Hills Like White Elephants

Name: Hills Like White Elephants
Rating: 3.47 (50 reviews)
Author: Ernest Hemingway
ISBN: 9781443423274

by Ernest Hemingway

3.5

(50 ratings)

20 pages2023GRIN VerlagISBN 9781443423274

Classics Young Adult

About this book

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Erfurt, course: The American Short Story, language: English, abstract: Can the reader of "Hills like White Elephants" experience the success of the male character, known as "the American", or the triumph of Jig, the female character, at the end of the story? The argument of the American couple waiting at a junction between Barcelona and Madrid represents the centre of Ernest Hemingway's short story. Heming-way published this short story as part of the story collection "Men without Women" in 1927 (ANONYMOUS, 1996). Therefore, it can be assumed that the setting of the story is also conceived for the 1920ies. It is never directly mentioned that both discuss the abortion of their unborn child, although it becomes clear through implications within the text. Whereas the man tries to convince her in a manipulating manner to undergo surgery, she dreams of a future with the child (HEMINGWAY, 1956: 249ff). LAMB even states that: "Much of the conversation is so obscure that on the literal level it can be comprehended only in light of the entire story" (LAMB, 1996: 469). Sev-eral metaphors, images and other literary devices, such as the simile being present in the title and in its several repetitions in the story, add to the reader's perception of the shown conflict. Apparently, the male character represents the dominant part in the relationship and the successful one in the conversation. As the girl states "But I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine" (HEMINGWAY, 1956: 251) after being talked at by her boyfriend, it seems that she gives up and sac-rifices her wishes. However, scholars discuss whether the American or the girl can force their individual points in the end. The aim of this research paper is to examine this question. An analysis of the structure of the short story, the impor-tance of place and positionin

Publication Details

Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Published: 2023
Pages: 20
ISBN: 9781443423274
Language: en

About Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American writer and journalist. During his lifetime he wrote and had published seven novels; six collections of short stories; and two works of non-fiction. Since his death three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction autobiographical works have been published. Hemingway received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school he worked as a reporter but within months he left for the Italian front to be an ambulance driver in World War I. He was seriously injured and returned home within the year. He married his first wife Hadley Richardson in 1922 and moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign correspondent. During this time Hemingway met, and was influenced by, writers and artists of the 1920s expatriate community known as the "Lost Generation". In 1924 Hemingway wrote his first novel, The Sun Also Rises. In the late 1920s, Hemingway divorced Hadley, married his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer, and moved to Key West, Florida. In 1937 Hemingway went to Spain as a war correspondent to cover the Spanish Civil War. After the war he divorced Pauline, married his third wife Martha Gellhorn, wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, and moved to Cuba. Hemingway covered World War II in Europe and he was present at Operation Overlord. Later he was in Paris during the liberation of Paris. After the war, he divorced again, married his fourth wife Mary Welsh Hemingway, and wrote Across the River and Into the Trees. Two years later, The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952. Nine years later, after moving from Cuba to Idaho, he committed suicide in the summer of 1961. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid 1920s and the mid 1950s, though a number of unfinished works were published posthumously. Hemingway's distinctive writing style is characterized by economy and understatement, and had a significant influence on the development of twentieth-cent