Hills like White Elephants -- Critical Literary Analysis

One of the first things entering the mind of a reader (on an obvious level) in Hemingway's short story is that the image of a white elephant the woman sees in the line of hills in the distance has created a classic man-woman conundrum. She sees it her way and he sees it his. The beer and the anis del Toro -- and the expectant train -- are just pieces on the chessboard, merely part of the setting that perhaps will play a role in this very short story.

Like his other short stories, this brilliant piece of fiction by Hemingway is very tightly written but it packs symbolism, irony and characterization into a short amount of space. In this story, the ultimate meaning is that the man does not wish to take responsibility for the woman's pregnancy and on the other...
[ View Full Essay]