VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

Subject: Literature of English-Speaking Countries
Name: Dao Ngoc Bich – 16E12
Date of submission: 5th October 5, 2018

HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANT’S THEMES

“Hemingway said that only the tip of the iceberg showed in fiction - your reader

will see only what is above the water - but the knowledge that you have about your

character that never makes it into the story acts as the bulk of the iceberg. And that is

what gives your story weight and gravitas.” -  Jenna Blum (The Author at Work, 2013). It

appears that Iceberg Theory’s author tended to omit the deeper meanings of his works

which the readers are asked to decipher themselves. This essay will explore the possible

hidden themes of the short story Hills Like White Elephant through the two main

characters’ short conversations.

Firstly, one theme of Hills Like White Elephant emerging from the dialogue of the

American man and Jig seems to be that people should listen others’ opinions when

communicating. It is obvious that the pregnant woman makes an effort to persuade her

lover to keep the unborn baby by saying “I said we could have everything”, “We can

have the whole world”, “We can go everywhere” … It means that she considers

pregnancy as a beautiful aspect of life. Responding to her, the man, however, makes a

series of vehement denials without hesitation to break down her resistance to the

abortion. In his view, marriage would be bad for him because he is not emotionally ready

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for it. Due to not taking another’s perspective, they cannot make a final solution to the

problem discussed from the top to the bottom of their communication.

Secondly, an alternate theme of Hills Like White Elephant which Hemingway tries

to convey is that men should pay more attention to women’s feelings in a relationship.

The more the readers explore the story, the more they develop sympathy for the girl.

Throughout this story, the man does not care about his lover’s feelings when he attempts

to convince her to have an abortion. Although he speaks much manipulative language of

love like “I love you now. You know I love you”, “Well, I care about you”, “I don’t want

you to do anything that you don’t want to do” …, he does not know what exactly she is

thinking and even he may not want to know. He is willing to let the girl do the operation

which can affect negatively to her health to maintain the freedom he enjoys. Besides,

when a girl says she feel fine, it is a common believe that there is something wrong with

her. Maybe her expression means she feel completely numb because she realizes that he

does not love her unconditionally. Her boyfriend, however, ignores her answer to his

cursory question.

In conclusion, Hills Like White Elephant has been successful in reflecting

Hemingway’s distinct writing style. By not providing the readers with a full context of

the story, he demanded them to discover what lies below his work. It can be considered

that this story’s themes have fulfilled its role of referring to reality life outside the

author’s work, which keep the readers glued to it.

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