Hills Like White Elephants Figurative Language Essay
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Words are not as simple as they seem sometimes. Words can be multifunctional and surprising. In fact, there is not only one-way to see things. Readers have to spent time on the story’s texts in order to discover the hidden meaning in the words. In his autobiography, A Moveable Feast, Hemingway declared: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know” (qtd. in Phillips 28). He insists to present the truth to draw readers into the story. Special techniques in writing also provide engaging experience for readers’ creativity to spark. In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway leaves the characters’ feelings and thoughts fully up to the readers’ own imagination by using dialogue, sentence…show more content… Dialogue also shows the tension and different points of view of the characters. In the short story, the American and Jig have trouble understanding each other. The American is self-centered and cold. He is a hypocrite because he pretends to care and support his female partner, Jig. In fact, he believes their unborn baby is a hindrance for their future and he prefers to keep on living in the valueless and fruitless lifestyles. Joseph DeFalco, the author of The Hero in Hemingway's Short Stories, notes that the American “refuses to recognize and accept the natural process of life”; also, he “excuses moral sterility in the name of freedom”(Smith 209 30HLWE). The American is too selfish to ignore Jig’s wants and he is not ready to take responsibility for being a father. He would rather Jig has the abortion than he suffers the loss of freedom. He remarks: “just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything” (text book228). This line indicates that although Jig does not want to have the abortion, the American still persists through coaxing and flattery. He continues to push her to make the