Hills Like White Elephants

 

The main lines of analysis will be followed in discussing E. Hemingway’s “Hills like Whit Wh itee El Elep epha hant nts” s”.. It is a story story about about a co coupl uplee who who ar aree ha hai ing ng so some me pr prob oble lems ms in th thei eir  r  relationship. The main characters in the story are an !merican man and girl. The whole story is largely a dialogue between the couple. The story does not gie much information about the characters “Hills “Hi lls like White Elephant Elephants” s” is a short short story story in which which the action action follow followss a single single storyline. The action takes place in one place p lace and on a single day. Hemingway wrote the story in third person point of iew that limits the narration to what the characters say and do. The hills across the across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no n o trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. close against  the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. a" #E$I% &rom the beginning of the story we can notice that Hemingway chooses to use a foreign language. The author uses %panish language to help construct his story. The !merican says into the curtain “dos cere'as” which means “two beers.” Taking Taking this into consideration we can ssay ay that Hemingway incorporates the %panish language into his writing to make it more effectie. The author also succeeds to gie more credibility to the story by the use of this noun phrase. In this way the readers are sure that the setting of the story is in %pain.  b" ()!**!)  Hemingway opens the story with the description of the place using nouns modified by definite article. +y doing so, the author suggests that the setting is familiar for the narrator. This  paragraph contain the cataphoric reference since the use of the the implies  implies known or gien noun and there are no preceding sentences showing the first appearance of the word, so it points reader’s attention forward in the te-t. The story starts with the description of the station. The mental picture of it is build up by Hemingway’s notably nominal style. In the sentences outside the uotation marks, we can notice Hemingway’s reuirement for nouns, ad/ecties, een static erbs to create the scenery which is symbolic in nature. •

0ersonal 0ronouns 1

 

In Hemingway’s short story “Hills like White Elephants” first person singular pronoun is used freuently. The whole story is mostly a conersation between the !merican and 1ig. Their  dialogue is the centre of the story. The sentences are usually short and for this reason the dialogue does not gie us much information about the situation. %ince the dialogue is the centre of the story the use of the pronouns I  pronouns  I  and you  and you are implied. This means I points to the person who is speaking and you to the person who is listening as in the following e-ample, the !merican is speaking and the girl is listening2 “I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time. They ust let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural.! The first person pronoun is the most freuent in the te-t because the discourse is speaker3 oriented. Thee stor Th story y “Hill “Hillss like like Whit Whitee El Eleph ephan ants ts”” is to told ld th thro roug ugh h th thee di dial alogu oguee be betw tween een th thee characters and this makes it difficult to distinguish which of the two characters are actually speaking at a time2 “If I do it you won’t ever worry"! “I won’t worry about that because beca use is perfectly simple.! “Then I’ll do it, because I don’t care about me.! “#hat do you mean"! “I don’t care about me.! “#ell I care about you.! “Oh, yes. $ut I don’t care care about me. %nd I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.! “I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.! In the aboe dialogue there is lack of identification and it is difficult for us to distinguish the lines that are spoken by different different characters characters.. The pronouns pronouns  I   and you and  you   do not hae gender  diision. The woman brought brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. &he put the felt pads and the beer glass on the table and looked at the man and the girl. This e-ample show typical anaphoric reference. Here the referent “the woman” presents the new information and the referring item “she” passed this information.

2

 

The non3hum non3human an third third person person singul singular ar pronou pronoun n it   is different from the other personal  pronouns because it can refer to any identifiable part of the te-t not only to a person or an ob/ect.  It can refer to something in particular. &or e-ample2 “!nis del Toro. Toro. It   It ’  ’ s a drink.” •

4emonstratie pronouns and ad/ecties

The demonstratie this does not appear ery often in the story but it is releant to the cohesion. The following e-ample shows the demonstratie functioning as a Head. “%nd we could have all this, she said. %nd we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.! This sentence does not hae a noun phrase and here this might be referring to the baby or  the family because it seems that is what is bothering the main characters. !part from this there are any other e-amples in the story in which this this functions  functions as a *odifier. “The hills across the across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no n o trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun.! “It was very hot and the e'press from $arcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped  at this unction for two minutes and went to (adrid.! “I wanted to try this new drink.! In these e-amples we can notice how this  creates the cohesie ties with the noun phrase thatt it refers tha refers to and its its meaning meaning is the same same with with the noun phrase. phrase. This This does  does not carry new information although it belongs to the noun phrase as this side, this unction, this new drink.  drink.  This warns the reader to look for more detailed information. &or e-ample, in order to know what this  side refers  side  refers to it is necessary to look back in the preious sentence to make sure that the hills are the ones described. The following e-amples will show that the modifier that  is   is more used than this this.. In this story that is used as a modifying element of the noun. “I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.! The demonstratie demonstratie that does not gie any e-tra informati information on but it helps us to emphasi'e and distinguish from the other, for e-ample that way 5that particular way." way."  Time dei-is is indicated by the aderbs now  and then then which  which refer to the time. )ow time.  )ow it  it is used mainly in dialogues and it indicates the time of the utterance2 “#ould “#o uld you do something for me now"!

3

 

In the the foll follow owin ing g ee-am ampl plee then  ha hass an an anap apho hori ricc a alu luee be beca caus usee it re refe fers rs to th thee immediately preceding sentence or part of the te-t. Here then points to the future. It says that after the operation the things will be better. “I know. $ut if I do it then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, elephants, and you’ll like it"! c" TE$T6! TE$T6!# # 78HE 78HE%I8 %I89 9 !94 !94 78HE) 78HE)E97 E97E E +ut it   can can also refer to a te-t. &or e-ample2 “:es,” said the girl. “Eerything tastes of  liuorice. Especially, all the things you’ve waited so long for , like absinthe. ” “8h, cut it  out.”  out.” In this e-ample it  refers   refers to all the things you’ve waited so long for .  It  refers   refers here to some kind of  things that the girl was wishing for and the !merican says to forget about it. In this story the pronoun it  is   is used uite freuently. The conersation between the main characters is ambiguous, since there any direct information is reealed. 8nly after we read the story we can understand its meaning. In this story simple sentences refer to something else2 “I’ll go with you. %nd I’ll stay with you all the time. They ust let the air in and then it ’s ’s all perfect natural.! *ere it refers to abortion. $ut there is no use of this word in the story because it was mention as simple operation. “)o, we can’t. It  isn’t  isn’t ours anymore.! “ It ’s ’s ours.! “)o, “) o, it   isn’ isn’t. %nd once they take it   away, you you never get get it   back.!  back.!  This is another  e-ample which illustrates the ambiguity of the story. 8nly after the reader analy'es the story it becomes clear the third person pronoun it in this e-tract refers to a baby. “#hat should we drink" the girl asked.! This following following e-ample shows us the reference between between the pronoun it   and the noun operation. It refers to an operation and een if this reference seems to be clear at first but this

item seems to refer to an abortion and for this there is no actual mentioning, but it can be assumed. “ It ’s ’s really an awfully simple operation , +ig, the man said.  It ’s not really an operation at  all.! We can deduce that the referring item it was used in order to create intrigue, because it does not show clearance. +eing a non3human third person pronoun it can refer to things or  situations and it gies wider options for the referents.

4

 

The most obious means of highlighting in this story is the repetition of sentences and le-ical items. &or instance, the phrase “like white elephants” occurs fie times in the te-t. The title describes the hill like “white elephants” instead of hills 5that look" like white elephants. This  particular choice leaes the comparison based upon alue rather than appearance. The significant feature of the patterns within the uotation marks is the deictic with cohesie function. )epetitions The stylis stylistic tician ian *.!.;. *.!.;. Hallid Halliday ay obser obseres es that that motia motiated ted promin prominenc encee is freue freuently ntly generated by the repetitions of words, clauses, and groups of related words and “le-ical sets”. 5Halliday, ?, page