Hills Like White Elephants

Although this story is very minimal stylistically, symbols abound in this short piece. The very setting—with the juxtaposition between the barren, dry side of the station and the fertile fields and river across the tracks—highlights the characters’ current lifestyle and its contrasts with the more fertile possibilities that Jig can see across the tracks. When coupled with minimalism, symbolism allows a text to become much more meaningful, as nearly every object in the story gains symbolic meaning, from their baggage to the beaded curtain and absinthe. Even references to sunlight and shade, and clouds passing over, symbolize the state of the couple’s relationship and Jig’s state of mind. In addition, the characters’ movements during the story are symbolic, as the man moves from outside the station to the inside, or Jig moves from one side of the platform to the other.

Repetition is a literary device in which the author repeats words, phrases, or even symbols and ideas to create emphasis or tension. Because this story is so very short, all its repetition becomes unusually prominent and revealing. The most notable example comes toward the end of the story, when Jig says, “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” (76). After the minimal nature of their dialogue and Jig’s relative reticence throughout the story, this use of the word “please” seven times is almost shocking and emphasizes the depth of her distress. There is then the repetition of the phrase “white elephants,” and each time, as the reader is further along in their understanding of the text, the phrase becomes more loaded with meaning.

“Hills Like White Elephants” is made up almost entirely of direct dialogue, which uses quotation marks and exactly replicates what the character has said. There is no commentary or interpretation by the narrator. This differs from indirect dialogue, in which the character’s words are paraphrased or summarized by the narrator, who is interpreting the character’s speech for the reader. Hemingway takes direct dialogue one step further by barely using dialogue tags like “he said.” The effect is to make the reader feel as if they are watching the scene play out between two people, without any commentary from a narrator, almost as if they were reading a play script.