Essay About Human Transition Of Character And Thematic Meaning

Hills Like White Elephants
Essay Preview: Hills Like White Elephants
Report this essay
Short Story Exam 1
In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway explores the
human transition of character from following to leading, depicting how lifes situations
bring about a change in the way one makes decisions in life. Hemingway develops the
thematic meaning through the two main characters, the man and the girl, in the setting,
and in the use of symbolism.
Thematic meaning begins to unfold through the two main characters. The first
character is the girl. The girl is a quite selfish immature follower. She is a young woman
who thinks she is in love. The girl desires a father figure in her life. She wants the love
and attention she never received from her own father. She lets the man lead her and
become this figure that she desires to have. Carelessly being coaxed into a sexual
relationship, she gets pregnant. Being a follower, she tends to listen to the man and
allows him to make desions for them both. Her character begins to change towards the
end of the story. She now realizes that, like her father not wanting her, the man doesnt
want the baby. Her immature selfishness begins to fade as she realizes how her mother
must have felt. It wasnt all about her and how she felt, but about her mother too. As she
begins to understand why she is with this man, she now realizes the decision she has to
make. She must stand up for what is right. She must become the leader. She has to, she
must, let this baby live! Her character changed from immature to mature, from selfish to
unselfish, and from a follower to a leader. With her mind made up, she smiles at the man
and tells him, “I feel fine.”
The second character, the man also helps to build on the thematic meaning. He is
an immature persuasive leader. He also has a made up mind about what they should both
do with the baby. They should have an abortion. His immaturity has obviously got him in
trouble. He is an older man who is so concerned with not becoming old that he has
forgotten what love really is. The man dates younger women in search of the youth that
he has lost. He is a smooth talker and a very persuasive individual. He persuades this
young girl to leave her mother and run away with him. She made him feel good about
himself. She looked up to him. She needed him. He was her leader, but how was he going
to lead her and the baby? He knew nothing about babies. He felt his security blanket
being torn from beneath him. He would no longer be more experienced than her. Her
baby would now come first. Father was a word for an old man! He couldnt let this
happen. In panic he suggests an abortion. He wants things to be the way they were. The
mans character is in the transition from being a leader to becoming a follower. He is torn
between the desire to be youthful and facing the facts. His character is more complicated
and complex. He sees her desire to have the baby and the desire to make him happy.
After an argument the man excuses himself from the girl to carry the luggage to the other
side of the tracks in hopes to clear his confused mind. On his way back, still not decided
on what he should do, stops to get a beer at a barroom. The man looks around as he is
drinking and watches the happy families waiting on their train. He has never had a
family. He probably will never have one. It then hits him. He could have a family. He
didnt have to keep up this game of chasing his youth. He had someone who loved him
and still would need him, maybe not as much, but the baby would need him. “He went
through the bead curtain,” to where the girl was. She smiles at him as he comes to her
“Do you feel better?” he asked. His character has now transformed from the immature to
the mature, from the persuader to the listener, from the leader to the follower.