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  • Essay / Symbolism and Setting in Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

    Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" is about a young woman and an American man having a discussion on the issue about the abortion and their difficult relationship. However, it is often misunderstood and leaves many readers confused since the word "abortion" is not mentioned anywhere. We were left with dialogue between the two characters with small portions explaining details of the setting to grasp the main context of the story and draw our own feelings about the characters. Although the four-page story takes place over a very short period of time, it tells a much bigger story hidden underneath. “The hills that crossed the Ebro valley were long and white. On this side, there was neither shade nor trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun..." The story opens with the description of a station located in the Ebro valley in Spain, where the landscape is shadeless, arid and hot. In this landscape appear a young woman, called “Jig”, and an American, who are waiting for an express train. They go in and sit in a bar in the shade of the station and start discussing what they should drink. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayHemingway immediately emphasizes in the opening of the story the harsh nature of the setting as the girl and the American escape into the only accessible shadow for temporary reassurance. by alcohol. The dialogue between the two characters, which begins with a discussion about what to drink, suggests how alcohol has become central to avoiding real communication between them. The descriptions of the landscape as barren and barren suggest the idea of ​​pregnancy and the emphasis on the harshness of the sun suggests an obvious tension between the couple which they attempt to avoid by remaining in the shadow of the building and not communicating not. This shows that Hemingway's writing is sparse with his language and reveals no real plot elements; however, almost every detail of his writing actually shows the struggle between the two characters' minds over whether or not they will abort. The White Hills across the Ebro Hills are probably the first direct theme readers will notice since Hemingway references it in the title. “They look like white elephants,” the girl makes a seemingly innocent remark, to which the man responds that he may or may not have seen one. White elephant means an unnecessary and cumbersome possession, they are generally undesirable because they bring more shame and trouble to their owners than they are worth, and the fact that the girl so quickly sees white elephants in a most random environment implies that she is thinking. a lot about impending abortion. Shortly after, she added: “They are beautiful hills… They don’t really look like white elephants. » This may indicate that she is having doubts about the operation, as her baby may not be the white elephant she once may have been. This change in perception of the hill could rather be its denial. She may already feel guilty about the procedure, and once she begins to see the omnipresent symbol in the hills, she chooses to use logic to see that, in fact, her unborn baby does not look like elephants whites, thus conquering his guilt on the issue. Although the hills are perhaps the first symbolic landscape feature the reader notices, the train station is actually the first the reader encounters..