Hills Like White Elephants

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Hills Like White Elephants

The story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is about two lover’s false perceptions and disillusion. A man and a girl constantly travel never staying in one place because the two are insecure about settling down. The couple’s insecurities directly effect their irresponsible behavior. The major conflict in the story arises when the girl finds that she is pregnant. The characters disillusionments and false perceptions ultimately lead to an unhappy lifestyle.
The man and the girl depend on their separation from the world. The two are drifters traveling to different cities, staying in hotels. They have limited to no involvement with society. The characters believe that if they don’t stay in one place they will have no commitment to anything in their life. Traveling around is their way to avoid life’s problems.

The setting of the story is in a train station which symbolizes their need to be away from home and distant from their problems. While in the station they are waiting having cocktails. The girl says “I wanted to try this new drink: thats all we do, isn’t it – look at new things and try new drinks.” The quote is describing that the girl is upset with their lifestyle of traveling around seeing new things to preoccupy themselves.



The characters use alcohol to dull their experiences adding to each others disillusionment. Throughout the story the two are discussing their lives over drink. It seems like the couple are frequent drinkers as conveyed in the girl’s the quote, “thats all we do, isn’t it” referring to drinking all time every where they go. Alcohol abuse is consist with some people trying to escape from their problems. The characters drink all time to forget about their sad lives and farther propel their journey to no where. Drinking impairs the character’s judgements for the decisions they face. Alcohol is a mask for thes...