white elephant research paper

Hills Like White Elephants - Essay Samples And Topic Ideas For Free

Hills Like White Elephants is a short story by Ernest Hemingway known for its minimalist style and iceberg theory exemplification. It explores communication and the personal implications of consequential decisions through a conversation between a couple at a Spanish train station. Essays might delve into the stylistic analysis, the thematic exploration of communication and choice, or the gender dynamics at play. The ambiguity in the narrative also allows for a broad spectrum of interpretation and analysis. We have collected a large number of free essay examples about Hills Like White Elephants you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

The Iceberg Theory: ‘Hills Like White Elephants’

At one point or another, everybody has ever been in a situation that seemed complicated and had no possible solution at hand. At such a time, you try talking to your friends or those that you are close to. After all the efforts, you still lack the exact answers to your questions. Our minds are made to think broadly, but while talking, we cannot let out all that we are thinking about (Piglia and Ricardo 66). This is the feeling […]

Characters in “Story of an Hour” and “Hills Like White Elephants”

Freedom: a noble ideal many strive for, but yet so undefined. We all want to be free, but we don’t know what it really means. In “Story of an Hour” and “Hills Like White Elephants” freedom plays a powerful motivator to the main characters. They all strive for a different kind of free, and it’s either a blissful experience or something that’s awful. Comparing these stories shows the different meanings freedom could have for different people. They both show different […]

Ernest Hemingway’s Short Stories

EErnest Hemingway’s Short Stories: The Iceberg Theory “We are all tips of the iceberg”- Ashlecka Aumrivani once said when she was defining the invisibility of the whole picture of the human nature as a mystery that makes our lives more interesting. In a similar manner, we can enjoy Hemingway’s style of writing that makes his readers think and guess if they want to fully understand the whole plot of his stories. To put it simpler, let’s figure out what “The […]

We will write an essay sample crafted to your needs.

Analysis of Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants

In Ernest Hemingway “Hills Like White Elephants”, the author reveals a state of depression and oppression setting. He emphasizes on how an American girl and Spanish speaking man are using alcohol to avoid having a real conversation about an operation, later understood to be an abortion, and her decision will eventually dictate the status of their relationship. Having the male translate shows the role or power dynamics in their relationship; showing there little in common interest and the language limitations […]

Symbolism in “Hills Like White Elephants”

In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” a man and a woman are having a conversation over beers and anise while they wait for a train in Spain. They share a great deal of words that go round and round but they never clearly identify what they are talking about. The man wants the woman to do something that she clearly does not want to do and is anxious about and upset even that he wants her to do it. […]

The Greater Impact of Symbolism in Literature

Authors often use symbolism to not only enhance the story being read but also give it a deeper meaning, adding many more layers on top of layers to the writing. This pushes the readers to analyze the text to discover the hidden clues and meanings referencing the symbolic object. Symbolism can help readers figure out why the author wrote in a certain way, or even help others understand the true purpose of the symbol. This eventually helps build upon the […]

The Girl (Jig) Character Analysis in Hills Like White Elephants

In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants," the main argument of the story is abortion. The character Jig and her significant other argue over whether to have the abortion or not. The characters, Jig and her significant other, are on opposing sides vaguely describing their sides with descriptions of the "hills". Throughout the story Jig and the man are talking back and forth about “something”, the abortion, that will make both of them happier. Jig keeps on coming back […]

Relationship in Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway's story "Hills Like White Elephants" sheds light on the vulnerability and emotional void within a relationship threatened by the impending arrival of an unborn child. The narrative portrays a couple deeply involved in a romantic relationship that is undeniably strained. Evidence of this tension surfaces at the beginning of the story as the couple anxiously waits for a train, struggling to engage in meaningful conversation. In an attempt to ease the discomfort, the woman remarks on the distant […]

The Meaning of “White Elephant”

“Hills Like White Elephants” was a good read for me and I am glad I was able to broaden my horizons in the literary world, (although I had to read it two times to really comprehend what was going on). This short story left me speechless both times I read it. I like a story that can leave me without words. As the story progressed, pieces started to fit together in my mind about what was going on, and they […]

Social Issues in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway

"Hills like White Elephants" written by Ernest Hemingway provides various messages and provides the reader with various social issues on subjects such as patriarchy and gender inequality. The short story “Hills like White Elephants" is how the woman is pregnant and the choice of how to deal with the pregnancy. The man and the woman don't know whether to have an abortion or have the baby. There is an internal conflict within the woman with the decision to have the […]

Hills Like White Elephants Analysis

The phrase “there’s an elephant in the room” is used when, in a social group, there is a major issue—an elephant—that is on everyone’s minds, and yet nobody will discuss it until someone becomes the first to acknowledge it. Hemmingway’s iceberg principle is fitting for this concept as, under his principle, the immense mass of the iceberg is hidden, and must be acknowledged and found to truly gain an understanding of the story. Hemmingway, in his story “Hills Like White […]

All Good Things Come to an End

According to an article by the Atlantic, in the United States, “In the late 1920s some 15,000 women a year died from abortions.” Abortion has always been a wildly controversial topic that eventually became politicized. For years, people have argued that it’s either something that should or should not be practiced. Something that isn’t talked about as much, is the difficult conversation one must have with their partner or themselves to determine if this is a good option. In Ernest […]

Symbolism of Hills Like White Elephants

The short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is a subdued account of a couple’s meandering discussion of an unwanted pregnancy and the implied possibility of resolving the issue with an abortion. Hemingway uses the objective point of view throughout the story, allowing the reader to act as a clandestine observer and to witness a deeply personal but indirect exchange between the characters. The tale is allegorical, and presents a topic that is morally complex and controversial, especially […]

Review on the Short Story Hills Like White Elephants

The short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway has a thought-provoking yet simple central plot. The plot revolves around a man and a woman named Jig who are torn between a decision that will affect their lives no matter the outcome. The story never explicitly tells what the issue is, however; it is easy to understand that Jig is pregnant, the man wants an abortion, and their relationship is not as good as it once was. The author […]

Hills Like White Elephants: Socially and Emotionally Trapped

“Hills like White Elephants” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway. The title has significant importance to the rest of the story. The story is a conversation between the two main characters, The American and his girlfriend, who he calls Jig. Although neither of them actually communicate with each other, giving the idea that there is a conflict between the two. At the start of the story, Jig makes a comment about the surrounding hills looking like white elephants. […]

Analysis of Abortion and Ambiguity in Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants’

Written In 1927 by Ernest Hemingway, the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” tells about a young woman named Jig and an American man drinking at a bar close by a train station in Spain. Throughout the story, the author gives us dialogue of the conversation between the two but many readers actually misread the ongoing tension between the two characters. Ernest arranged what is called the “Icebreaker theory”, meaning that the underlying theme of the story is hidden, a […]

The Effect of Decision Making

Decision making is something that everyone does everyday, whether it stands an effortless or a difficult decision. Many elements in life influence decisions and make them easier or more complicated for people to come up with an agreement or a compromise. Sometimes an agreement or compromise is not possible, and someone does not get his or her way. In Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” a couple waits at a train station in Spain and they begin conversing […]

Hills Like White Elephants Imagery

Ernest Hemingway is a renowned author and journalist who used his personal experiences into the characters he creates in his stories. He focuses on their challenges when they give up and lose hope when the challenges get tough (Nobel Prize). In 1927 the short story by Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants,” was published. It is about a couple who are waiting at a train station for the next train to Madrid from Barcelona. Ernest Hemingway gives a more realistic […]

Hills Like White Elephants Title Meaning

“Hills Like White Elephants,” written by Ernest Hemingway in 1927, is a short story that describes a seemingly casual, but slightly tense, conversation between a couple at a train station in the Ebro Valley in Spain. These two characters are the only two introduced in the story (besides a bartender), and not by name - only “the American” (“the man”) and “the girl.” The girl is later nicknamed “Jig” by the man (2). Throughout the story, the two are seated […]

Analysis of “Hills Like White Elephants”

“Hills like White Elephants” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway, which presents an idea of an “unknown operation” being taken place. There are two main characters, American man and his girlfriend, who sit at a train station in Barcelona, Spain. While waiting for a train to Madrid, they talk about the girlfriend going through an unknown operation. The author tells the story in the third person point of view. Although the operation is never stated clearly, the author […]

Hills Like White Elephants: an Analysis

Ernest Hemingway, perhaps the most well known writer in literature history, was no exception to the art of conveying life experience onto paper. Known for quite the controversial life, he was married four times; The writer blamed his mother for his father’s suicide, perhaps explaining his detachment from close family relations. Subsequently, depression and ill mental health drove him to commit suicide in 1961. Nevertheless, his brilliant mind aided in the success of a Pulitzer prize in 1953 and the […]

Life until Death in Hemingway’s Stories

"In Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", the characters - a girl and a man - are at a bar, drinking to evade the reality of the girl's pregnancy. The man tries to persuade her to abort the baby, refusing to accept her condition. She attempts to alleviate the situation, suggesting they can endure it and live with the child, but his response doesn't align with hers. "Hills Like White Elephants" raises the question: "What is the best decision in this […]

“Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”

"Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like white elephants” is a story about two people “Jig” and “The American”. The two people are travelling and decided to stop at a train stop to relax and drink until the next train arrives. They are having a discussion about Jig being pregnant and the american wanting an abortion but Jig not knowing if she wants one. Although it is never stated that Jig is pregnant Hemingway uses symbols to infer that she is indeed pregnant. […]

“Where are you Going, where have you Been” and “Hills Like White Elephants”

In the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates she talks about a young girl, Connie, who is insecure making herself vulnerable to a man, Arnold Friend. In comparison, the “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, talks about a man who convinces a woman to have an abortion. Both stories were written decades ago, discussing the way men manipulate women, both symbolizing a deeper meaning throughout the short stories. In both stories, the […]

Analysis on Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway uses setting, dialogue, theme and symbolism in ‘Hills like White Elephants” to emphasize the tense situation between a man and woman’s decision on getting an abortion. Although his words are very brief, the author is able to get his point across to the readers, the couple is undecided on whether or not to keep their unborn child. Critics like Timothy D. O’Brien, David Wyche, and Lewis E Weeks Jr. have analyzed the story and documented their findings. O’Brien […]

Story “Hills Like White Elephants”

The kind of narration used in the story “Hills like White Elephants” is the third person narrator. What is different is that it takes a style of documentary-making used in film and television production to extreme in “Hills Like White Elephants”. both the journalist and the storyteller in Hemingway working together to construct the story. It doesn’t tell us what the character are thinking, only what they do, see, and mostly importantly, what they say. Hemingway’s wrote “Hills Like White […]

Contained in Stories from all over the World

"Contained in stories from all over the world, symbolic imagery is a method authors use to add more substance to the stories that they are painting, with each author having their own way of doing it.. Symbolic imagery gives stories flavour, such as in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”. Glancing through the story, it may seem like an ordinary couple waiting for the train, commenting on their surroundings while sipping on a beer or two, and talking about a […]

What is the Conflict in Hills Like White Elephants

In the story Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemingway tells a story of a fragile and emotional bareness at the center of a relationship that is threatened by an unborn child. The story portrays a man and a woman obviously in a romantic relationship that is just as obviously failing and fast. Evidence of the tensions in the relationship is shown at the story’s beginning, as the couple await the arrival of a train and struggle to pass the time […]

The Type of Play in ‘Babylon Revisited’ and ‘Hills Like White Elephants’

A Tragedy is an action or event caused by great suffering, or destruction. Tragedies are common among humanity, an author can create an immediate connection between the reader and the storyline with the use of a great tragedy. "Babylon Revisited" is one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most meticulous short stories, considered by many to be one of his most expressive emotional narratives. A tragedy which follows the misfortunes of Charles Wales around the time of the “Jazz Age”. This short […]

About “The Birth-Mark” and “Hills Like White Elephants”

"For this essay, I chose to write about "The Birth-Mark" and "Hills Like White Elephants", focusing on the characters in these stories that are searching for a sense of belonging and how they arrive at this feeling. Personally, I hold the view that no one should change who they are for another person or do something they are against. I have been through a similar experience; I had an abortion just to please another person. In the end, the experience […]

Additional Example Essays

• Ernest Hemingway : “I drink to make other people more interesting.”
• How the Roles of Women and Men Were Portrayed in "A Doll's House"
• Positive Effects of Social Media
• Importance Of Accountability
• Oedipus is a Tragic Hero
• Medieval Romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"
• Analysis of Letter from Birmingham Jail
• Anne Bradstreet's "The Prologue" Analysis: A Reflection on Gender Inequality
• "A Doll's House" as a Modern Tragedy
• Poems “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “Still I Rise”
• My Personal American Dream
• A Critique of Tone and Diction "A Doll's House"

How To Write an Essay About Hills Like White Elephants

Introduction to hemingway's "hills like white elephants".

When writing an essay about Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," it's important to start with an understanding of the story's subtlety and nuanced narrative style. This short story, known for its sparse dialogue and minimalist description, explores themes of communication, choice, and the complexities of human relationships. In your introduction, offer a brief overview of the plot, which revolves around a couple's conversation at a train station in Spain. Set the scene for a deeper analysis by introducing the central themes and the unique narrative technique employed by Hemingway. This introduction should engage the reader and provide a clear thesis statement that will guide your subsequent analysis.

Analyzing Hemingway's Narrative Technique

The body of your essay should delve into Hemingway's distinctive narrative technique, particularly his use of dialogue and symbolism. Discuss how Hemingway's "iceberg theory" is at play in the story, where the surface-level conversation between the characters hides deeper meanings and emotions. Analyze how the dialogue subtly reveals the tension between the characters and their differing perspectives on the issue at hand, which, while never explicitly stated, is understood to be an abortion. Additionally, explore the symbolic significance of the story's setting and the title. Explain how the landscape imagery and the metaphor of the white elephants contribute to the story's thematic depth.

Exploring Themes and Character Dynamics

In this section, focus on the themes and character dynamics in "Hills Like White Elephants." Examine how Hemingway addresses the theme of choice and its implications, both explicitly and implicitly, through the characters' conversation. Discuss the characters' differing approaches to the situation they are facing and how this reflects broader themes of communication, gender roles, and personal freedom. Consider the historical and cultural context of the story, particularly how it shapes the characters' perspectives and the choices available to them. This analysis should provide insight into the complexity of the characters' relationship and the universal themes that Hemingway explores through their interaction.

Concluding Your Analysis

Conclude your essay by summarizing your main points and reaffirming the significance of your analysis of "Hills Like White Elephants." Reflect on the story's enduring relevance and the ways in which Hemingway's narrative technique and thematic exploration contribute to its power. Consider the broader implications of the story for understanding human communication and the complexities of decision-making in relationships. A well-crafted conclusion will not only bring closure to your essay but also highlight the depth of Hemingway's storytelling and the richness of the story's interpretation, leaving a lasting impression on the reader.

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

A Summary and Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Hills Like White Elephants’ (1927) is one of Ernest Hemingway’s best-known and most critically acclaimed short stories. In just five pages, Hemingway uses his trademark style – plain dialogue and description offered in short, clipped sentences – to expose an unspoken subject that a man and a young woman are discussing.

You can read ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of the story.

Plot summary

A man (an American expatriate) and a young girl (or ‘girl’) are drinking in the bar of a railway station in Spain, while waiting for their train. As it’s hot, they order some beers to drink, and then try an aniseed drink. The girl looks at the line of hills in the valley of the Ebro and remarks that they look like white elephants.

Her male companion, with whom we deduce she is in some sort of relationship, says he has never seen a white elephant and then gets defensive and annoyed when she remarks that he wouldn’t have, presumably because they’re so rare.

Their small talk then takes in the curtains of the bar, but gradually their conversation turns to an ‘operation’ (of sorts) which the man is trying to persuade the girl to undertake.

This procedure, which is referred to as ‘it’ throughout the story, is almost certainly an abortion, the girl having fallen pregnant by the man. However, it becomes clear that he wishes her to get rid of the baby, although she remains undecided. Eventually, growing tired of the man’s attempts to sway her, she demands that he stop talking.

They hear that their train is arriving, but when the man goes outside there is no sign of it. When he goes back inside and asks the girl how she is feeling, she replies curtly that she’s ‘fine’.

The title of Hemingway’s story, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’, is fitting for a number of reasons. First and perhaps most obviously, the title of the story denotes not the main and most pressing topic of the two main characters’ conversation – the unspoken ‘it’, the girl’s ‘operation’, which the man is trying to encourage her to have – but one aspect of their small talk as they skirt around that topic.

The girl’s comment about the Spanish hills looking like white elephants is mere filler, an example of ‘treading water’ as she and her male companion drink enough alcohol to make broaching the dread topic of their conversation – without actually directly mentioning it – palatable or even possible.

‘White elephants’ itself has two potential meanings here. There is a rare albino elephant known as the white elephant, whose presence at the royal court, in countries like Burma and Thailand, was considered a sign that the monarch reigned justly, and that the kingdom would be blessed with peace and prosperity.

But the second meaning is implied in Hemingway’s story. A ‘white elephant’ is a Western cultural term describing a possession which its owner cannot dispose of. The maintenance cost of such a possession is out of proportion to its usefulness or desirability.

Given the (implied) topic of the man and girl’s conversation – the girl’s reluctant decision to abort the baby she has conceived by the man – this meaning of ‘white elephant’ comes into view with a tragic force. The (unwanted) baby the girl has conceived with the man is like the proverbial white elephant, something that would cost a great deal for her to keep and maintain.

But by the same token, she finds it hard to ‘get rid of’ her white elephant, presumably because of the finality of such an act, though it is also implied that she worries over the safety of the procedure. (We should remember that medical procedures in 1927 were often not as relatively clean or as advanced as they now are.)

So the very title of Hemingway’s short story, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’, subtly and obliquely references the very thing which the two of them cannot bring themselves to mention or name openly: the title, then, both reveals and conceals the real subject of the story.

‘Hills Like White Elephants’ contains many of the most representative elements of Hemingway’s fiction: the spare style, the plain and direct dialogue, and the Spanish landscape which he often wrote about. And yet all three of these things can be said to work against, or be in tension with, the story’s subject-matter.

The spare style exposes the uncomfortable nature of the couple’s relationship (despite his repeated exhortations that she shouldn’t go through with ‘it’ unless she wants to, he is clearly trying to persuade her to have the abortion for his sake); the directness of the dialogue masks the failure of the two characters to have a frank conversation about ‘it’; and the Spanish landscape is not mere backdrop but a detail that is brought into the story only because the girl is finding it hard to address the momentous subject she knows she must eventually face.

And that leads us to wonder whether there might not be another meaning playing around that title, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’: the so-called ‘elephant in the room’, the idiom (prominent in the United States by the early twentieth century) denoting a conspicuous and important issue which nobody wants to discuss.

One also wonders whether, somewhere in his prodigious mind, Hemingway was recalling Mark Twain’s 1882 detective story, ‘ The Stolen White Elephant ’, in which the elephant turns out to have been in the original spot all along. Like the proverbial elephant in the room, Hemingway’s ‘hills like white elephants’ are there, prominent and immovable, and even getting on a train is not going to allow one to escape their true meaning.

Because so much of the characters’ dialogue works by subtext and through small talk, we are encouraged to deduce the nature of their relationship through observing how they interact, even more than by paying attention to what they talk about.

The man’s response to the girl’s dismissive comment that he wouldn’t have ever seen an actual white elephant is a case in point, since it suggests a controlling aspect to his personality, whereby an offhand and largely meaningless remark is taken up by him and responded to in a manner that is as defensive as it is petty.

Similarly, it is worth pointing out that the girl goes back on her initial statement that the hills resemble white elephants, saying shortly after this that the hills don’t actually look that much like white elephants after all, and only remind her of their colour. (This is interesting because many so-called white elephants are ‘white’ only in name: many of them are actually grey or pinkish in colour.)

This similarly reflects her vacillation over ‘it’, the termination of her pregnancy which she is evidently reluctant to undertake. As so often in a Hemingway story, how he reveals things through characters’ dialogue is as significant – and perhaps in this case even more so – than what is (not) being said.

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Type your email…

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

• Undergraduate
• High School
• Architecture
• American History
• Asian History
• Antique Literature
• American Literature
• Asian Literature
• Classic English Literature
• World Literature
• Creative Writing
• Linguistics
• Criminal Justice
• Legal Issues
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Political Science
• World Affairs
• African-American Studies
• East European Studies
• Latin-American Studies
• Native-American Studies
• West European Studies
• Family and Consumer Science
• Social Issues
• Women and Gender Studies
• Social Work
• Natural Sciences
• Pharmacology
• Earth science
• Agriculture
• Agricultural Studies
• Computer Science
• IT Management
• Mathematics
• Investments
• Engineering and Technology
• Engineering
• Aeronautics
• Medicine and Health
• Alternative Medicine
• Communications and Media
• Advertising
• Communication Strategies
• Public Relations
• Educational Theories
• Teacher's Career
• Chicago/Turabian
• Company Analysis
• Education Theories
• Shakespeare
• Canadian Studies
• Food Safety
• Relation of Global Warming and Extreme Weather Condition
• Movie Review
• Admission Essay
• Annotated Bibliography
• Application Essay
• Article Critique
• Article Review
• Article Writing
• Book Review
• Business Plan
• Business Proposal
• Capstone Project
• Cover Letter
• Creative Essay
• Dissertation
• Dissertation - Abstract
• Dissertation - Conclusion
• Dissertation - Discussion
• Dissertation - Hypothesis
• Dissertation - Introduction
• Dissertation - Literature
• Dissertation - Methodology
• Dissertation - Results
• GCSE Coursework
• Grant Proposal
• Marketing Plan
• Multiple Choice Quiz
• Personal Statement
• Power Point Presentation
• Power Point Presentation With Speaker Notes
• Questionnaire
• Reaction Paper

Research Paper

• Research Proposal
• SWOT analysis
• Thesis Paper
• Online Quiz
• Literature Review
• Movie Analysis
• Statistics problem
• Math Problem
• All papers examples
• How It Works
• Money Back Policy
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• We Are Hiring

Hills Like White Elephants, Research Paper Example

Pages: 2

Words: 575

Hire a Writer for Custom Research Paper

Use 10% Off Discount: "custom10" in 1 Click 👇

You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

The story “Hills like white elephants” By Earnest Hemmingway is essentially a conversation between a man and a woman at a station, while waiting for a train.  This conservation presents various underlying aspects that present associations with the time period in which Hemmingway wrote the story.  These associations identify the inspirations that led to the writing of the dialogue.

The symbolism of the story is essentially in regards to the ‘white elephant in the room’ or an issue that nobody really wants to bring up.  In this way, the title of the story relates to the fact that the woman is pregnant, and their conversation is underscored by the need to discuss the issue and their discretion in doing so.  This presentation seems to indicate some motive or reasoning that Hemmingway had for writing the piece.  This motive might have been inspired by his personal life or the time and place that he was living in.

The landscape that they are looking at, divided in contrast by desolation in one direction and greenery in the other, presents the identifications that each character is making with their situation.    These identifications present radically different viewpoints about what should be done going forward.  While the woman does not seem to want to abort the baby, she seems to be confined to the whim of the man she is talking to.

In this way, one of the most important elements that Hemmingway seems to be making a comment about is abortion.  Although during the time that the story was written abortions were illegal, the couple in the story are having an argument about whether or not the girl should have one.  This demonstrates the social implications that those having a baby would be, as they are willing to consider breaking the law.

Essentially, the man seems unwilling to change his life for the girl, and simply wants to go on doing what he has been.  This represents the idealization of leisurely time that he must have had.  Hemmingway, here, seems to be making an allusion to the notions of responsibility that people had at the time.  Perhaps he was attempting to point out the differences in how men and women think about having children, and of aborting them.

Hemmingway’s life the time of writing the story was punctuated by his rocky relationship with his wife. They seem to have not got along well, and she wrote at one point that she had an abortion, after they had been trying to have a baby for a long time, to spite him.  This presents the background that he might have created the story in.  By presenting these opposing views of child rearing and responsibility perhaps he was trying to remark about his struggling relationship with his wife.

The story is based on the notions of morality that people within these situations are presented with.  Furthermore, the strained relationship between the two people, the way in which their conversation seems to have some deep seeded anger behind it, might have been inspired by this difficult relationship that he was having at the time. This relationship would have been an important influence on the symbols and ideas that were present in his mind when he created the short story.

Works Cited

Hemmingway, Earnest. Hills Like White Elephants. Charters, Ann, Ed. The Story and its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 6 th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003

O’Brien, Timothy D. Allusion, Word-play, and the central conflict in Hemmingway’s “Hills Like Elephants”. The Hemmingway review. 1996.

Stuck with your Research Paper?

Get in touch with one of our experts for instant help!

Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway, Essay Example

Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders, Essay Example

Time is precious

don’t waste it!

Plagiarism-free guarantee

Privacy guarantee

Secure checkout

Money back guarantee

Related Research Paper Samples & Examples

The risk of teenagers smoking, research paper example.

Pages: 11

Words: 3102

Impacts on Patients and Healthcare Workers in Canada, Research Paper Example

Pages: 7

Words: 1839

Death by Neurological Criteria, Research Paper Example

Words: 2028

Ethical Considerations in End-Of-Life Care, Research Paper Example

Pages: 5

Words: 1391

Ethical Dilemmas in Brain Death, Research Paper Example

Words: 2005

Politics of Difference and the Case of School Uniforms, Research Paper Example

Words: 631