For class we recently read "Hills Like White Elephants" (HLWE) by Hemingway, I have to say this was probably my favorite reading to have done for class so far. I really liked this story and its hard for me to be able to pin point exactly why I did. A lot of it I believe has to do with the fact that it was written in a very unconventional way as well the fact that there was so much symbolism in it that all connected back to the never stated discussion of an abortion.
Hemingway was able to craft a magnificently simple yet powerful story with HLWE. In most works of literature there is a lot more description and set up to the story, the text is usually filled with narration, Hemingway, however, choose to go in the opposite direction of that. He instead used manly dialogue, with very little description, to tell the story. I as surprised by how effective this turned out to be as I had originally thought that with the story being told this way I would have felt like I was missing important parts of the story. This was not the case at all, instead I felt the meaning was deepened because of how I was forced to focus on how the couple interacting with one another. Hemingway challenged the conventional format for short stories, took a risk, and it paid off extremely well. I really enjoyed how this story was told.
Usually in most stories, I feel like the abundant use of symbols gets annoying and over used quickly. I HLWE, I felt the complete opposite. The story focuses on a major issue between the couple, one that is never named out loud. Yet, the numerous phrases and context clues that point to it make it unmistakable upon a close reading. I thought Hemingway employed the use of symbols in a new way, allowing them to all intertwine perfectly giving the story a tighter connection and more meaning, something that pleasantly surprised me.
This was the first story or piece of literature that I had ever read by Hemingway and I really like it, I plan to attempt to read more by him in the future.
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