Failure of Communication in Earnest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”

Abstract

 “Hills Like White Elephants”, one of Earnest Hemingway’s short stories included in the short story collection Men Without Women, displays a different aspect of this assumed male chauvinist author. As to whether he really advocated male chauvinist attitudes there are certain disagreements among the critics, but regarding this specific short story they generally agree on the fact that he sides with Jig, i.e. the female character of “Hills Like White Elephants”. It is one of the few short stories of Hemingway in which a female character is assigned the role of the protagonist. In this story, we are led through a young couple’s argument; an argument with no definite resolution. Apparently there is something “wrong” with one of them or their relationship; the argument & counter-argument set them to two parties. As a rule, it is the stronger party that turns the outcome of the argument to their advantage and usually leaves the weak party with “nothing”. But who is the strong party here? This paper intends to study the failure in communication in Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”.