Modernist literature was a predominantly English genre of fiction writing, popular from roughly the 1910s into the 1960s. Modernist literature came into its own due to increasing industrialization and globalization. (Notes) Modernism is notoriously difficult to define clearly because the term encompasses a variety of specific artistic and philosophical movements including symbolism. (UNLV) Ernest Hemingway has a modernist style of storytelling. “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway has many elements that illustrates modernism.
The first element of its characteristics is the questioning of the the meaning and importance of abortion. Next characteristic would be the amount of dialogue and the plot and how the dialogue is used in the story. Third would be that Hemingway used symbols to further develop the story. Finally, the fact that the story does not have a happy ending. Hills Like White Elephants is a Modernist story. Modernism is a term basically to talk about the literary and artistic trends at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Abortion was a trending topic around the time of the twentieth century. Modernists believe that God is unchanging and perfect, however humans are not. Their view differs from fundamentalist because they see sacred literature as a human product and use science as their “yardstick”. Modernist thoughts and ideas have typically experienced more acceptance in university or intellectual situations. ”(Abroad) In “Hills Like White Elephants” Abortion is one of the main topics in the story. It brought up a lot with even the elephants representing it. “A white elephant symbolizes something no one wants—in this story, the girl’s unborn child.
The girl’s comment in the beginning of the story that the surrounding hills look like white elephants initially seems to be a casual, offhand remark, but it actually serves as a segue for her and the American to discuss their baby and the possibility of having an abortion. ” (SparkNotes) “Although Hills Like White Elephants is primarily a conversation between the American man and his girlfriend, neither of the speakers truly communicates with the other, highlighting the rift between the two. Both talk, but neither listens or understands the other’s point of view.
Frustrated and placating, the American man will say almost anything to convince his girlfriend to have the operation, which, although never mentioned by name, is understood to be an abortion. ” (SparkNotes) This statement is a good rundown of how the dialogue in this story mainly goes. Communication in the story isn’t really there and the couple begins to tear apart. In addition to tearing apart, the couple would usually drink in between conversation to either approach or avoid a particular situation. The way Hemingway portrayed the dialogue in this story is quite amazing.
The reason being is that he never stated what the couple was really talking about. Hemingway decided to leave it as implicit and give the reader a chance to interpret the true meaning. He also uses common, everyday speech in order to get his message across which made his dialogues unique. “We can see both the journalist and the storyteller in Hemingway working together to construct the story. The journalist side doesn’t tell us what the characters are thinking, only what they do, see, and most importantly, what they say. The journalist also provides a bare minimum of context: the scenery”(Shmoop Editorial Team)
As a modernist writer Ernest Hemingway used a lot of symbolism to develop his stories. In “Hills Like White Elephants” he does just that. Start with the bamboo curtain. This symbolizes separation and boundaries. “This symbol is overshadowed by the hills and elephants, but the bamboo curtain is still powerful. It sets us up to think about boundaries, thresholds, and separations – all the issues the couple is facing. ”(Shmoop Editorial Team) The Next symbols used throughout the story would be the train station and luggage. “These are symbols of bodies in motion, of travel and maybe even transience.
Since the man and Jig’s suitcases have stickers that give a record of their travels, the luggage can be seen as a map of the journey that brought them to this point. The train station is a midpoint between that time and the future time that they will move toward on the train. Train stations, airports, bus stations, and ports, when found in stories, give us the sense of transition, of being between worlds, between experiences. ” (Shmoop Editorial Team) Throughout the story Hemingway used many different types of settings. These settings each had symbolic meaning.
The opposing landscapes that only Jig seems to notice represent her decision making process. The dry worn down hills represent not having the the choice of abortion. Finally the fields that are filled with trees and greenery represents her having the baby, full of life and healthy. These symbols help build the story and lead to the dramatic ending of this story. “Hills Like White Elephants” does not have a picture perfect ending. The ending I believe Ernest purposely made the way he did because that just how his modernistic style of writing was. I feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine. ”
These are the lines that the main character in the story Jig says when talking about the abortion. It is never know if Jig had the abortion or not. From the beginning, the two main characters the American man and a girl, are waiting at a Spanish railway station for the express train that will take them to Madrid. They are talking about the abortion the girl they have but the man calls it a “simple operation. ” They continue to talk, and it begins to become obvious that the man is learning towards abortion.
The conversation continues to go on and the more they talk the more of their personalities come out. There is major tension in this conversation because the man really wants Jig to have an abortion, but says again and again that he really doesn’t want her to do it if she really doesn’t want to. Even though while reading it is able to see that the man wants it done. Jig is trying to be a brave girl, but its difficult with the constant pressure she’s getting. She lashes out hoping that’ll do something but it does not. Finally, the express train arrives and the two prepare to board.
The girl says the line “I feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine. ” but she’s lying in hope that’ll get the man off her back. Once that happens it never know what choice Jig makes. This isn’t a ending that is excepted and thats whats makes it a story of modernism. There are many speculations that Jig should of had an abortion. “Many critics suggest the conclusion of “Hills like White Elephants” ending with Jig deciding to have an abortion. However, after reading Stanley Renner’s analysis embraced the idea of Jig keeping the child.
In doing so, she not only defies her oppressive boyfriend, she defies the constraints of her society. Ernest Hemingway was a young man when he wrote this story, and empathized with women’s plight in a time when women were confined to traditional roles. In the new millennium women see highly publicized revolutionary feminist leaders like Hilary Rodham Clinton taking action but many forget to see women like Jig, who took one small step for feminism by saying “no”. Ernest Hemmingway leaves the ending open and gives readers to options to think on what the ending would be.
By doing this and many other techniques he makes “Hills Like White Elephants” a modernist story. In conclusion Hemingway had many elements that illustrated modernism in this story. He successfully expressed the first element of its characteristics which was the questioning of the the meaning and importance of abortion. The Next characteristic which was the amount of dialogue and the plot and how the dialogue was used in the story. He showed symbols throughout the story and fact that the story does not have a happy ending shows Modernism.