Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephants Ernest Hemi

Essay, Research Paper

ANALYSIS OF HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS/ERNEST HEMINGWAY The most striking feature of this short story is the way in which it is told. It is not a story in the classical sense with an introduction, a development of the story and an end, but we just get some time in the life of two people. The story doesn’t give everything away for the reader; we only see the surface of what is going on. It leaves an open end, readers can have their own ending and therefore take part in the story when reading. The story told here is that of a woman and a man in their trip to a place where she can have an abortion. Everything in the tale is related to the idea of fertility and barrenness. This main topic can be seen from the title Hills Like White Elephants, where Hills refer to the shape of the belly of a pregnant woman, and White Elephants is an idiom that refers to useless or unwanted things. In this case the unwanted thing is the baby they are going to get rid of. After the first introductory paragraph a dialogue begins between the man and woman. This dialogue is presented as being very natural, but it was carefully written for sure because throughout it the reader is going to deduce the kind of relationship they have. The language here is a very simple one, even casual, this casual language usually expresses feelings. The real theme of the conversation is not clearly stated but it is underlying, they are talking about love, feelings and her pregnancy. There is tension in the air at some moments but they cannot express it openly, maybe they don’t want to be heard in case somebody can understand them or maybe it is just a problem of communication and of sharing feelings, or maybe both.

It’s Jig who starts the dialogue, this here implies that the decision for the abortion in the end will be really hers. She is the one who starts the conversation and she is the one who is taking the decision. She is very straightforward. Jig also takes her hat off and puts it on the table. She wants to speak out about the situation clearly and put the feelings, on the table to be talked about openly. In his turn to answer instead of answering to the question he changes the subject and answers it’s pretty hot this implies that he wants to change the subject and talk about simpler things such as the weather. Men have problems showing their feelings. She answers with a decision and she says, Let’s drink beer . She is the one who takes control, and she decides what to drink. As the conversation goes on, the man openly refers to the operation as if taking importance off it, he says it is not important but very easy. He wants to convince her that the decision has been hers by means of saying things like if you don t want to, you don’t have to … But I know it’s perfectly simple . She is having the normal doubts a woman can have in a situation like that. The baby would mean the necessity of settling down and starting a family and this would be a change in their lives. They would lose their freedom. When he talks about how they can have the world he is saying that he does not want to have the baby. But she knows that they can no longer have that. No matter what happens things will change between them No, we can’t. It isn’t ours anymore. Though she does not seem sure of her decision she is sure of one thing: it isn t simple.