Symbolism in Ernest Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants :: Hills Like White Elephants Essays

Ernest Hemingway is an incredible writer, known for w put on he leaves out of stories non for what he tells. His main emphasis in Hills Like White Elephants seems to be symbolism. Symbolism is the art or practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the imperceptible or intangible by means of visible or aesthetic representations (merriam-webster.com). He uses this technique to emphasize the importance of ideas, once again suggesting that he leaves out the important details of the story by symbolizing their meaning.This miserable story is filled with symbolism, some of which the reader may never find. The gloss itself can be analyzed a lot deeper. The hills refers to the shape of the muliebrityish body during pregnancy and the white elephants symbolize a property requiring more than care and expense and yielding little profit (merriam-webster.com). The story is active a man and a woman taking a draw a bead on to get an abo rtion. The rail off is supposed to manifest change and movement, something this brace appears to take on because their life is very routine.The reader is told that there is a curtain make of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The bamboo beads not only keep them from their problems (known as flies) but it also keeps their lives sever from all of the other people at the bar. Hemingway accordingly tells the reader that the train will stop at this junction for two minutes and then go to Madrid. The train only stopping for two minutes is to show the importance of the girls decision to have the abortion. It is a monumental decision and there is not that much time for her to sit nigh and think more or less it.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. Instead of coming straight out and talking about the problems the couple decides to drink beer. The act of consuming alcohol is another way for them to fiddle away from their problems. Later on, the man and the woman are talking and the woman says, They look like white elephants. He replies to her comment by saying, Ive never seen one.