What are they arguing about in Hills Like White Elephants?

What are they arguing about in Hills Like White Elephants?

Everything in the story indicates that the man definitely wants the girl to have an abortion. Even when the man maintains that he wants the girl to have an abortion only if she wants to have one, we question his sincerity and his honesty. When he says, “If you don’t want to you don’t have to.

What kind of operation does the American want jig to have in Hills Like White Elephants Why does Hemingway have to be so subtle?

The American desperately wants Jig (his girlfriend to get an operation (presuming it is an abortion), Hemingway uses a bunch of subtle lines to really try to depict what is going on in this narrative and there is way more here than what you can read from at face value.

Why is the operation not named in Hills Like White Elephants?

The main topic of the discussion between the man and the girl is abortion. It is not named because they both do not want to talk about the matter. At first, the man suggests the girl drinks in order to avoid talking about it. He doesn’t want to keep the baby as he continually suggests to her to have the operation.

What is likely the awfully simple operation that is discussed in Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants?

The “elephant in the room” is the abortion. The subject the man and the girl are discussing is that of an abortion. The fact that they discuss the “operation” without calling it an abortion relays a lot about the couple and their relationship.

What is the ending of Hills Like White Elephants?

Abstract. The ending of Hemingway’s 1927 story, “Hills Like White Elephants” was interpreted for decades in one way: the female protagonist surrenders to her partner’s wishes that she undergo abortion.

What do white elephants symbolize?

The white elephant—which was more often than not stricken with albinism, and thus more a ruddy-pink color—was, and remains to this day, a symbol of success. To possess a white elephant connoted political power, wealth and prosperity, great wisdom, and the love of one’s people.

What is the main point or theme of Hills Like White Elephants?

The underlying theme of Ernest Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ deals with the difficulties a couple, particularly the female, has in facing an unexpected and ultimately unwanted pregnancy.

What does the white elephant symbolize in Hills Like White Elephants?

A white elephant symbolizes something no one wants—in this story, the girl’s unborn child. Comparing the hills—and, metaphorically, the baby—to elephants also recalls the expression “the elephant in the room,” a euphemism for something painfully obvious that no one wants to discuss. …

Who wins the argument in Hills Like White Elephants?

In “Hills Like White Elephants,” no one wins the argument. In part, this is because the two characters are no in strict opposition to each…

Who is the antagonist in Hills Like White Elephants?

The American fits the “antagonist” bill—he’s manipulative, callous, and more than a little annoying. Plus, he’s stands in opposition to Jig and her desires: she wants to get married and have a baby, he wants her to get an abortion and for them to both stay single.

What was the story of hills like white elephants?

Updated October 25, 2019. Ernest Hemingway ‘s “Hills Like White Elephants” tells the story of a man and woman drinking beer and anise liqueur while they wait at a train station in Spain. The man is attempting to convince the woman to get an abortion, but the woman is ambivalent about it.

Where is the train station in hills like white elephants?

Hills Like White Elephants “Hills Like White Elephants” opens with a long description of the story’s setting in a train station surrounded by hills, fields, and trees in a valley in Spain. A man known simply as the American and his girlfriend sit at a table outside the station, waiting for a train to Madrid.

Why does jig want an operation in hills like white elephants?

It is obvious that the child doesn’t fit into the American’s life, hence him asking Jig to have the operation. An operation that he assures her is ‘really an awfully simple operation.’ From the beginning of the story it is also obvious that Jig relies (or is dependent) on the American.

Who is the narrator in hills like white elephants?

In Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway we have the theme of reliance, communication, discontent, change and conflict. Taken from his The Complete Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unknown narrator and is set at a train station in Spain.