Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism Essay

The Symbolism of Landscapes in “Hills Like White Elephants” Readers engaging in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” for their first time understand it as a normal conversation between a couple who is waiting for a train, but in reality it is a melodramatic conversation between the two about having a abortion and going their separate ways. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills like White Elephants” begins with a drawn out depiction of the story’s setting in a train station bounded by hills, trees, and fields in the valleys of Spain. A gentleman identified modestly as the American and his girlfriend convene at a table external to the train station, anticipating a train to Madrid. Hemingway’s use of landscape such as, the train station and the white clouds connects vividly to the story’s ultimate meaning. Hemingway sets “Hills Like White Elephants” at a railway station to emphasize the idea that the relationship amongst the American man and the girl is at an intersection. The argument between the American and the girlfriend provides a crossroad for the couple on what the right action is in their situation. Introduced in the interior of an
This extreme emphasis on the number two in the setting could possibly symbolize two different meanings. The first meaning the relationship cannot extend beyond two individuals, which goes along with the saying “threes a crowd.” The second, meaning that the “two” refers to the girl and the baby and that perhaps she is trying to make the decision of whether to stay with the American or not. The use of the number two is definitely an important moment in the short story within the setting and the overall