Analysis of Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingwya

A detailed Summary of Analysis of Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingwya

In "Hills Like White Elephants" Ernest Hemingway relies on symbolism to convey the theme of abortion. The symbolic material objects, as well as the strong symbolic characters, aid the reader's understanding of the underlying theme.

The material objects that Hemingway uses to convey the theme are beer, the good and bad hillsides, and a railroad station between two tracks. The beer represents the couple's, "the American" and "the girl's", usual routine activity they do together. This bothers the girl because "that's all [they] do ... look at things and try new drinks." This shows that the girl is tired of doing the same thing and wants to do something different, like having a baby and a family, instead of fooling around all the time. She wants to stop being a girl and become a woman. Hemingway then presents the reader with two contrasting hills. One hill on one side of the station is dull, desolate, and barren; "it had no shade and no trees", very desert like. However, the other hill on the other side of the station is beautiful, plentiful in nature, and had "fields of grain and tress along the banks of the Ebro River." Also on each side of the station where each hill is, there is a train track. These objects are symboli

In conclusion, the theme of abortion is conveyed accurately by Hemingway and is done very well. This reader believes that because of the strong symbolism in the characters, as well as the material objects, the theme was conveyed to the audience with entertainment, ease, understanding, and brilliance.

Along with symbolic objects, three symbolic characters further develop the theme of abortion. The three characters are "the girl", "the American", and "the woman." The girl symbolizes youth, innocence, and naivety. She is ignorant to her final decision of having an abortion, because she is so young and is still in the prime of her life, experiencing new things everyday. Hemingway uses her to show a young pregnant girl trying to decide if having the baby will ruin her youthfulness, ruin her relationship, or in contrast make her a woman. She is getting tired of the same old routine, mentioned before, so her choice is to do something different, to have the baby, to become a woman, and leave her childish ways for good. The only thing that stands in her way of her decision is "the American." The American symbolizes an individualist who wants to do things his way. Usually Americans have a laid back attitude and don't want to mess with anything complicated, as does the American in this story. The American supports the theme by opposing the girl and saying that the baby "is the onl

Some common words found in the essay are:
Usually Americans, Ebro River, Ernest Hemingway, theme abortion, American American, material objects, trying drinks, hill station, baby bothers, railroad station, hemingway reader, drinks girl, girl woman, baby ruin,

Approximate Word count = 938
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English