“Hills Like White Elephants’ is a short story that seems rather simple at first glance. One would assume the story is about a couple having a simple conversation at a train station, but this is not the case. Hemingway carefully incorporates brilliant details through symbolism that contributes more to this short story than any other literary aspect. Hemingway’s use of symbolism can be primarily found in the title, absinthe, and the bamboo curtain. These symbols present deeper meanings to the piece and add to the intricacy and moving influence of the short story.
The title, “Hills Like White Elephants,” comes from actual references to the setting of the train station, which is surrounded by white hills across the Ebro valley in Spain. As Lewis E. Weeks Jr. points out, in his critical analysis “Hemingway Hills: Symbolism in Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway proposes a very brief but descriptive setting, which allows the reader to understand that the hills are surrounded by a dead looking countryside (1). It can also be implied that the hills, which are surrounded by a dead countryside represent the couple’s relationship. The hills could symbolize the ups and downs that partners face during their relationship. While the dead countryside could symbolize the season or the point of the relationship where there is no growth and the environment is hostile. Additionally, as Weeks suggests, the hills could even further symbolize the image of a pregnant nude woman lying on her back carrying a sacred child that is unwanted by its father. A white elephant is considered rare in nature, which alludes to the fact that the mother may feel that she will miss the joy that accompanies motherhood because of the lack of the father’s support to co...
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... the bamboo curtain are only a few of the symbols that can be found within “Hills Like White Elephants.” The three symbols mentioned allowed for the story to develop beyond its surface. Hemingway illustrates in “Hills Like White Elephants” how to beautifully incorporate symbols to augment the complexity of any work, thus, strengthening the meaning and purpose of any piece.
Works Cited
Consigny, Scott. "Hemingway's HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS." Explicator 48.1 (1989): 54. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Lanier, Doris. "The Bittersweet Taste Of Absinthe In Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephants'." Studies In Short Fiction 26.3 (1989): 279. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Weeks Jr., Lewis E. "Hemingway Hills: Symbolism In 'Hills Like White Elephants'." Studies In Short Fiction 17.1 (1980): 75. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
In a well-written short story, different literary elements and terms are incorporated into the story by the author. Ernest Hemingway frequently uses various literary elements in his writing to entice the reader and enhance each piece that he writes. In Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway uses symbols to teach the reader certain things that one may encounter during daily life. Symbolism may be defined as relating to, using, or proceeding by means of symbols (Princeton). The use of symbols in Hills Like White Elephants is utterly important to the plot line and to the fundamental meaning of the story. Through this use of symbolism, the reader can begin to reveal the hidden themes in this short story.
“Roman Fever” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are two stories that on surface seem very different from one another, but through careful analysis the two are quite similar. Their similarities are mainly evident through the significant use of the dialogues in the both stories. “Roman Fever” has a third person omniscient narrator which the author allows to know the inner private thoughts of both characters, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. In contrast, “Hills Like White Elephants” is composed in a third person limited narrative where very little is known about the thoughts of both Jig and the American. At first Ernest Hemingway’s short story can clearly be viewed as the most ambiguous out of the two. With its simplistic style, written mostly in straightforward dialogue which leaves the readers to contemplate over the ultimate outcome of the story and forces them to ...
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Fiction 101: An Anthology of Short Fiction. James H. Pickering. Twelfth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. 638-641
Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is a short story that deals with the idea of conformity and the conflict caused by internal desire and pressure from another party. The short story is very subtle, and often uses these subtleties in combination with incredible amounts of symbolism interlaced throughout the narrative to cause the reader to look and think deeper into the motives, values and convictions of the conflict between the two protagonists respective desires. When two parties are at an impasse of desire, the conviction of their opposing beliefs becomes increasingly unshakeable. This results in dissension due to the severe lack of understanding between the parties involved and furthermore, they refuse to be held responsible for the inability to communicate their feelings to one another.
Gale. Weeks, Lewis E., Jr. "Hemingway Hills: Symbolism in 'Hills like White'" Elephants. Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77.
Ernest Hemingway is an incredible writer, known for what he leaves out of stories not for what he tells. His main emphasis in Hills Like White Elephants seems to be symbolism. Symbolism is the art or practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations (merriam-webster.com). He uses this technique to emphasize the importance of ideas, once again suggesting that he leaves out the important details of the story by symbolizing their meaning.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills like White Elephants." Responding to Literature. Ed. Judith Stanford. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 841-44. Print.
Renner, Stanley "Moving to the Girl's Side of `Hills Like White Elephants'." The Hemingway Review, 15 (1) (Fall 1995): 27-41. As Rpt. in Wyche, David "Letting the Air into a Relationship: Metaphorical Abortion in `Hills Like White Elephants'. The Hemingway Review, 22 (1) (Fall 2002): 56-71. EBSCOhost.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. DiYanni, Robert. 2nd ed. New York. Mc Grew Hill. 2008. 400-03. Print.
The art, literature, and poetry of the early 20th century called for a disruption of social values. Modernism became the vague term to describe the shift. The characteristics of the term Modernism, all seek to free the restricted human spirit. It had no trust in the moral conventions and codes of the past. One of the examples of modernism, that breaks the conventions and traditions of literature prior to Modernism, is Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”. The short story uses plot, symbolism, setting, dialogue, and a new style of writing to allow human spirit to experiment with meaning and interpretation.
Hills Like White Elephants, written by Ernest Hemingway, is a story that takes place in Spain while a man and woman wait for a train. The story is set up as a dialogue between the two, in which the man is trying to convince the woman to do something she is hesitant in doing. Through out the story, Hemingway uses metaphors to express the characters’ opinions and feelings.
---, "Hills Like White Elephants." The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1953. 273-278.
In the short story by Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants," a couple is delayed at a train station en route to Madrid and is observed in conflict over the girl's impending abortion. In his writing, Hemingway does not offer any commentary through a specific character's point of view, nor, in the storytelling, does he offer his explicit opinions on how to feel or think about the issues that emerge. The narrative seems to be purely objective, somewhat like a newspaper or journal article, and in true Hemingway form the story ends abruptly, without the couple's conflict clearly being resolved. The ambiguity of the ending has been a subject of much debate; however, the impact of what is not said in words can be gleaned through the symbolism of their surroundings. Upon examination of the setting, the couple's final choice becomes instantly apparent.
Stukas, Jake. "Literary analysis: Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway." Helium.com. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 113-117. Print.