“Hills like White Elephants” Literary Analysis Essay

Trying to decide on a course of proceeding when faced with an unexpected pregnancy, an American and a girl sit outside a withdraw stop in the dusty part of Spain and drink on it. Indirectly approaching the sensitive subject of abortion, each member of the twinhood sets out to test the separate in a verbal battle of the wills, engaging in a staccato analogous dialogue that offers some insight into the two main characters personas. Ernest Hemingways Hills kindred White Elephants churns out a hefty sum of symbolism in a very short story ultimately leaving the imagination free reign to interpret. While they clench for a train to take them to Madrid, the dangers of persuing happiness unfolds (choices how bad do you want something how restrictions help you to understand yourselfif you put yourself out of your element thats when you learn the most almost yourself) . The timeline of the story is significant. Post WW1, opulence has landed in Amercia and 20s reign Roaring 20s, post WW1 Although setting is non talked active at length, what is written says many things about the underlying psyche of the two main characters, the American and a girl he calls Jig. Immediately, Hemmingway establishes an obvious conflict between the couples interests with the line on this side.This is further emphasized with two lines of rails, symbolizing their inability to connect with each other. A beaded curtain is thence introduced, to keep out the flies, in reality, it is a grounder representing the girls shifting state of mind while everything seems to change and turn and trip the light fantastic about around her, the curtain not solid, notwithstanding as fluid as her decision making skills appears whenever she compensates an important decision. Here, the curtain is a means of secrecy their current dilemma. The pair are also described as being outside the building, where they are supposedly waiting for the train a acknowledgment for their underlying purpose of waiting on a decision to be make. The Mediterranean sun finds them somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid, two major cities in Spain, where in that location is no shade and no trees on their side of the vale. This represents the crossroad theyve reached in their relationship they are stuck in limbo, coming from beauty and going into it, but moldiness first make their decision of whether they go together or not.Lastly, by means ofout the story the girl go throughs out at the valley and the hillsin the distance, which are dust coat in the sun, while she and the American are stuck in a brown and dry country, hardly conducive to life at all. The fertile valley and the hills represent the unborn baby the potential for life. She mentions these hills and looks over to them many times, whereas the man refuses to acknowledge them, ignoring her when she initially brings them up. This is highlighted later when the American refers to the unconscious process, or the potential abortion, as being p erfectly natural. The presence of the beaded curtain shows that she does not agree with him. This fundamental disagreement of the concept of something as basic as reputation foreshadows the couples impending separation. Furthermore, while she is perfectly aware she speaks of the uncontaminating hills metaphorically, he takes her literally they do not operate under the corresponding personal manner of thought.Throughout the story, the American behaves according to the traditional idea of masculinity rugged, knowledgeable, and always in control of himself and the given situation. level(p) when vexed or confused, he maintains a relaxed exterior and feigns indifference such as when he tells the girl if you dont want to you dont have to. He avoids directly verbalize his opinions, but when pressured collapses, oversimplifying the operation and relentlessly pushing her to have it. Thinking himself to be the more reasonable of the two, even identifying more with the other passengers waiting reasonably at the station, he inherently fails to provide the sympathy and understanding she needs during the crisis. Compared to the American, Jig is portrayed as being nave, helpless, and indecisive.Her nickname, Jig, subtly indicates that the two characters merely terpsichore around each other and the issue at hand without ever saying anything meaningful. In fact, the girl, unable to speak Spanish, cant even roll drinks from the bartender on her own suggesting a strong dependence on him. Although her mind is constantly changing as it receives new information, she facilitate is being pressured to make a decision while under the influence of his persistent attempts to control her. Jig is very much like the following comment made by Hemmingway on the 1920s, when the story was published The age demanded that we danceAnd jammed us into iron pants.And in the end the age was handedThe sort of shit that it demanded. (Audre Hanneman, Ernest Hemingway AComprehensive Bibliography Princeton University Press, 1967) By the end of the story, Jig seems to understand that her relationship with the American has effectively ended, despite her earlier professed desire to make him happy. She knows that even if she has the operation, their relationship wont return to how it used to be. In many ways, the girls realization of this fact gives her power over the American, who never really understands why they still cant have the whole world like they once did. Imagery and symbolism are common themes throughout this story. When Jig first tries the Anis Del Toro, she comments it tastes like liquorice everything tastes of liquorice. Liquorice is a popular sweet, but in medicine it used to induce vomit.This sort of duality runs throughout the text. Here, Jig speaks about how everything possesses two natures a positive and a negative. One not able to exist without the other. The curtain appears at the beginning of this scene, when the American orders the drinks. This might mea n that she is get aware of a truth the man isnt picking up on. At the end of the forty minutes, it is implied the train has come to pick them up. This too has a hidden meaning once a train comes, it goes. Symbolically, the train represents Jigs choice. Like the coming of the train, if she decides to abort the baby, there is no turning back. The train will keep on going in effect(p) as her life will keep going but will she ever be the same? The American tries his best to make his opinion known that he and Jigs life will be easier and go back the way it was if she just goes through with this simple operation. It is also interesting to see how the man reacts to the indecision of his girl when he picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks. He looked up the tracks but could not see the train.Coming back, he walked through the barroom, where people waiting for the train were drinking He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at the t able and smiled at him. As the man takes both of their bags over to the tracks, he is hoping that Jig will go through with the surgery. He is still uncertain as to whether she will in fact go through with the abortion, but lets his opinion be known by taking their luggage and setting it by the tracks to be loaded on the upcoming train. He looks up the tracks, waiting for the train that is supposed to come, but does not see it. Similarly, he anticipates that Jig will listen to his suggestion but is still uncertain whether she will gothrough with it. When the American comes back into the barroom, he hopes that Jig has made a decision, preferably in favour of the abortion, but when he reaches her she has still not made up her mind. The drinks that the couple share are another event of symbolism regarding Jigs decision about the abortion. Even though it may not have been known that alcohol consumption negatively affects the foetus in the womb, Jigs consistent drinking gives way to the thought that she may have thrown in the towel on the possibility of having the child.For instance, the Anis del Toro is a drink that is illegal in many countries because those who gorge themselves on the drink can, and probably will, die of alcohol poisoning. Knowing this, Jigs drinking the Anis del Toro symbolizes her thought of the child as a separate entity, perhaps already dead. Jigs drinking several alcoholic beverages points toward her decision to abort the baby as her American boyfriend wants. There is also the recurring theme of the number two. For instance, the train stopped for two minutes, the couple drinks dos cervezas, they receive two glass of beer, two felt pads and the American carries their two heavy bags to the other side of the train tracks. This overemphasis of the number two could inspire two different readings. The first could be that the relationship between the couple is the largest the relationship can span they cant include a third person into their two some because threes a crowd. The other way to read this is that perhaps two refers to Jig and her baby. Jig is still weighing the possibility of becoming a mother because she has not yet made a decision as to whether she will abort the baby or not.The overuse of two is definitely symbolic within the story. Even Hemingways title is symbolic which alludes to a deeper meaning in the term white elephants than just scratches the surface. A white elephant is a saying meaning a gift not recognized by the receiver, whose value is outweighed by its cost. The girls comment in the beginning of the story that the surrounding hills look like white elephants initially seems to be a casual, offhand remark, which in reality represents her desire to speak about the issue at hand. Later, her comment the hills dont really look like white elephants is a subtle hint at her defiance perhaps she wont have the operation at all. The term white elephants originally was used in Indian cultures where a white e lephant is a possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of.The termoriginally came about in an apocryphal tale about the King of Siam who would award a disagreeable courtier a white elephant, the upkeep of which would ruin the courtier (Dictionary). Even though these elephants were beautifully ornate and were given as great gifts, the upkeep is atrocious. Basically the cost and care for the white elephant would put back the actual joy of receiving it. In sum, a white elephant is an unwanted gift much like Jigs pregnancy seems, especially to the American like an unwanted thing. Both the American and the girl drink alcohol throughout their conversation. They start by drinking large beers the moment they arrive at the station.Then, as soon as they begin talking about the hills that look like white elephants, the girl asks to order more drinks. Although they drink primarily to avoid thinking about the issue at hand, readers sense that deeper problems exist in their relat ionship, of which the operation is merely one. The girl implies this herself when she remarks that she and the American man never do anything together merely try new drinks, as if constantly looking for new ways to avoid each other. By the end of their conversation, both drink alone- the girl at the table and the man at the bar- suggesting that the two are winding down their relationship and will soon go their separate ways.