Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis Essay

A great piece of writing isn’t characterized by its lengthy prose or its elaborate phrases, and it doesn’t depend on convoluted sentence structure and extravagant word choice to awe its audience. Rather, a great piece of writing makes you think something, it makes you feel something. It knows it doesn’t need to embellish to impress, because it knows it's good enough-- better than good enough-- in its own right. Ernest Hemingway is one of the most successful authors in literary history, and he excels at creating these great pieces of writing. It can especially be seen in his short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” where he relies on a minimalist, objective writing style to get his message across. However, this seemingly detached narration style opens up room for intense emotion to flourish below the surface level, leaving each description of dialogue and action to hold more plot and character insight than one would initially suspect. To enhance and expand on the impact of these stylistic choices on the plot and characters, I wrote an imitation scene that acts as an extension for Hills Like White Elephants. It follows Jig and the American as they try to figure out the trajectory of their relationship in the aftermath of the abortion. It is clear that they both want different things from their situation, and this scene dives into the dynamics between them.

Hemingway utilizes a very concise, straightforward approach when it comes to diction and syntax. He doesn’t embellish his writing with excessive, grandiose adjectives, but rather sticks to seemingly neutral phrases and descriptors. He also steers clear of complicated syntax and sentence structure. Instead, he prioritizes short sentences, word repetition, and minimalistic. On the surface, this style of writing can make words seem undemonstrative and idle, especially when they’re analyzed individually. However, when looking at how the word choice interacts with the story as a whole, you can clearly see the words alluding to their specific and pertinent meanings. "’It’s ours.’... ‘No, it isn't. And once they take it away, you never get it back (Hemingway).’” If you look at this excerpt by itself, it is never overtly said that Jig and the American are talking about the abortion and what it means to each of them, when that in fact is what’s happening. However, this vagueness tells us more about the situation than an explicit statement ever would. It tells us that to the American, the abortion is necessary for their relationship to return to how he wants it to be, and he will not accept it any other way. Yet to Jig, this abortion will cost her the commitment and family she yearns to share with the American. 

This style of diction and syntax shows that Hemingways knows that he doesn’t need to rely on over-explanation and complication to get his point across; he trusts the readers to put together the literary pieces he leaves behind to understand the core of the story. In my imitation, I tried to mirror this by disguising the main conflict of the future of the relationship between Jig and the American’s future beneath talk of elongated travel and their differing perspectives on it: Jig wants to settle down in one place, which represents her desire for a real future with the American, while the American wants to be continuously moving and seeing the world, which represents his desire to keep Jig along as a fling to entertain himself but not commit to a life with her.

The process of writing my imitation started with rereading Hills Like White Elephants (many, many times over might I add) as well as some of Hemingway’s other works such as “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” “Soldier’s Home,” and “The End Of Something.” These pieces helped me to gain a better understanding of Hemingway’s stylistic choices and the main elements he used to progress his stories forward. After reading these stories, it was very clear to me that I needed to make a conscious effort to parallel Heminway when it came to my word choice and syntax, because if I were to just freely write with no restrictions my work would would be much too different from Heminway’s to classify as an imitation. Another concept that I wanted to emulate was how dialogue-driven his stories were, and the way in which he was able to reveal so much information about the plot or a character in a single line of dialogue, without really even saying anything specific at all.

When I was first writing my imitation, it was very difficult to keep myself from wanting to incorporate more lyrical sounding sentences and overly illustrative descriptors-- as that is the style in which I usually write-- but I stayed discipline to Hemingway’s style and often consulates the original text when deciding how to word a piece of dialogue or prose. However, as the process went on, I found myself more naturally creating minimalist writing and relying on that to get across the deeper melodrama I wanted to convey. 

Another aspect I felt it was extremely important to respect was the characterization of and dynamics between Jig and the American that Hemingway had set up in the original. I interpreted the relationship between the characters as a very fractured one; they both know it’s not healthy, but they also can’t let go. They express their feelings and issues through guilt trips, passive aggression, and without regard for the other’s wants, rather than using effective communication. However, the difference is that the American has always been this way: entitled, controlling, manipulative, and cold. Jig, however, was broken down by this relationship. Her original optimism and joy towards the romance was quickly destroyed and she became a more insecure, hurting version of herself who is willing to constantly drain herself for him. This nuance intensifies the dynamic between Jig and the American, as the power imbalance adds another layer to an already intricate emotional backstory. So in my imitation, I wanted to uphold this dynamic by aiming to create a palpable tension between the characters that makes their feelings evident, but doesn’t explicitly express them. 

I believe that I executed my imitation fairly well, as I stuck to the minimalist, journalistic-like style of diction and syntax I aimed to emulate. However, what I was most proud of myself for was my ability to use dialogue and body language descriptions to reveal insight about the characters and their circumstances. This can especially be seen in my imitation when the train attendant comes over to Jig and the American with a beverage cart, and the American takes all control of the situation without any thought of anyone else. He asks for red wine without asking Jig what she wants and pours her some without asking if she wants any. Then, when she tells him she didn’t originally desire to have any wine, he responds in a manner that makes it known he thinks he knows what’s best for her, himself, and their relationship. This is just one instance where his domineering nature is exposed through dialogue and the description of his actions. 

Something I could have done a better job at was developing longer stints of dialogue between Jig and the American and involving more word repetition, like Hemingway does in the original. However, If I had more time, the first concept I would’ve explored was definitely Jig’s internal conflict between her hatred for herself vs her hatred for the American and how this paradox of emotions manifested in her personality. I believe this is a very important piece of the complexity of her character and it would have been interesting to see how it played out in a more developed, longer imitation, especially in the dialogue. 

Before working on this imitation, I was extremely partial to a writing style that was very different from Hemingway’s. I blindly valued poetic, personal language and made my distaste for sheer objectiveness known. However, this assignment brought down any barriers of judgement I once held. It introduced me to the provocative emotion in minimalism and the raw beauty in simplicity I hadn’t known before. It also challenged me as a writer by pushing me out of my creative comfort zone and forcing me to try my hand at techniques I usually shy away from. Most importantly, it gave me a greater appreciation for stories like ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ and authors like Hemingway, and I really look forward to reading more texts that feature this style of writing.