Symbolism in Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway

“The Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway about an American man and a female named Jig who start out at a train station in Spain. Throughout the story, Hemingway includes imagery, simile, brilliant syntax, and a very hectic and emotional tone. In the beginning of the story, the American and Jig take a seat in the back of the train station waiting for their train to Madrid. While waiting, time is spent describing the stunning surroundings around them, such as the white hills. During the wait for their train, they get into a deep dialogue in regards to Jig’s implied pregnancy. The American tries to persuade Jig that the operation (an abortion) is her best option in order to continue their normal life of travel. Throughout the story, Jig struggles with whether or not she will have the operation, it is evident that the couple has severe conversation difficulties. They disagree on most subjects that they talk about and they typically are in no way on the equal page. The American is bent in the direction of Jig’s abortion, and hence Jig is caught up in an interior war of whether or not she will please her man or if she will pick existence for her unborn child. This quick story can be very puzzling and is without difficulty misunderstood due to the fact of how properly Hemingway disguises underlying meaning. Many matters are left unsettled or unsaid all through this story, and so readers are left to rely on Hemingway’s heavy use of symbols to pick up the meanings. These symbols include a couple of references to white elephants, the important characters’ steady drinking, and the routine point out of the hills.

First referencing them in the title, Hemingway makes use of the symbolism of the white elephants in many instances in his story. Initially, the time period used in the title has a comparable connection to that of the phrase “the elephant in the room.” The irony between this connection in the story is that the pregnancy is viewed as the elephant in the room. This is due to the fact that Jig and the American each understand the hassle is present, but neither desire to communicate about the pregnancy. On the other hand in accordance to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the expressional time period white elephant capability is “something that requires a lot of care and cash and that offers little income or enjoyment.” To the American, the infant is something that will require a lot of care and money; believing that it will wreck his lifestyle rather than bring him enjoyment. Jig, however, sees the opposite as she fears that having this child will strip their lives of the love, pleasure, and it is full of now when she states “No, the world isn’t ours anymore. And as soon as they take it away, you by no means get it back”. Jig sees this infant as a present that will proceed to carry her enjoyment; however, she fears that the time, car, and money it will require will split her and the American man apart. The image of the hills also performs the job of bringing deeper meaning to this story, such as that the hills signify the consistent upward thrust and fall of the relationship between the American and Jig. We can assume that the couple had been journeying from one inn to another, implying that their life is full of journeys and pleasure from seeing new cities and sights. A lifestyle of journey and exhilaration would be an existence full of pleasure and enjoyment shared between the two of them. However, as they take a seat outside of the train station discussing Jig’s operation, there is anxiety in the air between the couple. Hemingway states that the hills had been white while u land used to be brown and dry. This announcement is simple, however, the underlying meaning is that the white hills characterize the purity and innocence of this unborn child. “They had been white in the sun” brings to existence the photo of the child grown into a little child; harmless and full of lifestyle. Additionally, the distinction between the white hills and the brown, dry land represents the full life livelihood of the baby opposing the darkness and dryness that would be its father. A shiny and superb component that ought to be a section of Jig’s life, while the entire time the American fails to see this possibility, leaving us thinking about what Jig will choose. Lastly, the hills signify the closing ranges of being pregnant that the lady needs to suffer earlier than birth. When Jig is noticing the “lovely” hills, she is fantasizing about what it may additionally be like if she finishes out being pregnant. It may also be like when her physique is in the full levels of motherhood so that her midsection is that of a trinity of hills. The hills symbolize many distinct points to life.

Another symbol, alcohol, is used in Hemingway’s story as greater than simply an unimportant detail. The alcohol consumption in this story is used to signify the couples’ avoidance of necessary topics. It is definitely validated that the couple is dysfunctional in their approaches of communication. In fact, earlier than they even start to talk about their controversial topic, Jig starts off by asking what they ought to drink. The first instance of their miscommunication starts when Jig states that the hills seem like white elephants and the American replies while consuming his beer that he has by no means viewed one. To this, Jig states with a snarky mindset “No, you wouldn’t have.” The American retorts, “I would possibly have. Just due to the fact you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t show anything”. While this dialog is in full swing, they are each drinking their truthful share of alcohol, and ultimately returned to the subject matter of what drink they must drink next. Another instance of the symbolism that the drinking represents is that they are fending off the subject matter of the white elephant. As before stated, the white elephant represents the unborn infant that Jig is carrying. As Jig and the American drink at some stage in the story, it is comprehensible that the American is swallowing down the concept of the infant thru alcohol. Perhaps he is consuming to forget about the notion of Jig thinking about maintaining the child, or possibly they are each ingesting to keep away from the unsightly fact that their lives will trade appreciably no count which route Jig chooses.

Ernest Hemingway implements vast quantities of symbolism at some stage in this dramatic short story as a way to convey it to life. His symbolism of the white elephants, hills, and alcohol had been used to exemplify precise factors that allowed the reader to join on a deeper stage with his writing; factors that may also have been deemed as much less vital barring the use of an implicit writing style. The white elephants characterize the unwanted, unborn baby, as nicely as being synonymous with the cliché of the elephant in the room. Additionally, the hills paint a couple of distinctive components such as the up and down nature of the couple’s relationship, the purity and existence of the unborn child, and Jig’s motherly appearance. Lastly, alcohol is used as a depiction of the couples’ avoidance of impending topics. These three symbols restated numerously, have been the most significant to the story due to the fact they delivered interest to matters that in any other case would have been left unnoticed. The end of this story is open-ended leaving it up to the reader’s creativeness to determine what they trust occurs subsequent with Jig, the American, and the baby.