A Critical Reading of “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway.
Hemingway, Ernest Miller (1899-1961) is one of the most popular and influential American writers of the 20th century, known primarily for his novels and stories. The topics covered by Hemingway are eternal. He wrote about human dignity, morality, and the formation of the human person through struggle. These struggles were relevant not only in the past but are relevant nowadays, and will exist in the future. Therefore, Ernest Hemingway is a writer for all times.
The subject, setting, plot, characterization, dialogue, and compression all make “Hills like White Elephant” one of Hemingway’s most brilliant short stories.
The time of action is not apparent, but the reader can assume that is probably equal to the time when the story was written (1920). The action takes the place on the terrace of a small station-bar, somewhere in Spain, in the valley of the river Ebro. The description of scenery is relatively neutral and short. Hemingway uses the principle of drama where the author, before the action begins, points in the remarks sets background scenery. “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hills, 295).
Essentially the whole story is a dialogue between two main characters: an unnamed man (American) and his young female friend named Jig. A couple are waiting for the express train to Madrid from Barcelona. They are drinking beer and a liqueur called Anis dell Toro. The girl looks at the hills across the valley of the Ebro and tries to engage the man in light conversation. The beginning of conversation is a casual. Then suddenly the American moves on to speak about an awfully simple operation that he wants to persuade Jig to do. She tries to respond briefly and unhappily, then “she stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of...