Hills Like White Elephants

Essay by Husain_abbas08Junior High, 9th gradeC, March 2014

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Husain Abbas 2J - Mr. Vernon 14th March 2014

Hills like white Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" is one of the most famous short stories published in the 20th century. Initially viewed as a simple, even dull, depiction, it is revealed upon evaluation to be a profound examination of the lack of communication between men and women. The use of the landscape specifically the hills mentioned in the title, contributes to the readers understanding of the works theme. This story is perhaps the greatest example of Hemingway's iceberg theory. It can be confusing on first reading but ultimately examines profound truths about human interaction.

On the surface, the story is a simple scene of a man and woman having a discussion while waiting for their train to arrive. Upon closer examination, however, there is much more going on. From a distance this looks like and ordinary couple having a chat over a couple of drinks, waiting for their train to leave to Madrid, but the topic seems to be explained awfully vaguely.

The girl seemed to be a rather straight forward character in the beginning of the story, but as the story is read over a few times, and different sort of mystery unfolds. The two people sit at the table and order drinks, they talk in very soft voices and the man mentions an operation, saying, "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig." And also mentions that many people have done it before. As a reader I would wonder what kind of operation is he talking about, and as the story went on, I figured that the operation was abortion. The man and woman were talking in a low tone, because this story was set in the early days where if a...