Hills Like White Elephants Group at eNotes

With irony being a contrast between what a character thinks and...

Tue, 2 Sep 2008 11:34:36 PST

With irony being a contrast between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience know to be true, the reader must seek the difference between what the characters think and what he/she discerns about them. Since the girl mentions the hills being like white elephants, she understands their meaning: She tells the man who says he has never seen a white elephant, "No, you wouldn't have." She is the one...

While there are other examples of irony in the story, my favorite...

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 10:42:29 PST

While there are other examples of irony in the story, my favorite example comes from the title. "The Hills Like White Elephants" should refer to the surrounding environment, and indeed it does. However, the girl is pregnant, and her belly will soon swell into a "hill." The infant is a classic "white elephant" for the man. As Wikipedia notes, a white elephant "is a valuable possession which its owner cannot...

The most beautiful irony in the story comes through the imagery. The...

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 10:09:35 PST

The most beautiful irony in the story comes through the imagery. The American and Jig are discussing an abortion. When Jig gets up from the table to look out over the landscape, all she sees are images of fertility: green trees, a flowing river, fields of grain. However, she turns from this image to return to the man, having lost the will to fight for her unborn child. Here is the fertile passage:The girl stood up and walked to the...

What is the irony in the story "Hills Like White Elephants"?

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 08:26:57 PST

I'm trying to figure out what irony there is but I can't seem to find it. Can someone help me?

While the characters are fictionalized, there is also evidence that the...

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:28:38 PST

While the characters are fictionalized, there is also evidence that the man and the woman are largely Hemingway and second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. The relationship was troubled, and the abortion theme may well have been Hemingway's attempt to work through feelings about the threats to their relationship. The "threat" came in the form of his first wife, Hadley. Paul P. Reuben says, "In early 1925, the Hemingways met Pauline...

The man is an American with his girlfriend, Jig. As he does in other...

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:08:44 PST

The man is an American with his girlfriend, Jig. As he does in other stories, Hemingway refers to her as "the girl", and to the American as "the man", suggesting that the couple's relationship is not really equal. Hemingway purposely leaves the rest of their identities open to interpretation so he can concentrate on developing the characters throughout the story. The couple obviously been traveling quite a bit but Jig's pregnancy has...

Who are the man and woman in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:48:28 PST

I know their relationship to each other, but who are they?

The only mention of any name in the story is this name, Jig. It is...

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:02:51 PST

The only mention of any name in the story is this name, Jig. It is what the man of the relationship calls the woman of the relationship. He uses it conversation in the following exchange:'It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig,' the man said. 'It's not really an operation at all.' The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on. 'I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in.'The...

Actually, you quoted incorrectly:"I wanted to try this new drink....

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:49:35 PST

Actually, you quoted incorrectly:"I wanted to try this new drink. That's all we do, isn't it--look at things and try new drinks?"This has a totally different meaning when you understand the context. The drink they order is "Anis del Toro".What the "new thing" the girl is looking at is the mountains. "I said the mountains looked like white elephants."

What makes the girl say, “That’s all what we do, isn’t it--look at...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:14:32 PST

What makes the girl say, “That’s all what we do, isn’t it--look at things and try new things.” Why does she say that and what does she mean?

There's a good related discussion in the link below:

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:20:07 PST

There's a good related discussion in the link below:

This question has been answered, check out the link below: ...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:17:31 PST

This question has been answered, check out the link below: http://www.enotes.com/hills-like/q-and-a/why-does-ernest-hemingway-give-title-hills-like-834

What does the title of "Hills Like White Elephants" mean?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:10:22 PST

What does the title of "Hills Like White Elephants" mean?

What does the name Jig mean in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 14:09:51 PST

Why does he start calling her that?

Hemingway did sort of leave this story for you to make up the decision...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:25:11 PST

Hemingway did sort of leave this story for you to make up the decision on your own. The fact that the man keeps repeating that it is a "simple" operation means that he does not understand the emotional experience that is tied to it. She does. Although this does seem like a casual conversation, like soemthing that they had discussed many times before, she still does have time to discuss that side with him. I bet that if they...

In reply to #2: The text were published in 1927, so the era must´ve...

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:50:43 PST

In reply to #2: The text were published in 1927, so the era must´ve been between the two world wars..

I believe the woman did NOT ultimately decide to have an...

Sun, 25 May 2008 23:27:20 PST

I believe the woman did NOT ultimately decide to have an abortion because of Hemingway's diction. He makes it clear that the woman is hesitant about the procedure. She actually wants to keep the baby. This is evident when she says, "...once they take it away, you never get it back." She has doubts about losing her child and the possibility of ever having another one. And at the end she says, "I feel fine. There's...

You're going to have to use your imagination to answer this question....

Fri, 9 May 2008 07:44:44 PST

You're going to have to use your imagination to answer this question. Hemingway leaves the story with a cliffhanger ending: the couple is waiting for the train, and the woman says, "I'm fine."You need to decide what you think she will do. In order to make that decision, you'll need to judge the story based on the era in which it is set, not by what is possible in our own time. Keep in mind these things:the social mores of the era...

In "Hills Like White Elephants," did the woman go for an abortion?

Thu, 8 May 2008 22:18:33 PST

Why or why not? Defend your answer?

hello everyone... I'm from the Philippines and recently we had a...

Thu, 8 May 2008 22:04:25 PST

hello everyone... I'm from the Philippines and recently we had a debate(world literature class) about this story on what really happen to the two if they really agreed to do the "operation" thing. as we debate about the story, we discover that even though the girl was really persuaded to the thing that the man wanted to do to her. but in the end of the story, there is a twist that some of the readers will conclude that they really do...