Shannel Camacho

Professor Raquel Corona

English 102

September 5, 2014

Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway

2) Research the phrase “white elephants.” What is the significance of the phrase in the story’s title?

Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is short novel with many subliminal details. Both the title and the phrase have symbolic interpretations. The phrase “white elephants” indicates a “possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain or difficult to dispose of.” That was the definition giving to me from dictionary.com. A possession can be a term used to identify any item; in this case my predictions conclude that the possession referred to, is a child in a womb. If you symbolically analysis the terms and conversation the protagonists have with one another, in the novel, you will conclude that they are conversing about something hurtful, something that is changing their lives, and making them unhappy as a couple.  My predications points out that there is an unwanted pregnancy that is spoken upon subliminally. I consider it to be subliminal because the pregnancy was never mentioned as the topic, partial dialogue among them, consist of “It’s really an awfully simple operation,”… “I’ll go with you and stay with you the whole time,” “It’s the only thing that’s made us so unhappy.” These minor conversations say a lot without much detail. An operation meaning the termination of the baby, staying by her side through the operation shows support and the baby referred to, as the “thing” is what is making them unhappy. My conclusion goes hand and hand with the title and the phrase giving to research. The title Hills Like White Elephant is a figure of speech, once again representing symbolism.  The baby is much more than they can bare at the time so they consider an abortion, reasons for the option was not giving but it can either be to much for them to handle, way to expensive or other personal reasons. All of the previous options fall into the definition of the phrase “white elephants.” The hill, in my opinion is supposed to be an expressive form of a belly. The Hill like White Elephants can also be a representation of the “other side,” what life would be if they were to have a child. Life from a different perspective, a different angle. White indicating pure and innocent, (the baby) and elephants symbolizing strength and wisdom. The unwanted possession was pure and innocent, meanwhile the mother needed strength and wisdom to make the right decision. These are all conclusions drawn from the novel.