Evaluation Argument Hills Like White Elephants free essay sample

A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession, but also it means a rare and sacred creature. In Ernest Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway uses an unborn child as a white elephant. This short story depicts a couple of an American man and young women at a train station somewhere in Spain. Hemingway tells the story from watching the couple from across the bar and listening to their troublesome conversation. Through overhearing the couple’s conversation Hemingway uses dialogue to explain the couple’s decision of an abortion operation. Hills Like White Elephants is a great example of Hemingway’s rare use of dialogue. Hemingway compresses dialogue in his stories by removing authorial guidance, forcing readers to interpret for themselves shades of meaning (Del Gizzo, Moddelmog 175). In the short story Hemingway also uses the setting to help the reader understand what the man and woman are feeling and thinking as they await their train. We will write a custom essay sample on Evaluation Argument Hills Like White Elephants or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page By providing details of the hills, bar, and landscape the reader can better understand the emotions and situation the couple are experiencing. The way that Hemingway creates the characters is a very interesting way because he lets the reader make their own opinions about the characters through their actions and words. In Hills Like White Elephants Hemingway uses compressed dialogue to let the reader interpret the story themselves while also using the setting and characters to help show the situation that the story portrays. The dialogue Hemingway uses in Hills Like White Elephants is a unique style. The story uses a lot of repetition and the story is nearly all dialogue between the couple. Hemingway is known to do this in his works which allows the reader to interpret the story in a way that they see it. The couple is constantly talking in short repetitive remarks sharing their opinion on the operation the woman is deciding to have. The story repeats the term or variations of the word â€Å"afterward† many times because the reason for the operation is so that the couple will be fine or happy after the operation is over. Also, the phrase â€Å"white elephant† is repeated several times which reminds the reader that the two individuals view white elephant of different meanings. White elephant can be used to describe something as a rare and sacred creature or a possession that is valuable but burdensome. As Hemingway likes to force his readers to make their own interpretations, white elephant can be interpreted many ways. The unborn baby can be thought to be the white elephant and the man seems to view it as a burden while the woman thinks of it as a sacred creature. The man’s dialogue portrays it is a burden because he says that the baby is the only thing that bothers them, and he also says that they can have everything if the woman has the operation. The woman’s dialogue seems to reveal that disagrees with the man’s decision because in the last line of the story she says that she is fine and nothing is wrong with her. Some suggest that the man himself is the white elephant (Link 68). People may think the man is the white elephant because the woman is willing to have this operation to keep him happy but at the same time he is willing to get rid of their unborn child. This different idea of who could be the white elephant and how each character feels about the operation is a distinct example of how Hemingway’s dialogue use forces the reader to use their imagination and own thoughts to interpret his writings. Hemingway uses dialogue through the characters to portray the setting of Hills Like White Elephants. The story mentions several objects and landscapes to help the reader understand the story. The hills that look like white elephants to woman have a somewhat clear meaning since the point of the story is the white elephant of the situation. However, things such as the train station, bar, bead curtain, table, trees, river, and others help show the situation the couple are experiencing. The landscape around the station plays a huge role in the setting. On one side it is dry with no tree, no shade, and long white hills; the other side had fields of grain, trees, and a river. At one point in the story the girl walks to the side full of life with the trees and river, but the man tells her to come back and not to think that way. This could mean that she wanted to keep the baby after seeing the beautiful landscape full of life while the man did not want her to think like that. While sitting at the bar the couple orders several drinks in a short period of time which could infer that the man has persuaded the woman to have the operation because if she planned on having the baby she probably would not drink alcohol. Therefore, the drinks have helped set the setting by showing how the couple will probably handle the situation of contemplating whether to have the surgery or not. Settings play a huge role in any story but in Hills Like White Elephants the setting can be interpreted many ways which Hemingway most likely wanted for the reader. Nearly any story has characters which are revealed through direct explanations by the author Hemingway uses several ways of revealing the characters in Hills Like White Elephants. In the story the two in the couple are clearly the main characters but the reader learns about the character through their dialogue and actions. The position of the man and woman on the decision of having the operation are clear but more about the two are revealed throughout the story. While sitting at the bar the woman asks about a sign on the bead curtain, and the man is able to tell her that it is a drink which might signify that the man could be more educated or has more experience in the world. Towards the arrival of the train the woman gives the bartender a smile and shows her gratitude. This shows that the woman is polite and is thankful for the service which helps us understand that she is good hearted and that might be why she does not want to have the operation. In this short story hidden details can be interpreted in many ways, but being able to see them helps reveal characters when the author does not directly introduce them. Hemingway is arguably one of the greatest authors of all time and Hills Like White Elephants shows his ability to combine the genres fiction and drama (Del Gizzo, Moddelmog 175). This short story is an amazing piece of work that has many of Hemingway’s gifted abilities as a writer. Hemingway is able to use a strange form of dialogue to portray a very big decision for a young couple and is able to do it from the point of view of a stranger across the bar. The dialogue Hemingway uses is short and repetitive which lets the reader interpret and make analysis of their own while reading the story. Also, Hemingway’s style of writing depicts a very complicated setting which some say could have several meanings and importance. The setting helps the reader make more assumptions about the story and helps give detail or the situation. Though there are few characters in this story they are revealed through their dialogue and actions which allows the reader to make their own decisions about the characters. Hills Like White Elephants is a short but outstanding work of art thanks to Hemingway’s overall ability to make a simple story have so much meaning.