hills like white elephants analysis

« Derudder Manon LS1 English Commentary Hills like White Elephants "Hills Like White Elephants" i s a short story by Ernest Hemingway .

It was first published in August 1927, in the literary magazine « Transition », then later in the 1927 short story collection Men Without Women.

In the early 1920s, an American man and a girl (probably younger than him are waiting at a Spanish railway station for a train that will take them to Madrid.

They drink, sitting in the hot shade, and discuss what the American man says will be « a simple operation » for the girl. This story is quite confusing at first.

We read a dialogue without any indication : the man and the girl (who aren't described in other ways than « the man » and « the girl » seem to discuss about something, but we don't know what is it.

The tension is palpable ; the girl is obviously very anxious, and the man tries to hide, behind fake consideration, his selfishness.

The passage on which our attention is focused begins when the man orders two Anis del Toro for both of them, and ends when the girl seems to have made a first decision.

We follow a tense dialogue between two protagonists who don't seem to agree on something : « it » must have been discussed earlier and didn't reach a common ground yet.

« It » seems important ; though we don't have the keys to understand the dialogue, we understand that something important is going on. The theatrical setting, the controlled limitation of descriptive terms and the tense atmosphere tends to raise questions regarding the attitude of both characters. I° The theatricalization through the setting → During all the passage, it's like watching a scene from a play that we missed the start : we readers don't know anything of what is going on between the two of them, we only know bits of information (as for example that the girl's name is Jig).

Somehow, it allows the readers to draw their own conclusion.

However, it stills appears that something is going on, something obviously important, between the two protagonists. → There is an unspoken secret that we, the readers, don't know about : as a customer sitting at a table next to the couple wouldn't understand what is the object of this discussion, we have to think about what could bring a couple to have this curious dialogue where nothing is clearly said.

The repetition of the word « it » emphazises this wish both the author and the protagonists have to not speak too much about this.

Though, we have some clues that lead us to guess what this unspoken thing is about. → Indeed, this story contains a lot of easter eggs, and is itself based on a symbolisis : the title, « Hills like White Elephants », gives us a hint about the subject of the story.

A « white elephant » is something expensive, precious, that can also become a burden because of its value.

The girl compares the hills to white elephants.

She compares their surface to skin...

as if she were referring to an human being.

When we think of something valuable but could also become a burden if we're not ready ro carry it, we think of a child.

We also have the symbolisis of the train station : the girl has a choice to make.

It symbolizes the direction she's hesitating to take : the abortion.. »