will indeed have the abortion, expecting in this way to stay on with the man, but after the operation has been performed, he will abandon her.
What is the meaning of white elephant project?
A “white elephant project” is a phrase which is used in reference to a financial endeavor which fails to live up to its expectations. A “white elephant project” can be used in reference to a completed project or one whose undertaking is still ongoing.
What does the beaded curtain symbolize in Hills Like White Elephants?
Elliott points out that, near the end of the story, the curtain forms a literal barrier between the man and the woman as he sits apart and has a drink at the bar. The curtain represents their emotional separation as well, for they regard it as differently as they do the more familiar symbol of the hills.
What do hills symbolize?
Hills carry their own significance least of which is the concept of higher and lower levels of land - the latter can contain swamps, people, darkness, fields, heat, unpleasantness, life whilst the former can suggest isolation, life, death, thin air, purity, clear views to name a few.
Do they keep the baby in Hills Like White Elephants?
At the same time, he repeatedly assures her that he does not want her to have an abortion if she does not want it. It seems, however, that the girl would rather keep her baby and raise it together with her partner.
What is the nationality of the man in Hills Like White Elephants?
AmericanSynopsis. The story focuses on a conversation between an American man and a young woman, described as a "girl," at a Spanish train station while waiting for a train to Madrid. The girl compares the nearby hills to white elephants.
What is the meaning of the title Hills Like White Elephants?
Ernest Hemingway uses the title “Hills like White Elephants” to symbolize Jig's pregnancy. A “white elephant” is a defined as something that is of a great burden or a possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of, and is especially of something that is expensive to obtain (White Elephant 1).
What river is Hemingway talking about in the story?
In the story, Hemingway refers to the Ebro River and to the bare, sterile-looking mountains on one side of the train station and to the fertile plains on the other side of the train station. The hills of Spain, to the girl, are like white elephants in their bareness and round, protruding shape. Also notable is that "white elephant" is ...
How does Hemingway explore the loneliness of the elderly?
Hemingway explores older men's loneliness by using the older waiter as a sounding board for the elderly man's defense.
Do the hills have skins?
From the man's point of view, the hills don't look like white elephants, and the hills certainly don't have skins. The girl, however, has moved away from the rational world of the man and into her own world of intuition, in which she seemingly knows that the things that she desires will never be fulfilled.
Does Hemingway remove himself from the story?
When it was written, authors were expected to guide readers through a story. In "Hills Like White Elephants," though, Hemingway completely removes himself from the story. Readers are never aware of an author's voice behind the story.
Is the operation in the story of the girl silent?
The girl remains silent as the man continues to describe how easy, simple, and natural “the operation” is. The operation goes unnamed throughout the story, but it is clearly a euphemism for an abortion. At the time abortions were illegal and often very dangerous, adding to the coded nature of their conversation.
Does Hemingway give away plot points?
Hemingway is typically sparse with his language and doesn’t give away any real plot points in this story, so it’s important to examine his descriptions of the setting, as these are in many ways more revealing than the actual dialogue between the characters. Active Themes. Related Quotes with Explanations.
What is the title of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"?
So the very title of Hemingway’s short story, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’, subtly and obliquely references the very thing which the two of them cannot bring themselves to mention or name openly : the title, then, both reveals and conceals the real subject of the story. ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ contains many of the most representative elements ...
Why is the Spanish hills like white elephants?
The girl’s comment about the Spanish hills looking like white elephants is mere filler, an example of ‘treading water’ as she and her male companion drink enough alcohol to make broaching the dread topic of their conversation – without actually directly mentioning it – palatable or even possible.
What does the white elephant mean in Hemingway's story?
But the second meaning is implied in Hemingway’s story. A ‘white elephant’ is a Western cultural term describing a possession which its owner cannot dispose of. The maintenance cost of such a possession is out of proportion to its usefulness or desirability. Given the (implied) topic of the man and girl’s conversation – ...
Who was the detective who found the stolen white elephant?
One also wonders whether, somewhere in his prodigious mind, Hemingway was recalling Mark Twain ’s 1882 detective story, ‘ The Stolen White Elephant ’, in which the elephant turns out to have been in the original spot all along.
Do the hills look like white elephants?
Similarly, it is worth pointing out that the girl goes back on her initial statement that the hills resemble white elephants, saying shortly after this that the hills don’t actually look that much like white elephants after all, and only remind her of their colour. (This is interesting because many so-called white elephants are ‘white’ only in ...
The Girl
The Girl, called Jig at one point by the man, is the central character of "Hills Like White Elephants"' story. She is pregnant, carrying the American's child. Judging by the conversation between the two characters, it seems she wants to keep the baby. He does not.
The American
The American, or the man, does most of the talking in the story, and if one of "Hills Like White Elephants"' characters can be considered a villain, it's him. He's assertive and overbearing in trying to convince the girl to get the abortion.
The Waitress
The woman, a waitress at the train station bar, stands in contrast to the girl. The man connects with her as he orders the drinks, but they aren't attached. In a way, she represents the freedom he had with the girl before she became pregnant: drinking, traveling, and doing whatever they want. She also moves the story along in time.
Setting
The setting of "Hills Like White Elephants" is the Valley of the Ebro in Spain, in the 1920s. This post-WWI time period was a common topic for Hemingway, as were various locations around Spain. The setting influences the story in some key ways:
Themes
Even with such straightforward, unembellished writing, "Hills Like White Elephants" develops several different themes:
Symbolism
The "White Elephants" across the valley are one of the first images in the story, and they break the ice of the conversation between the man and the girl. The white elephant image specifically symbolizes a few different things:
What is a white elephant?
A white elephant is something that is unwanted. And the man never deals with things that he does not want. He just shuts his mind to his unwanted objects like the girl in this scene seems to recognize. One example of the man’s white elephants is his own unborn child.
Who wrote "Hills Like White Elephants"?
We’ll even meet a 3-hour deadline. “Hills Like White Elephants,” is a short story, written by author Ernest Hemingway. It is a story about a man and a woman waiting at a train station talking about an issue that they never name. I believe this issue is abortion.
Does Hemingway tell us what the girl decides to do about the baby?
The author, Hemingway, never explicitly tells us what the girl decides to do about the baby, but he does give us enough clues to figure out what she has decided by the end of the story . These clues have to do with the story’s tone like the way the words the man speak make us understand Jig’s tone of disapproval.
What does Hemingway use the terrains for in Hill Like White Elephants?
In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway uses the three different terrains to symbolize the state of the couple’s relationship and in particular Jig’s illusions about her life. When the story... Latest answer posted September 1, 2020 4:51 pm UTC. 1 educator answer.
Why is the American man selfish in Hills Like White Elephants?
In Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," the American man is selfish because he has no interest in understanding the woman's point of view. The abortion probably needs to be discussed, and one... Latest answer posted January 7, 2019 11:10 am UTC. 2 educator answers. Hills Like White Elephants.
What is the conflict in the Hemingway story?
One of the most basic conflicts present in the Hemingway short story is how two people balance the demands of their own needs with the realities of their relationship. I think that Hemingway draws...
Why does Hemingway use the number 2?
Hemingway use the number two for two purposes (no play on words intended ). The first relates to the American man and the girl, whom he calls Jig, being a couple. This reinforces the man's...
What is the name of the woman in Hill Like White Elephants?
In “Hills Like White Elephants” the American man, and the woman, “Jig,” are a couple sitting outside a café’ drinking beer while they await a train. These characters are discussing a pregnancy and... In "Hills Like White Elephants" the American orders two big beers.
Does the girl in "Hills Like White" have a name?
How can I use the lack of or the presence of names in "What We Talk About" and in "Hills Like White... The female character in "Hills" actually does have a name -- "Jig" -- but it is used very sparingly by the male, and it may be a nickname rather than a proper name.
Does Jig understand Spanish?
The dialogue between the American and Jig makes it clear that she doesn't understand a word of Spanish. This means that she is most likely a native English speaker but probably not an American....