Many times in life things are not as they seem. What may look simple on the surface may be more complicated deeper within. Countless authors of short stories go on a journey to intricately craft the ultimate revelation as well as the subtle clues meant for the readers as they attempt to figure out the complete “truth” of the story. The various authors of these stories often use different literary techniques to help uncover the revelation their main characters undergo. Through the process of carefully developing their unique characters and through point of view, both Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway ultimately convey the significant revelation in the short stories, “Roman Fever” and “Hills Like White Elephants” respectively. The use of these two literary techniques is essential because they provide the readers with the necessary clues to realize the ultimate revelations. “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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...even though she is stuck at a crossroad between Madrid and Barcelona, abortion or baby, Barcelona and the lush hills behind the Ebro River show her what she can have, what she initially wanted all along-to settle down and enjoy life with her baby and love. “Roman Fever” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are two different stories that are both very ambiguous in their own ways. Each has a revelation at the end that ultimately paints the grander picture. Even though, Wharton and Hemingway used two very different styles of writing, one full of small subtle details that all fit together as a big puzzle and the other full of simplicity and straightforwardness, both did create dynamic and mysterious characters that, mixed in with the subtle hints and suggestion of their narrators, ultimately helped the readers see and actually comprehend the revelations of each story.
Hemingway presents takes the several literary styles to present this short story. Hemingway’s use of Foreshadowing, Pathos, Imagery and Personification allows the reader to enter the true context of the frustration and struggle that the couples face. Although written in the 1920’s it the presents a modern day conflict of communication that millions of couples face. At first glance the beautiful landscape of the Barcelonian hillside in which Jig refers to frequently throughout the text appears to have taken the form of White Elephants. The Americans’ response to Jigs’ observation was less than enthusiastic as he provides a brief comment and continues on with his cerveza. This was but the first of the many verbal jousts to come between Jig and the American. The metaphorical inferences in those verbal confrontations slowly uncover the couple’s dilemma and why they may be on the waiting for the train to Madrid.
Ernest Hemingway was born and grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. By the time he wrote this story he had been wounded in Italy during World War I; had traveled extensively in Europe as a newspaper correspondent and writer; had married, fathered a son, been divorced, and remarried (Hemingway 236). Planted in the midst of a forsaken canyon, the station isn’t a final destination but merely a stage between Barcelona and Madrid. Hemingway sets “Hills like White Elephants” at a train depot to play up the reality that the relationship between the man and the Jig is at a crossroads. The author is showing the couple is at a pivotal point on whether to go with each other and endure their relationship or end things and start new lives. However, the contrast between the white hills and sterile basin perhaps highlights the division between fertility and sterility, between having the baby or having the abortion, between life or death. The girl seems broken between the two landscapes, not only commenting on the beauty of the hills but also walking to the end of the platform and looking out at the desolate dessert around the station. Throughout the story the author uses objective point of view, symbolism, and irony to illustrate the theme that life and death decisions may negatively affect relationships.
Evans, Sara. Wang, Bella ed. "Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "Hills Like White Elephants"". GradeSaver, 10 December 2010 Web. 9 March 2014.
Ernest Hemingway’s story “Hills Like White Elephants” is written in third person. This narrator is objective and limited. It is objective, by not giving thoughts or opinions about the story. The narrator is limited by having no insight to thoughts of the other characters in the story and has
Hemingway was known for writing very little with a lot of underlying meaning. Most of his work is based more or less on dialogue. In “Hills Like White Elephants” we have a brief introduction of the scenery and then dialogue between Jig and the American. This short story does not give you any hints as to what is really being said by the main characters but the tone, scenery, and symbolism do play a big part in explaining the situation at hand and what Hemingway was trying to convey in this short piece.
Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald are one of the most well known authors to have ever existed. Both authors have a very unique style of writing that captures the audience. Hemingway uses a simple writing style that allows the main argument of his stories to be straightforward, as his writing contains strong imagery, metaphors, and symbolism. However, Fitzgerald writes much lengthier stories that are full of figurative language. Also, he employs a strong command of the language with very eloquent vocabulary. Even though both authors write in much different and unique manners, there is a strong connection between Fitzgerald’s short story “Absolution” and Hemingway’s short story “The Battler”. In order to progress on their journey of self discovery, the two main characters from each story must overcome fear and develop a stronger sense of understanding in regards to the life lessons embodied upon them throughout their “adventures.”
A trip into the world of literature includes the understanding of all the key elements the author intends to deliver. There are many different literary elements that can be used to deliver a very compelling story. Within Tim Obrien’s “The Things They Carried” as well as “Hills Like White Elephants” written by Ernest Hemingway, use many of the key literary features to deliver well written and enthralling classic short stories. This essay will attempt to provide evidence that although Hemingway and Obrien have different writing styles, they both use similar elements to provide very similar core conflicts within each story.
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.
Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2003. As Rpt. in Rankin, Paul "Hemingway's `Hills Like White Elephants'." Explicator, 63 (4) (Summer 2005): 234-37.
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." The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1953. 273-278.
Hemingway uses multiple symbols in his stories. In “Hills like White Elephants,” there are a plethora of images and objects that project an emotion or a feeling that isn’t explained in words, but rather are left for the reader to filter through and figure out for them. By looking at the setting, the train, and the title itself, we as readers can find a little more meaning beyond the dialogue and into the intentions and emotions of the American and his girl.
As the couple waits between two destinations, Barcelona and Madrid, they are trapped in limbo "between two lines of rail in the sun"(142). The station, placed between the two lines of rails, suggest the two directions the couple may go - toward Madrid and the abortion or away from Madrid and to a family scenario. The landscape describes the conflict, both barren and fruitful. Alongside of one rail line long, white hills stretch across the horizon, the country before them "brown and dry" (143). In stark contrast to the desolate landscape of the hills, the other flank is lush and green, with "fields of grain and trees [running] along the banks of the Ebro" (145). This scenic dichotomy comes to embody the girl's sentiments regarding the abortion: the hills are barren, representing her life if she submits to her partners expressed desires and goes through with the abortion; while th...