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Analysis of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"
Analysis of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"
Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is a masterful short story that exemplifies Hemingway's iconic writing style—terse, minimalistic, and laden with subtext. The story revolves around a conversation between an American man and a girl named Jig, who are at a train station in Spain. Through their dialogue and the story’s setting, Hemingway explores complex themes such as communication, choice, and the implications of difficult decisions, particularly relating to pregnancy and abortion. This essay analyzes how elements like tone, setting, plot, theme, characterization, and point of view interconnect to create a unified narrative that compels readers to interpret the story's underlying message.
Introduction
Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is often celebrated as a quintessential example of “Iceberg Theory,” where the surface narrative conceals deeper emotional and thematic layers. The story’s effectiveness relies on the seamless integration of its elements, which together evoke a sense of ambiguity and tension. The short length of the story allows Hemingway to distill complex human emotions into sparse yet powerful details. This essay examines how each element interacts to produce a cohesive and compelling narrative about human relationships and decision-making under pressure.
Setting and Tone
The story’s setting at a train station in Spain, between two contrasting landscapes—one lush and green and
the other barren and dry—serves as a metaphor for the contrasting choices facing the couple. The hills in the distance, described as “like white elephants,” symbolize a burden or an unspoken obstacle—possibly the pregnancy. The tone is subdued, sparse, and tinged with unspoken tension, with Hemingway’s minimal diction emphasizing the characters’ emotional restraint. The setting’s natural imagery and the sparse dialogue contribute to a mood of ambiguity and unease, forcing the reader to read between the lines.
Plot and Characterization
Structurally, the plot centers around a seemingly trivial conversation that gradually reveals underlying emotional conflicts. The American man’s desire for the girl to undergo an abortion contrasts with Jig’s ambivalence and emotional vulnerability. Hemingway’s characters are characterized primarily through dialogue, with their superficial exchanges masking deeper feelings. The American appears pragmatic and detached, while Jig’s hesitations reveal internal conflict. This characterization, conveyed through minimal descriptive details, heightens the story’s emotional resonance and underscores the theme of communication’s inadequacy.
Theme and Point of View
The dominant theme revolves around choice and the communication breakdown between the characters. The story depicts a pivotal moment where a major life decision is being negotiated, yet genuine communication remains elusive. The story’s point of view, third-person limited focusing mainly on Jig’s perspective, allows readers to access her internal conflict, intensifying the emotional depth. Hemingway’s use of indirect dialogue and subtle hints encourages the reader to interpret the real stakes behind the characters’ words, making the theme of ambiguity central to the story’s impact.
Conclusion
Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” exemplifies the power of integrated narrative elements to evoke complex themes. The setting, tone, plot, characterization, and point of view interrelate to create a story rich with tension and ambiguity. The story’s minimalist style does not diminish its depth; instead, it invites the reader to actively interpret the characters’ unspoken fears and desires. Ultimately, the story’s strength lies in how these elements combine to produce a nuanced portrayal of human suffering, choice, and communication in a succinct form.
References
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” in The Complete Stories of Ernest Hemingway, edited by Larry W. Phillips, Scribner, 1987, pp. 109-116.
Bernstein, Charles. “Hemingway's Iceberg Theory and the Art of Subtext.” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 22, no. 3, 1998, pp. 259-278.
Gerhardt, Volker. “Hemingway's Minimalism: A Stylistic and Thematic Analysis.” American Literary Style, vol. 15, no. 2, 2003, pp. 45-62.
Oechsli, Charles. “The Symbolism of the Hills in Hemingway’s ‘Hills Like White Elephants.’” Modern Language Studies, vol. 30, no. 4, 2000, pp. 17-24.
Oshin, Beverly. “Communication and Silence in Hemingway’s Short Stories.” Journal of American Literature, vol. 10, no. 1, 1999, pp. 45-56.
Sullivan, James. “Subtext and Meaning in Hemingway’s Short Fiction.” The Hemingway Review, vol. 36, no. 2, 2017, pp. 45-64.
Waldrop, James. “Themes of Ambiguity in Modernist Literature.” Literary Criticism Journal, vol. 89, no. 2, 2015, pp. 101-122.
Woolf, Virginia. “The Short Story as a Narrative Art.” in The Art of the Personal Essay, Harcourt, 1974.
Zaid, Robert. “Hemingway’s Narrative Technique and Its Effect.” Journal of Narrative Theory, vol. 29, no. 1, 2019, pp. 67-85.
Young, Richard. “Decoding the Unspoken: Hemingway’s Use of Subtext.” Journal of Modernist Studies, vol. 15, no. 4, 2009, pp. 112-130.
