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Ahmed Mahmood
Prof O’Leary
ENG 112
28 April 2019
Hills Like White Elephants
“Hills Like White Elephants” is a short fiction story that was written by Ernest
Hemingway. This story maintained a high quality of perspective which was influencing between
its elements: “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was
no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway 475).
The story draw people’s attention because of the interesting thoughts, and it make the reader
invasion himself threw the story in many spots. The hero of the story is an American man who
seems to be old and rich, and a beautiful European girl who is younger than him. Hemingway
describe the two character without giving them real names. They had a good vacation in Spain,
but the Hemingway shows them in train station because he wanted to produce some effect of the
transition that is going between the American guy and the girl. There is some technique that the
American is using towards the girl got pregnant from him, so that’s why the American is using a
reverse phycology on her to convince her to have an abortion.
Many techniques were in the story specially in their conversation. These techniques are
distinguishing their conversation into five classes: “Five major classes of socializer are
distinguished: channel markers, editers (devices for changing, deleting, or adding to a previous
speech act), introducers & closers, code switching, & code or style” (Ramessy). The American
from the story doesn’t think that the girl is smart, the girl knows that, and she is trying to intense
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him and show him that she is smarter than what she thoughts. She tries to impress him but the
American always cuts her off: “’ they are lovely hills,’ she said. ‘They don’t really look like
white elephants. I just mean the coloring of their skin through the trees.’ ‘Should we have
another drink’” (Hemingway 476). The theme is showing that the American doesn’t care about
what she just said, and he is trying to go for some mentality in order to make her do what does he
want. The operation is not that simple, and she feel so scary, but he thinks that having abortion is
simple as he invasion. They start their conversation about the pregnancy and the girl is not
comfortable with his point of view: “As in the opining movement the couple resume their
discussion of what to do the girl’s pregnancy. The focus is on developing the conflicting
viewpoints of the two parties involved. The American argued single mindedly for the abortion.
The girl’s mind, however, appears to be divided. She accustomed to following the lead of her
male companion” (Renner 79).
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Works Cited
Ramsey, Jeff. "An Interactional Analysis of 'Hills Like White Elephants'." The Journal of the
Linguistic Association of the Southwest, vol. 4, no. 3, 1981, pp. 260-268. ProQuest,
https://search.proquest.com/docview/85477123.
Renner, Stanley. "Moving to the Girl’s Side of ‘Hills Like White Elephants’." Short Story
Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 168, Gale, 2012. Literature Criticism
Online,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/XCDRET806190518/LCO?u=viva2_nvcc&sid=LCO
&xid=67c288e8. Accessed 30 Apr. 2019. Originally published in Hemingway Review,
vol. 15, no. 1, 1995, pp. 27-41.
Jessica Naula.
Professor Kate O’Leary.
ENG 112 – 547 N
March 30, 2019
Literature Analysis-Good People.
Today social media is pushing people to be involved in a persistent social interaction.
Have people notice that in social media everyone wants to be seen as a good person? Is not hard
to find someone on Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat posting about their daily little contribution
to the environment, animal welfare, women’s rights, abortion or any kind of thing labeled as
good. People are continuously talking about their good actions related with religion, culture, or
beliefs. People like to speak aloud letting others know that they are doing something good and as
a result they had become good human beings. The truth is that good people will never announce
that they are good people. They just let they actions speak for themselves. That is exactly what
the reader will find in the short story, Good People, written by David Foster Wallace.
In this peculiar fiction short story, the reader may find a controversial information
regarding religion beliefs and morality. This story talks about two religious youngest, Lane A.
Dean, Jr. and his girlfriend, Sheri Fisher. At the beginning of the story, it provides information
about where they exactly are, as the reader can see in these lines.
“They were up on a picnic table at that park by the lake, by the edge of the lake, with part
of the downed tree in the shallows half hidden by the bank. Lane A. Dean, Jr., and his
girlfriend, both in bluejeans and button-up shirts. They sat up on the table’s top portion
and had their shoes on the bench part that people sat on to picnic or fellowship together in
carefree times.” (Wallace 1)
Here the reader can realize that this scenario is happening during the spring time. The important
point in this short story is that these two young Christians are struggling with an unplanned
pregnancy. Lane and Sheri are two young students from campus ministries. This is a religious
college. Both of them seems to be good people and have a strong religious and moral beliefs.
These beliefs are being questionable due to this unwanted pregnancy. Both of them are thinking
about having an abortion something that could not been seen as a good decision into their
community.
The story of Lane and Sheri shows the duality of human nature. According to their
religion they are not supposed to have sex before married. When they have to face the
pregnancy, they feel much morally conflicted, so they could not decide if they should have the
baby or stop the pregnancy. Through the whole story the reader can see that Lane is not satisfied
whit his thoughts. He feels guilty because he wants to stop the pregnancy even when he perfectly
knows that this will be a wrong decision that will interfere with his strong commitment to God.
The reader can see that Sheri is a religious person too, but she is apparently more secure
than Lane. She knows what she wants. It is important to mention that she is one year older than
Lane so she is apparently more mature. At the end of the story, Sheri decides to have the baby
and she does not expect nothing from him. She thinks that having the baby is a form to show the
true love and her worship to God. This decision makes Lane think that he is not that much
serious with his faith. However, he has a good heart and he wants to be a good people. He just
need to find the courage to be honest about his beliefs and tells Sheri what he wants.
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