What is the meaning behind 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. …
Why did the girl say that the hills look like white elephants?
The girl interprets the hills as looking like white elephants because their symbolism—being a costly and unwanted gift that doesn’t feel like a gift but an obligation—matches the way she and the man seem to feel about their baby.
What literary devices are used in Hills Like White Elephants?
Hemingway’s work Hills Like White Elephants communicates several political viewpoints―such as abortion and nationalistic inferiority―and conveys conflict through the use of imagery, symbolism, point-of-view, and setting. In the beginning of the short passage, Hemingway presents multiple images to set the mood.
What does the table symbolize in Hills Like White Elephants?
The guy and the girl are now sitting at a bar deciding what they should drink. The girl takes off her hat and puts it on the table. This action symbolizes her putting her feelings on the table to talk about them with the man.
What is the symbolic meaning of white elephant?
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 does Hill’s symbolize?
Hills carry their own significance least of which is the concept of higher and lower levels of land – the latter can contain swamps, people, darkness, fields, heat, unpleasantness, life whilst the former can suggest isolation, life, death, thin air, purity, clear views to name a few.
What is the spiritual meaning of mountain?
The mountain is thought to contain divine inspiration, and it is the focus of pilgrimages of transcendence and spiritual elevation. It is a universal symbol of the nearness of God, as it surpasses ordinary humanity and extends toward the SKY and the heavens.
What does a hill symbolize in a dream?
To dream of a hill represents an obstacle in your life. A struggle to achieve a goal. The steepness of hill reflects how big the challenge is that you’re facing. To dream of moving up hill represents your attempt to work against an obstacle.
What is the irony in Hills Like White Elephants?
The irony of the title, then, is that the man “buys” a white elephant believing that the action under consideration can return him and his girlfriend to their former relationship, but the girl, like the reader, knows they will never be the same, for she turns from the vision of life, fields of grain and trees, and …
What do white elephants symbolize?
Are White Elephants good luck?
All elephant images are symbols of protection, good fortune, and wisdom, however white elephants are especially auspicious. It is said that the Buddha’s mother dreamt of a white elephant before she gave birth to him.
What does alcohol symbolize in Hills Like White Elephants?
Both the American man and the girl drink alcohol throughout their conversation to avoid each other and the problems with their relationship. By the end of their conversation, both drink alone—the girl at the table and the man at the bar—suggesting that the two will end their relationship and go their separate ways.
What is the resolution of Hills Like White Elephants?
“Hills Like White Elephants” is a very short story. Only about one thousand words, the story itself is comprised almost entirely of dialogue. Although there is a situation, there is no plot; although there are words spoken between the main characters, there is no resolution.
What does absinthe symbolize?
Absinthe, an alcoholic drink introduced to France in the 1840s, developed a decadent though violent reputation. To some the drink symbolized creativity and liberation, and to others, madness and despair.
What are the hills in Hills Like White Elephants?
In the story, Hemingway refers to the Ebro River and to the bare, sterile-looking mountains on one side of the train station and to the fertile plains on the other side of the train station. The hills of Spain, to the girl, are like white elephants in their bareness and round, protruding shape.
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…
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 the hills symbolize?