Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” depicts many literary movements throughout the story, but one seems to stand out the most. The story shows acts of realism in its sense that his fictional story is able to relate in the real world and that Ernest Hemingway’s point isn’t obviously. To truly understand “Hills Like White Elephants” the reader must dig deep to find the underlying meaning. Realism began very well known in the 19th and 20th century.
Realism plays very close attention to detail, and its affective ways of making a story realistic while still remaining fictional. Realism is unique in the way that it can take a serious topic and the reader will not be so quick to judge, simply because the story is actually fictional therefore, the reader will not be so quick to judge a fictional book. Realism has a great underlying meaning and gains the attention of the reader.
Realism takes practice and is not an easy style of writing, while most writers focus on one important topic throughout their story. In American literature, the term “realism” encompasses the period of time from the Civil War to the turn of the century during which William Dean Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis, Henry James, Mark Twain, and others wrote fiction devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts” (Campbell 6). Some of these stories including “Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, and “Warrick’s Daughters” by Rebecca Harding Davis, were very common in this movement. After the Civil War the United States population began to grow at a very fast rate, which changed the type of literacy studied.
Everything at this time was expanding and changing, but would provide some amazing evolvement with the shift of culture, allowing the reader to become very engaged with what they were reading. Hemingway doesn’t say what his story is about at any point throughout the story and if the reader is not familiar with the topic of abortion then the reader would not know that is what he is talking about. He makes it this way so the reader has to dig deep into his story because the topic is less than obvious. The topic being discussion between the girl and the man was about abortion. He showed his use of realism in the way he made his fiction relate to the reality of people who have experienced similar difficulties” (Campbell 2005). He wanted to connect with the readers who have gone through a tough time in their life, and to let them know they are not alone. The reader must be able to understand the theme to truly understand the story. The conversation between the man and the girl is a topic that neither of them want to discuss, Hemingway especially does not mention it. Hemingway wanted the theme of the story to be silently understood and not widely known.
Having an abortion was not common back then and was such a hurtful thing to even think about, unlike today where it has sadly become very common. This story speaks to the individual who has had an abortion and can understand what the man and woman are going through. Hemingway was speaking about an extremely sensitive issue to a huge audience but mainly to the readers who can relate to this topic. It is truly amazing how Hemingway can speak about something that no one else wants to discuss and then later it becomes something extremely common.
The story is realistic, because the dialogue between the man and the girl is representative of an intimate dialogue between a man and a woman about this sort of thing. Neither the man nor the girl mentions abortion” (Campbell 2005). In reality a man and woman would not dare speak about the topic of abortion so widely and open. This is how Hemmingway uses this unique style of writing to show a situation like this and how it would happen in the real world. The woman is not sure what to do because she does not want to have an abortion.
The man and woman began drinking. The girl is in extreme pain because the last thing she wants to have is an abortion. The man is hurting as well because he is finding it hard to convince the girl, that this is the best option he states, “Just one train ride to Madrid and “it’s perfectly simple”” (Hemmingway 12). He is trying to ease her pain in realizing that it will not take much time at all. Of course, Drinking kills internal pain but it is only temporary and the pain will soon return.
Hemingway seems to have made drinking a main point of the story though abortion and the conversations amugnst the man and woman as well as the way the ma n is trying to convince a girl to have one is the not so obvious main point. Hemingway is speaking directly to the man and woman but again, he hides the true meaning and point. “The protagonist is an American and, like Hemingway, he a man of the world. The girl is but a girl. There is nothing to distinguish her except the tacit statement she is pregnant and heading for Madrid by train to get an abortion”. Campbell 2005)Hemmingway’s style of writing is touching to each reader, he uses real life situations to gain the reader’s attention and have reader relate the story to themselves on a personal level. A simple girl can be just a girl but to the reader she might be the girl contemplating having an abortion. Hemingway shows how naive the girl truly is. A man inside the bar approaches her speaking Spanish, she does not understand Spanish but continues with the conversation anyways. The man orders and pays for a drinks for her.
He reader can tell the man is in complete control and knows how to get out of the situation as well. The man carries the bags to the opposite side of the tracks and starts explaining everything to the girl. “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig… It’s not really an operation at all… I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in” (Hemmingway 5). After this conversation he finishes his drink in the bar and leaves the girl. The train is late, but in Spain it is very common for trains to arrive late.
This seems to be the mans main focus, the train ride to and from, having an abortion and the drinks that follow. “That’s all we do, isn’t it—look at things and try new drinks” (Hemmingway 6)? Hemmingway’s point is that the men are trying to make it seem okay because they do not want to be at risk any longer and to try and convince the women that they do not want that burden. A woman has sex, decides she does not want to have the baby then gets an abortion. The man has done this countless times, and he will have this conversation with many girls. I’ve known lots of people that have done it” (Hemmingway 8).
Yes, a lot of women have done it before who, most traveling on the trains, exploring, having sex, and beginning to be more common, having abortion. The girl is uneasy but, still no realization of human life about to end. Hemmingway makes this point very clear. “And you think then we’ll be alright and be happy. ” “I know we will. ” (Hemmingway 11) If the girl does not agree to have an abortion the man knows he will be extremely unhappy and the girl does not want that.
The girl has changed what is completely her decision into a mutual decision when she continues to say we, implying that both her and the man make the decision. Hemmingway shows how easily women are being taken advantage of. The girl is extremely in love with the man, which is why she feel that they both should make the decision. The man thinks it is his decision because he is the reason she is even pregnant. He believes with lots of persuasion he will be like the many people he knows that have done the same thing to the one they love, allow an abortion.
The girl is struggling to following through with the plan because she has already grown some sort of connection with her unborn child. In the end she wants to have an abortion. “Because I don’t care about me. ” (Hemmingway 17) She realizes that her baby is a part of her and killing the baby would in fact, kill her. She realizes it is something she cannot undo, when a mother is pregnant, that child becomes an emotional attachment to the mother and becomes something hard to let go of. It is difficult to explain the attachment of a mother and her child, but there is something in their genes that ties them close.
Towards the end of “Hills Like White Elephants” Hemmingway starts to show the true intentions and reasoning’s behind the man. The girl try’s to stay in control, but now the man insists that she should not have an abortion. The man is trying to convince the girl that he only wants her to have an abortion because he deeply cares about her but in reality he does not want to settle down and be a dad. These conversations were not the easiest to discover but Hemmingway depicted a real life scenario throughout the entire story and especially during this conversation.
The man is convincing the girl that as soon as the abortion is taken care of “We can have everything… We can have the whole world… We can go everywhere… It’s ours” (Hemmingway 18). The girl is not too thrilled because she is already hurting so bad and that the man is trying to change her. If she has this abortion, the girl believes nothing will be the same anymore. “Once they take it away, you never get it back… I don’t feel anyway… I just know things… Could we have another beer? ” (Hemmingway 18) The girl is trying to steer away from the topic as quickly as possible so they finish off the rest of their drinks.
The story ends, but the reader soon realizes that the girl and man catch a train to Spain where the girl follows through with the abortion. Hemmingway does not reveal to the reader whether they left happy or sad, another way Hemmingway just leaves us guessing “. If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows, and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as those the writer has stated them” (Hemmingway 369). Earnest Hemmingway has a huge passion for writing and displays it so beautifully with his use of realism.
