Hills Like White Elephants
“Hills Like White Elephants”
Literary Analysis Paper from a Feminist Perspective
“Hills like white elephants,” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway that was published back in 1927. The story consist of three characters all together but only have two as the main which is an American man and his girlfriend Jig. The third character is the waitress at the train station that takes their order. The story starts off with the couple sitting outside at a table under the shade waiting for the express to come into Barcelona to take them to Madrid. The story consists of a conversation between the couple where they really don’t communicate with one another but dances around what they really want to say to one another. The American is a dominator and in control within this relationship he knows he has power of Jig. Jig is insecure and wants to make sure he is happy even if that means she doesn’t agree with it. She’s not willing to lose him so she makes sure she does what he wants to keep him happy. With this story it clearly shows that the woman is afraid to lose the American who has power over her and knows how to guilt her to think as he does.
The couple has forty minutes before the express will be coming in so they decide to order some drinks. It’s not soon after they order the drinks that you begin to realize something is going on between the couple. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.”(Hemingway, 2011, para 8) “They look like white elephants,” she said. (Hemingway, 2011, para 9). Jig once again brings up her comment about the hills looking like white elephants to get the American attention “All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?” (Hemingway, 2011, para 31). The American to almost avoid the topic Jig is trying to bring up asks Jig if she’s ready for another drink. It becomes clear that Jig is pregnant and wants to talk to the
Literary Analysis Paper from a Feminist Perspective
“Hills like white elephants,” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway that was published back in 1927. The story consist of three characters all together but only have two as the main which is an American man and his girlfriend Jig. The third character is the waitress at the train station that takes their order. The story starts off with the couple sitting outside at a table under the shade waiting for the express to come into Barcelona to take them to Madrid. The story consists of a conversation between the couple where they really don’t communicate with one another but dances around what they really want to say to one another. The American is a dominator and in control within this relationship he knows he has power of Jig. Jig is insecure and wants to make sure he is happy even if that means she doesn’t agree with it. She’s not willing to lose him so she makes sure she does what he wants to keep him happy. With this story it clearly shows that the woman is afraid to lose the American who has power over her and knows how to guilt her to think as he does.
The couple has forty minutes before the express will be coming in so they decide to order some drinks. It’s not soon after they order the drinks that you begin to realize something is going on between the couple. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.”(Hemingway, 2011, para 8) “They look like white elephants,” she said. (Hemingway, 2011, para 9). Jig once again brings up her comment about the hills looking like white elephants to get the American attention “All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?” (Hemingway, 2011, para 31). The American to almost avoid the topic Jig is trying to bring up asks Jig if she’s ready for another drink. It becomes clear that Jig is pregnant and wants to talk to the
References: Hemingway, E. (2011). “Hills like White Elephants”. In D.L. Pike and A.M. Acosta’s (Eds.) Literature: A world of writing stories, poems, plays, and essays [VitalSource digital version](pp.444-445.). Boston, MA: Pearson learning solutions