'Life and Hills like White Elephants Essay\r'

'The life invoice of Ernest Hemingway can be approximately described as turbulent as he previously led a tumultuous social life and has had a complicated marital relationship (Raeburn, p. 207). Although he has won for himself numerous awards in literature, the life of Hemingway remained blemished by his multiple relationships as well as the physical and affable difficulties he suffered from (Donaldson, p. 691). He was also treated in a mental infirmary and received medical attention for utter(a) depression.\r\nIn the stop over, Hemingway committed suicide by tripping the trigger of his double set shotgun which immediately took away his life. The own(prenominal) experiences of Ernest Hemingway have largely contributed to some of his study literary plant. For example, For Whom the Bell Tolls echoes that of a not-so-distant memory of Hemingway, specifically the date when he had to sectionalization shipway from his home in couch to fulfill his job, boarding and leaving wi th the domesticate while his father watched the train leave in the distance (Reynolds, p. 600).\r\nIn his A F arwell to Arms, Hemingway appears to relieve his previous experiences as an ambulance driver, a member of the personnel for the canteen duties which meant distributing food for the soldiers in the battlefield, and a transient affaire with a cleaning lady named Agnes von Kurowsky during the starting line World War. All these things and a cumulation more indicate the presumption that the works of Hemingway atomic number 18 largely influenced by his experiences. And this active the likes ofly holds true to his misfortunate fable â€Å"Hills like vacuous Elephants”.\r\nAs the tosh revolves around two charactersâ€an unnamed American and a woman named gigueâ€Hemingway appears to work the Iceberg Theory by report just a little nigh the explicit messages and allowing the commentator to divulge with what is indirectly written in the story. Thus, a ent ire reading of â€Å"Hills like gaberdine Elephants” forget lead the reader to the understanding that at that place is more than what meets the eyes. Apparently, the light story is ab proscribed an American and Jig where the American appears to coax the woman to commit abortion.\r\nPerhaps the indigenous reason why the American is persuading the woman to abort the claw is beca drop the man is panicked to lose the liberty or freedom from an imminent parental responsibility. In a sense, the ‘ babe’ whom the man wants to be aborted is kindred to a ‘ snow-covered elephant’, at least(prenominal) in the understanding of the American. White elephants are considered to be sacred and symbolize judge in Southeast Asian monarchies although on the other hand these elephants come with a costly price in m one(a)tary value of its up hold on (Martin).\r\nHence, white elephants are considered to be either a blessing or a depone, or even some(prenomina l). The ‘child’, like white elephants, is seen by Jig as a blessing whereas the child is seen by the American as a burden or a ‘curse’. â€Å"Hills like White Elephants” can be interpreted in many ways as resembling the life, or a satisfying fraction thereof, of Hemingway’s life. In mettle, the short story is reminiscent of the destructive situations go about by couples with marital bonds, specifically the hostile decisions macrocosm pushed through by both sides.\r\nThis, too, is reminiscent of the multiple relationships Hemingway had in the last(prenominal) wherein he was involved in much(prenominal) numerous affairs while macrocosm married. For instance, Hemingway’s marital relationship with Elizabeth Hadley Richardson came to an end wherein Elizabeth divorced Hemingway later discovering his affair with Pauline Pfeiffer. A short time after his divorce with Elizabeth, Hemingway married Pauline. Prior to the time when his short story â€Å"Hills like White Elephants” was first published in 1927, Hemingway already had two wives, with the first wife divorced.\r\n scarcely when prior to the divorce, as Elizabeth found out about Hemingway’s affair, she decided to class him to stay away from Pauline for hexad months. Only after that time if he knew he was still in manage with Pauline will Elizabeth give Hemingway a divorce. That very instance where Hemingway had to decide for himself the matter of his marriage with Elizabeth and his affair with Pauline reminds us of the essence of â€Å"Hills like White Elephants”.\r\nFor the some part, whether or not Hemingway will keep his marriage with Elizabeth mustiness have depended on his comprehension of it as either a burden or a blessing. The same most likely holds true to his affair with Pauline. The delicate situation wherein Hemingway had to consider whether one of his relationships is a burden or a blessing is quite synonymous to the e ssence of the situation faced by the American and Jig in Hemingway’s short story.\r\nThe analogy tells us that, far from being a mere mental construct, â€Å"Hills like White Elephants” is a short story that strongly reflects the perception of the author. Since Hemingway is keen to use the Iceberg Theory where what the reader is only able to immediately absorb are the explicit contents of the story (Halliday, p. 1), it must have been the case that â€Å"Hills like White Elephants” functions like a window where the reader can take a encompassing(prenominal) look at the life of Ernest Hemingway.\r\n whole caboodle Cited\r\nDonaldson, S. (1982). The Wooing of Ernest Hemingway. American Literature, 53(4), 691. Halliday, E. M. (1956). Hemingway’s equivocalness: Symbolism and Irony. American Literature, 28(1), 1. Martin, G. (1996). A white elephant. Retrieved October 23, 2007, from http://www. phrases. org. uk/meanings/410050. html Raeburn, J. (1989). Skirting the Hemingway Legend. American literary History, 1(1), 207. Reynolds, M. S. (1985). Hemingway’s Home: Depression and Suicide. American Literature, 57(4), 600.\r\n'