Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park Illinois on July 21 of 1899. A lot of the writings he has done were created because of the wars that he has seen. There are many books that he has written which are well known. Some examples of those books are: A farewell to arms, the old man and the sea, to have and have not, and men without women. Hills like white elephants was in his first collection called Men without women. This collection appeared in 1927. Ernest Hemingway received a Nobel Prize for literature in 1953 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1952 for the old man and the sea. He lived a very fruitful life and ended up committing suicide in 1961.
The setting for the short story Hills like White Elephants I feel happened sometime in between WWI and WWII. This story takes place in Spain. We can gather that information because of the train coming from Barcelona. The story happens in a train station by the Ebro. The Ebro is a river. There were two sets of tracks and the station sat in the middle of them. On one side of the building there were no trees, or sign of fertile land. On the other side there was a river (Ebro) and trees which meant it was a fertile land.
The characterization of the story is that the man appears to be much older than the girl. He is trying to make good arguments about the girl having an abortion. He tells her that they will be happy again if she does and the operation is simple to have done. After reading these things it makes me feel he does not want or care about the baby. The girl however seems to be insecure about the situation. She shows signs of struggles with the decision and does not seem to know which way to go. The only information we can seem to get on the man and the woman is what we gather from their conversations. We do not get to know what they are thinking just what they are saying.
The plot of the story starts with a man and a woman sitting at a table in a train station. The two people are referred to as the American and the girl. We find out later in the story the girl is called Jig. They are waiting for a train to Madrid. While waiting they decide to order drinks they are discussing the operation and if she should go through with it or not. It is never stated in the story what the operation truly is but after reading certain sentences it is easy to figure it out. Sentences like its just to let the air in and they just let the air in and then its all perfectly natural tell us the operation they are talking about is an abortion. Jig is unsure about this operation. She finally agrees to go through with it because she states she dont care about herself. The bartender states that the train will arrive in five minutes. The American gets up and grabs the bags. He takes them to the other side of the station. When he comes back he asks the girl how she is doing. She assures him she is fine and smiles at him.
The language of the story is understatement language. The mood that is created in this story is a mixed mood. When we first start reading this story we get the feeling that this is a happy couple. After we read further into the story we realize there is more to that than we think. We find when reading the story the atmosphere gets pressuring. They are having a difficult time coming to an agreement on whether to have an abortion or not. We are told a lot of the story through the scenery. This type of writing is known as the Iceberg theory.
The point of view in this story is written in third person limited. There is not one time that the author enters the minds of the characters. The only way we get to know the characters is the way we would in real life. The third person limited point of view makes us as readers use our imagination. We have to visualize the characters and not one person is going to visualize the same thing.
There are several types of symbolism in this story. He never comes out and says abortion in the story. There are two different ways he tries to make us see that though. One way is with the train tracks. There are two sets of tracks one is going one way and the other is going opposite. They symbolism that is used here is one set of tracks represents keeping the baby. The other set of tracks represents getting an abortion. She has to make the decision of which track to take. The scenery is also a form of symbolism used in this story. One side of the station is dark with lots of trees and clouds. The other side is bright with no trees or clouds.
I think the main theme is life or death. We can say that it is the decision of what the easy way to go is or what the right way is. The right choice would be to keep the baby. The easy way would be to have the abortion. If they go the easy way they will not have to worry about a baby causing them to not be able to do what they want. Another theme is the difference between the man and the girl. The man only has to worry about himself and the girl would have to worry about her and a baby.
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