Hasimi's Interpretation of Hills Like White Elephants Essay

In "Hills Like White Elephants: The Jilting Of Jig" Nilofer Hashmi looks at the many different levels of symbolism, the role of the main characters, and the possible outcomes of the story. Hemingway is a great master of symbolism and "Hills Like White Elephants" was not an exception. That is why Hashmi uses the words of other scholars to support his argument. Lanier states, "everything in the story contributes in some way to the meaning" (Hashmi 74). Hashmi continues to look into the symbolism of the title; she also believes that understanding the title will help understand the real meaning of the story. Hashmi also takes a closer look to the characters. She focuses on the supreme role of American and his power over the Jig by analyzing their dialogues. Hashmi comes to conclusion that the right approach to understanding this short story is by taking every object, dialogue, and action as a symbolization of the deeper meaning of the story.

Hashmi begins her article by listing the possible outcomes of the story that were considered by scholars: 1. "Jig will have an abortion and stay with the American 2. Jig will have an abortion and leave the American 3. Jig will not have an abortion and in doing so will have won the American to her point of view" (Hashmi 72). And then, she introduces us to the other scholarly interpretation that Hashmi most likely to agree: the girl will indeed have the abortion. Expecting this way to stay with the man, but after the operation has been performed, he will abandon her (Hashmi 72).

Hashmi tries to define the meaning behind the use of the title "Hills Like White Elephants." For Hashmi the hills "appear to symbolize the glimmering hope, remote yet real like the hills themselves, that her sexual relationship with the man might change the solid relationship of family and permanence" (Hashmi 75). Other scholars in their search for an explanation of the title went in different directions, such as the suggestive appearance and color by Abdoo; Kozkowski suggested the subtext of an unwanted gift in the title; while DeFalco presents a contradictive idea of an an annoyingly useless gift and a possession of a great value. Paul Smith representation of the white hills is "the dream of a family"; in the other hand they could also represent the "harsh stifling of the dream, manifested by the American's cold response" (Hashmi 75).

Hashmis article overall has a very good argument. Hashimi makes her argument stronger and less doubtful by introducing other three argument and possible flaws within them. Her argument is also very strong because Hashmi uses credible sources like other Academic scholars. In the article the symbolism is one of the main focuses and Hashmi succeeds in providing evidence of the symbolization of the objects, dialogues, and actions.

However, in the beginning of the article Hashmi's focus is vague and unclear. She very often turns to other critiques quotes rather than use her own ideas and words to introduce us to the main argument. She does not develop an original idea or interpretation of the story until the end where she gets to the point of the final scene. Here, Hashmi introduces a fairly new way of interpreting the hills, the smile of the girl, the train. Once she starts a closer analysis of the story it is easier to follow her and her argument makes sense. Hashmi article on the Hills like White Elephants is written in a very simple easy-to-understand language, which also echoes the simple language in which Hemingway wrote his short stories and novels. In my opinion, it is a good way to broaden the audience for whom this article is addressed.

Hashmi in the beginning of her article introduces us to four possible outcomes of the story. She expands all of them with the exception of the one where the girl decides to go through with abortion and then American stays with her. She brushes through it in her article instead of going all the way to the end and explaining how this situation is possible, and what symbols in the text can support this point of view. This makes her argument weaker because she introduces an audience with the information that is not supported other then that other scholars previously suggested it. The other weak point in her argument is that she doesnt fully goes along with her thesis. Her thesis, in my opinion, leaves an impression that the argument will be about the mans future actions. However, Hashmi focuses more on a girl. The final passage of the article also does not support her thesis.

Hashmi takes a symbolic approach to fully understand Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants. She takes a very close look to all the actions, dialogues, and objects, and mostly succeeds in supporting her argument about what was a greater theme of the story. Hashmi proves her point of view through symbols still leaving some space for other interpretations of the story.