Ernest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants - 1080 Words

Greek philosopher Epictetus has been quoted to say, â€Å"We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.† In â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, Ernest Hemingway explores the idea of the importance of communication and the detrimental effect of the lack-of. Throughout the story, the young couple seems to dance around the difficult conversation they must have before the train comes. Their lack of conversation leads to the assumed end of their relationship. Although the story is quite short, the theme is made apparent through Hemingway’s rich description of the setting and the choice to use alcohol as a motif throughout. Hemingway’s vivid description of the setting helps support the over-arching theme of the importance of communication, by creating the perfect backdrop to an imperfect situation. â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† takes place in a train station in Spain. Hemingway opens up the story with a description of the setting thus proving the importance of the setting itself. The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. (475) Hemingway uses the landscape to set the tone of the story. The train station is hot and sunny; the reader sees only barren landscape with white hills in the background. Hemingway continues to set the scene of the story describing the station as, â€Å"very hot† (475). The reader feels almost as uncomfortable as theShow MoreRelatedErnest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants952 Words   |  4 PagesErnest Hemingway, a well-known American writer, was born in Cicero, Illinois, in 1899. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† was written in 1927, the short story is about a young couple, located at a train station somewhere in Spain, who throughout the story are having a verbal argument about an unnamed operation. The reader can quickly figure out that the operation the two main characters, the American and Jig, are discussing is an abortion. Ernest Hemingway’sRead MoreErnest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephant1237 Words   |  5 PagesErnest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephant is about a couple, the American and a female named Jig debating about an operation Jig should have. Throughout the story, Jig is distant, the American is rational. Although the story never explicitly states what it is that the couple is arguing, if you really think about it, you’d realize that the tough situation where they are trying to make a decision, keeping their unborn child or having an abortion based on several different suggestions described.Read MoreErnest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants Essay1135 Words   |  5 PagesRiobueno ENC1102 12/11/16 Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† is a story about two characters on their journey in the valley of Spain. They are deciding whether or not to make an abortion, which is indirectly implied on the narrative. Hemingway has a specific way of creating the story that it becomes apparent that every description he used is a symbol of the plot. Through this way of storytelling, Hemingway created an adamant and veryRead MoreErnest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants Essay1853 Words   |  8 Pagessunset to live happily ever after; a tale as old as time. However, this isn’t a realistic portrayal of love. Real love is messy, complicated, and even unfair at times. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† (1892), and Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† (1927) offers a more accurate portrayal of romantic functionality that is still applicable today as it was back then. Written in the pre-feminis t movement of the 1970s, these authors have provided a rich base of female suppressionRead MoreErnest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants1346 Words   |  6 PagesThe Hills Analyzed Ernest Hemingway’s Hills like White Elephants leaves the reader’s mind to wander throughout the piece. The story’s set place in a railway restaurant involving two individuals that are, apparently involved in a less than stable relationship. Contemplating the outcomes of an event that neither of them is really sure that he or she wants to embark on, is the mystery Hemingway reveals. Both individuals are leaning toward different directions, but is not sure the direction they desireRead MoreAn Analysis Of Ernest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants 1012 Words   |  5 PagesThe â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway and published in August 1927 for a literary magazine. The short story was later published as a collections of short stories called â€Å"Men Without Women†. Ernest Hemingway had strict concept of masculinity and femininity. This is evident in the personalities, demeanor and portrayal of the tw o main characters, the American man and his girlfriend â€Å"Jig†. The portrayal of the male character as well travelled, well-educated, andRead MoreErnest Hemingway s `` Indian Camp `` And Hills Like White Elephants ``928 Words   |  4 Pagescase with Ernest Hemingway as he was well-known to scholars to have his short stories filled with male-chauvinist characters either abusing or disregarding weak and helpless women. However, Bauer, a professor of English and women’s studies, believes that the characterization of Hemingway as an abuser and having a blatant disregard of women is almost entirely created by the scholars and readers of his stories. With an analysis of Hemingway’s â€Å"Indian Camp† and â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, Bauer attemptsRead MoreAnalysis Of Ernest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants And A Clean Well Lighted Place 2195 Words   |  9 PagesMathew Muller ENG 215 Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway has this uncanny, yet, clear and distinctive writing style, that has made him a successful author and a means of many criticisms. One critic in particular, David M. Wyatt, says that Hemingway has a way of making the beginning of his stories â€Å"raise the very specter of the end against which they are so concerned to defend.† (Wyatt). In his two short stories, â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† and â€Å"A Clean-Well Lighted Place, Hemingway draws out this uncannyRead MoreCritiques Of Male Stereotypes : `` Reunion `` And Ernest Hemingway s `` Hills Like White Elephants ``1184 Words   |  5 PagesProfessor Hunter 26 September 2017 Author’s Critiques of Male Stereotypes Both John Cheever’s story â€Å"Reunion† and Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† has a character that embodies the stereotypes of masculinity. Although the characters are both embodying the stereotypes of masculinity, there are differences between the two characters as well as similarities. Hemingway and Cheever use their characters’ behaviors and personality traits to embody and criticize the masculine norms. TheRead MoreComparison of Anee Sexton ´s Poem Cinderella and Ernest Hemingway ´s Hills Like White Elephants614 Words   |  2 Pagesstory of someone who is rescued from their unfortunate circumstances by someone or something. In Hills Like White Elephants, author Ernest Hemingway writes about a couple facing a life changing decision, where the man believes that if only the girl would agree to a â€Å"simple† procedure that things would be as before and they would be happy again. The couple in Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, accurately illustrates Sexton’s suggestion that happily ever after is a facade. Most people are