"Hills Like White Elephants": Differing Views on Abortion

Paper Summary:

This paper focuses on the male/female perspective on the issue of abortion as it appears in Hemingway's most subtle short story, "Hills Like White Elephants." The paper shows how the author makes use of symbolism to highlight the problems experienced by most married couples due to lack of proper communication. Hemingway chose this topic because he believed in this interesting iceberg theory which is explained in the concluding part of the paper.

From the Paper:

"The theme of abortion is predominant in the story titled, "Hills like white elephants." The author, Ernest Hemingway, however has not mentioned the actual word "abortion" throughout the entire short story but instead has used symbols and vague dialogues to convey his message to the readers. The reason why Hemingway probably refrained from using the actual term was because he firmly believed in using dialogues and language, which required deeper study. The author wanted the readers to know about male and female perspective on this issue and thus chose to highlight the theme with effective use of symbolism and ambiguous dialogues. It is important to understand that Ernest Hemingway has not tried to advocate any particular opinion, he appears to be concerned only with the way males and females view this issue. The opinions of two characters on the controversial issue of abortion reveal the differences in male-female psyches. This story is indeed a classic tale revealing the subtle differences that exist in the way men and women view different things. (Lamb, 1996) "

More papers on "Hills Like White Elephants": Differing Views on Abortion:

• Analytical Essay # 44427 : "Hills Like White Elephants"
• Book Review # 113580 : "Hills Like White Elephants"
• Comparison Essay # 7773 : "Hills Like White Elephants" and "The Necklace"

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