Hills Like White Elephants Language Analysis

450 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Eernest hemingway and gender roles

By 1927 Hemingway’s protagonists had developed to present The Man in Hills Like White Elephants. The Man seems to be living in the moment as he is enjoying his life and his relationship with The Girl, and is distressed at the idea that his world may have to change. Pamela Smiley suggests The Man’s statements are only misconstrued due to gender miscommunication. Men’s speech is specific and directed. Men speak little about their state of mind or bearing. Women speak a much more indistinct language. Her listener may not know specifically what she’s talking about but often times she doesn’t either. For a woman the important thing is the conversation yet for a man the important thing is the goal. “There are three major areas of gender­ linked …show more content…

You know I love you.”
“I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants,
And you’ll like it?” (Hemingway 169)
It can be argued this comment is said in a dismissing fashion. In considering whether this protagonist is insensitive, the comment might be made in a manner to imply obviousness. There is a very different way men speak then the way women speak. The Girl asked whether or not he will love her as a conversation starter yet The Man saw it as a yes or no question. To him the answer is apparent and it seems crazy to him that she would even ask such a thing.
More of the same misunderstanding of the way men speak and demonstration of The Man’s love for The Girl shows in:
“I don’t care about me.”
“Well, I care about you.” (Hemingway 169)
The Man takes this statement to be as crazy as the question about whether or not he will love her. The Girl not caring about herself is a familiar cultural norm for many women. Women are taught to care for and see to the needs of others. The Man cares about her and tells her so but the literary analytical establishment chooses to read The Man’s statement as disingenuous. “Male-female conversation is cross-cultural communication” and needs to be analyzed in its native

Show More
Related

  • A Man's versus a Woman's Mind in Ernest Hemingway's Up in Michigan

    3645 Words  | 8 Pages

    We notice, right from the beginning of his life, that Ernest Hemingway was confronted to two opposite ways of thinking, the Manly way, and the Woman way. This will be an important point in his writing and in his personal life, he will show a great interest in this opposition of thinking. In this short story, Hemingway uses simple words, which turn out to become a complex analysis of the male and female minds. With this style of writing, he will show us how different the two sexes’ minds work, by confronting them to each other in a way that we can easily capture their different ways of working. The scene in which the characters are set in is simple, and by the use of the simplicity of the words and of the setting, he is able to put us in-front of this dilemma, he will put us in front of a situation, and we will see it in both sexes point of view, which will lead us to the fundamental question, why are our minds so different?

    Read More

  • Male Dominance In "Hills Like White Elephants" and "The Chrysanthemums"

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Fiction 101: An Anthology of Short Fiction. James H. Pickering. Twelfth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. 638-641

    Read More

  • Jig and the Stream of Life in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hemingway, considered to be a modernist writer, makes his readers work by implementing the well-known theory of omission, which “Hills Like White Elephants” is a perfect example of. As he stated in Death in the Afternoon : ‘If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, […].’ (259). It seems that Hemingway assumed the reader would know what is being omitted, nevertheless many features of “Hills Like White Elephants” have already been covered by various critics. At the end of the story the reader is forced to unravel the most...

    Read More

  • Women's Roles in Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through this brief anecdote, Hemingway presents the readers the social dilemma of male domination over his counterpart. The women's fight for equality changed some "old traditions" but there are still many Jigs in our society that shouldn't be treated as inferiors. Women are the most beautiful beings in life, but they are not to be possessed ,but loved and admired.

    Read More

  • Love in The Lady with the Dog and Hills like White Elephants

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anton Chekhov and Ernest Hemingway both convey their ideas of love in their respective stories The Lady with the Pet Dog and Hills like White Elephants in different ways. However, their ideas are quite varying, and may be interpreted differently by each individual reader. In their own, unique way, both Chekhov and Hemingway evince what is; and what is not love. Upon proper contemplation, one may observe that Hemingway, although not stating explicitly what love is; the genius found in his story is that he gives a very robust example of what may be mistaken as love, although not being true love. On the other hand, Chekhov exposes love as a frame of mind that may only be achieved upon making the acquaintance of the “right person,” and not as an ideal that one may palpate at one instance, and at the another instance one may cease to feel; upon simple and conscious command of the brain. I agree with Hemingway’s view on love because it goes straight to the point of revealing some misconceptions of love.

    Read More

  • Comparing Where Are you going, Where Have You Been and Hills Like White Elephants

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gale. Weeks, Lewis E., Jr. "Hemingway Hills: Symbolism in 'Hills like White'" Elephants. Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77.

    Read More

  • Elements of Comparison between Hill’s Like White Elephants and The Birthmark

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills like White Elephants." Responding to Literature. Ed. Judith Stanford. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 841-44. Print.

    Read More

  • Life and Death

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hills Like White Elephants

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    I was think deeply about this and what Hemingway is trying to tell us is that they will probably end their relationship and go separate

    Read More

  • The Hitchhiking Game

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    She claims, “How are you going to take care of me?” This is when he becomes aware of what she says and knows she wants to test him and see his response to such question. The man starts to see her true colors and does not like her. As Nietzsche states in one of his famous quotes, “Become what you are.” This happens to the girl because she is faking her personality. On the one hand, she is shy and on the other, she being a woman who hits on other men. She is showing who she really is as her conscious is doing to her. Love can be dangerous if one does not know how to play or whom they are dealing with. Both characters have their time to succeed in the game, but the reality is: both are aware of the situation. To an extent, his tactics as a player prove his dark side due to how he treats and judges this girl. He is wrong and loses all respect after he humiliates her and treats her like trash. Nietzsche’s is right when he claims: “Values were something created by men and women, not something inherent or something you could find.” Some people do not appreciate the women by their side, just as Nietzsche’s says. The man in the story goes too far when saying to the girl he likes, “I only kiss one woman.” From the beginning of the game, he behaves like a terrible person that does not value himself or anyone. His awareness shows that he is conscious of what he is saying to her statement, but he is choosing to act

    Read More

  • Modernism: Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway

    1592 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Communicating Conflict in Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    The man further complicates the discussion by contradicting himself. For each time he reassures the girl he wants what she wants, he spends at least one line identifying exactly what he wants. This is clearly seen in the following conversation: "You?ve got to realize . . . that I don?t want you to do it if you don?t want to. I?m perfectly willing ...

    Read More

  • Hedonism in Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006. 268-272.

    Read More

  • Hills Like White Elephants

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway's story, "Hills Like White Elephants" is formed with vagueness as the narrative consists of small conversation between a woman named Jig and an unnamed man (Hemingway, 635). Therefore, to comprehend the insinuations of the conversation, the reader must understand the meaning from the symbols. The sections that define the environment are severely dialogue. The characters are used to explain the details of their environments.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles: Then and Now

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Hills Like White Elephants Language Analysis

Open Document