Compare/contrastfirst impressions of the
story Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants,"
with final impressions.
Upon reading "Hills" the first time, I imagined the setting, the characters but had a hard
time with the purpose. It felt like I was snooping in on someones conversation trying to
piece it all together. I finally realized that the operation was an abortion when I kept
going over the same line "It's just to let the air in." on the first reading. Another part
was keeping the lines straight, who was saying what now. After reading it the first time I
was thinking it was the man who wanted to keep the baby and the women who wanted
the abortion to only be with him. But reading it again I realized my mistake.
After reading the commentaries I began to get a closer feel for the story piecing
everything together and finding myself saying "Yah, I get it now.
Ernest Hemingway's Baby Picture, ca. 1900. Photogr...
White Elephant
American Author Ernest Hemingway with sons Patrick...Why did I not catch
that before?" One in particular is the river banks, one side hot and plain, no trees, no
beauty, and the other with hills, trees and a beauty to it, and how that pertained to her
life, her decision. What will she choose. The plain side or the beauty side. One side
would be a life she does not want, while the other would be the life she dreams of.
The end of the story is open, there is no exact conclusion. Did she take the trip or not?
I think that while he as taking the luggage to the other side, she may have decided that
this relationship was not going to work for her and she made up her mind to stop it here
and now and that is why she finally felt "fine" with it all.