Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway Analysis

Many considered Ernest Hemingway to be a controversial author during his time because most of his stories conveyed messages that were not normally household discussion topics. In Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” he describes the setting and then leaves the story to be explained through the dialogue of the main characters, the American man and a young lady who the reader is lead to believe is the man’s girlfriend. By giving the reader as little information as possible, Ernest Hemingway created an impressive story that has so much underlying meaning communicated by using less detail to lead to a larger picture also known as the “ice berg theory.” Hemingway creates a spectacular story by writing the story mostly through dialogue as well as having some sort of meaning or
Jig mentions that the hills “look like white elephants” (Hemingway 475) and then later goes on to explain she didn’t mean the hills have the shape of the elephants, but only the color (Hemingway 476). Charles M. Oliver writes that the depiction of the hills looking like the elephants could hold the meaning of an unwanted gift (203). Another perspective of the symbolism of the title could be related to the infamous saying “the elephant in the room.” This phrase simply means that there is a large issue that is failed to be addressed. This definitely applies to the dialogue between the couple as neither of them outright use the term “abortion” and at the beginning of their conversation there clearly is an issue they are avoiding especially by the continuous orders of alcohol. An interesting point made by Elmore Leonard is that Hemingway does not describe what the two characters look like, but the reader is able to develop an image of the couple and can almost hear the character’s distinct tone of voice while reading the dialogue between the