Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism

Short Story Exam 1

In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants", Ernest Hemingway explores the

human transition of character from following to leading, depicting how life's situations

bring about a change in the way one makes decisions in life. Hemingway develops the

thematic meaning through the two main characters, the man and the girl, in the setting,

and in the use of symbolism.

Thematic meaning begins to unfold through the two main characters. The first

character is the girl. The girl is a quite selfish immature follower. She is a young woman

who thinks she is in love. The girl desires a father figure in her life. She wants the love

and attention she never received from her own father. She lets the
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transformation of their characters were brought on by life's situations and their decisions

about their situation.

The setting plays a big part in the transformation of their characters, life's

situation and the decisions made because of the situations. The setting is the time, place,

and circumstances in which something occurs. The time is summer. The place is the train

station barroom. The circumstances are the pregnancy and the decisions about an

abortion. The man is sitting in the bar and looks around at all the people. He realizes that

he doesn't have a family and decides to give it a try. The girl looks at the banks of the

Ebro and decides to have the baby despite the wishes of her significant other. The man's

persistent behavior not to have the baby causes the girl to realize what she is doing with

her life. All of these settings help to determine the transformation of their characters and

their decisions about their lives.

Symbolism is used throughout "Hills Like White Elephants." In the story it

describes the hills and "the valley of the Ebro." The Ebro river represents the
She then states, "They don't really look like white elephants. I just

meant the color of their skin." White elephants are rare and delicate. They symbolize the

delicate life of the girl's baby. The mountain's color represent the color of a newborn's

skin. "The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the

strings of beads." The two strings of beads symbolize the two decisions that the girl has

to make. She can either have a baby, or choose the man. All of these examples of

symbolism also help to build the thematic meaning in this short story.

The thematic meaning is fully developed through the characters, the setting, and

the use of symbolism in the story. The characters showed how one can transform from

follower to leader and from leader to follower according to one's situation in life. The

setting describes how one's atmosphere changes the decisions you can make in life. The

use of symbolism helps to depict the underlining thoughts and actions in life's situations.

"Hill Like White Elephants" is a great example of how human transition takes place,

depicting upon life's