Hills Like White Elephants

Thesis: In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” the narrator uses setting to represent the girl’s disenchantment with the American which gives us a deeper understanding of her emotional state during this difficult period which she faces. The setting where the man and girl wait for a train is one of oppressive heat from the sun in a treeless, arid region where the only relief comes in the form of the shade provided by …

…them builds throughout the story as they drink and bicker. The girl withdraws from him through the use of sarcasm and communication breaks down to the point where she repeatedly requests of him to “stop talking” and threatens to “scream” if he will not comply. At the end of the story we are left with the feeling that although they will travel together as she concedes to the abortion, their relationship is near its end.