Kylie Jovanovski
Mr. Lemole
April 19, 2015
Literary Analysis/Research Paper
Decision Making in Relationships
A complication that troubles many people is making a decision. People have difficulty making decisions because they are unsure of whether what they will chose will change their life for the better or worse. Decisions commonly affect relationships with others and can change the dynamic between people. Change can be scary but most of the time, change can be very helpful or a good thing. Imagine if everything in life stayed the same, then there would be no point in living because life would be meaningless and people would not learn lessons the way they are supposed to. Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” depicts the stress and strain …show more content…
In “Hills Like White Elephants” the two main characters are purposely set in a train station in the valley of the Ebro. The surrounding of the station consists of white ongoing hills. The mood makes the reader feel a sense of abandonment because there are no trees or offerings of shade. This deficiency of a full setting, which would include more trees, signifies no life. The two main characters, Jig and the American, are taking an abortion into consideration because of an accidental pregnancy. This absence of life presented by the barren setting suggests the pressure from the American on Jig to abort the fetus. Jig will be making an absence of a new life or new beginning in her and the American’s life if she choses to pursue and abortion. Being at a crossroads will prolong in the couple’s lives due to choosing to keep their connection static. The main theme of the story is basically the tension in relationships; the setting of the train station conveys a message. Jig and the American are at a crossroads in their relationship. A decision must be made to keep the child or not, reflecting a passenger waiting to take a train and travel to a new place and engaging in a new life. Choices like these also have certain sacrifices just like if Jig and the American were to keep the child, it would result in the characters to put an end to the extravagant and almost playboy lifestyle they are …show more content…
The Iceberg theory is a writing style executed by Hemingway in which he leaves out big details and uses symbols and minimal dialogue to show the true and deeper meaning behind the specific story. Hemingway writes, “Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar” (Hemingway 1). If the characters were not in the situation they are currently in, this detail would be irrelevant to mention. Like the way a curtain divides one object from another, Jig and the American’s relationship all of sudden has a block in it. The “curtain” in this case is keeping feelings secret; preventing one side into seeing the other side. Another symbol in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is the word “two”. “’Two appears in an actual image or separation and suggests the actual state of the lovers” (Akers 171). This word, “two”, shows the reader the relationship between Jig and the American; the ‘two’ of them have to make one choice for their relationship to
Mr. Lemole
April 19, 2015
Literary Analysis/Research Paper
Decision Making in Relationships
A complication that troubles many people is making a decision. People have difficulty making decisions because they are unsure of whether what they will chose will change their life for the better or worse. Decisions commonly affect relationships with others and can change the dynamic between people. Change can be scary but most of the time, change can be very helpful or a good thing. Imagine if everything in life stayed the same, then there would be no point in living because life would be meaningless and people would not learn lessons the way they are supposed to. Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” depicts the stress and strain …show more content…
In “Hills Like White Elephants” the two main characters are purposely set in a train station in the valley of the Ebro. The surrounding of the station consists of white ongoing hills. The mood makes the reader feel a sense of abandonment because there are no trees or offerings of shade. This deficiency of a full setting, which would include more trees, signifies no life. The two main characters, Jig and the American, are taking an abortion into consideration because of an accidental pregnancy. This absence of life presented by the barren setting suggests the pressure from the American on Jig to abort the fetus. Jig will be making an absence of a new life or new beginning in her and the American’s life if she choses to pursue and abortion. Being at a crossroads will prolong in the couple’s lives due to choosing to keep their connection static. The main theme of the story is basically the tension in relationships; the setting of the train station conveys a message. Jig and the American are at a crossroads in their relationship. A decision must be made to keep the child or not, reflecting a passenger waiting to take a train and travel to a new place and engaging in a new life. Choices like these also have certain sacrifices just like if Jig and the American were to keep the child, it would result in the characters to put an end to the extravagant and almost playboy lifestyle they are …show more content…
The Iceberg theory is a writing style executed by Hemingway in which he leaves out big details and uses symbols and minimal dialogue to show the true and deeper meaning behind the specific story. Hemingway writes, “Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar” (Hemingway 1). If the characters were not in the situation they are currently in, this detail would be irrelevant to mention. Like the way a curtain divides one object from another, Jig and the American’s relationship all of sudden has a block in it. The “curtain” in this case is keeping feelings secret; preventing one side into seeing the other side. Another symbol in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is the word “two”. “’Two appears in an actual image or separation and suggests the actual state of the lovers” (Akers 171). This word, “two”, shows the reader the relationship between Jig and the American; the ‘two’ of them have to make one choice for their relationship to