'Hills Like White Elephants' And William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily
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In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” setting details allow the reader to understand background as to the characters’ principles and struggles with identity.
Hills Like White Elephants - Theme:
The two characters, the girl and the American, struggle with the possibility of accepting new identities: that of being parents. To add to the complication, it is clear that there is a divergence in their opinions on keeping the child with the girl wanting to explore the prospect and the American completely rejecting it.
Hills Like White Elephants 1
The details of the setting clearly parallel the struggle the two characters, the girl and the American, face. The implicit symbolism of the title,…show more content… However, it is clear that the girl wants to explore the other option of keeping the baby, since the couple’s struggle would not exist if she agreed with the American’s desire to go through with the abortion. Her conflicting opinions are brought to attention in the contrasts she notices in the surroundings of the train station. While at the bar, the girl looks off at the hills, which were “white in the sun” in contrast to the countryside, which was “brown and dry” (416). Hemingway tries to highlight the notion of life versus death in the landscapes represented by the colors, with white representing fertility and the baby and brown representing the abortion. The girl also notices how there all the trees and fields of grain are on one side and the other is barren and dry. The landscapes offer a visual representation of the decision she is forced to face: to assume the identity of being a mother or to reject it.
A Rose For Emily - Theme:
Faulkner’s story flips between the past and present, much like recalling a memory. The town of Jefferson is shown to be in limbo, torn between holding on to its distinct, Southern identity and finding its place in a post-Civil War era.
A Rose For Emily