49 pages • 1 hour read
Ernest HemingwayA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Hemingway is one of the first and foremost Western authors to utilize the minimalist style, which involves paring a narrative back to its most spare iteration, in terms of not only language but also narrative focus. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” minimalism is clear in the direct dialogue with very few dialogue tags, and in the economical narrative description. It is also clear in the narrow focus of the story, which centers on one conversation, takes place in one setting, and over a very short period—and the reader is given very little information about the characters’ pasts or their relationship. Due to the story’s painstakingly restrained portrayal and expression, the reader must consider every word carefully, and every element becomes fraught with meaning.
Although this story is very minimal stylistically, symbols abound in this short piece. The very setting—with the juxtaposition between the barren, dry side of the station and the fertile fields and river across the tracks—highlights the characters’ current lifestyle and its contrasts with the more fertile possibilities that Jig can see across the tracks. When coupled with minimalism,
By Ernest Hemingway
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Ernest Hemingway
Across the River and into the Trees
Ernest Hemingway
A Day's Wait
Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway
A Very Short Story
Ernest Hemingway
Big Two-Hearted River
Ernest Hemingway
Cat in the Rain
Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
In Another Country
Ernest Hemingway
Indian Camp
Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time
Ernest Hemingway
Old Man at the Bridge
Ernest Hemingway
Soldier's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Solider's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Ten Indians
Ernest Hemingway
The Garden of Eden
Ernest Hemingway
The Killers
Ernest Hemingway
The Nick Adams Stories
Ernest Hemingway