Hills Like White Elephants
What is the use of symbolism in writing? Is it simply to confuse the reader or is it to make the reader think about the true meaning of the story. In Ernest Hemingway's short story "hills like white elephants", Hemingway uses a lot of different symbols to illustrate the idea that the young girl' Jig has mixed feelings about having the baby and that her boyfriend definite does not want to have the child. Although the word abortion is not used in the story, the reader understands the concept through Hemingway's symbolism.
In the beginning of the story, Jig and her boyfriend are waiting for a train. The train in this story symbolizes choice; train tracks run either one way or the opposite direction. All the reader knows, at this point of the short story, is that these two characters are waiting for a train, but we are not told in the direction they are going in. This symbolizes their situation, they have this choice to make, and it looks like the both......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 779
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |