The main lines of analysis will be followed in discussing E.

Hemingways Hills like

White Elephants. It is a story about a couple who are having some problems in their
relationship. The main characters in the story are an American man and girl. The whole story is
largely a dialogue between the couple. The story does not give much information about the
characters
Hills like White Elephants is a short story in which the action follows a single
storyline. The action takes place in one place and on a single day.
Hemingway wrote the story in third person point of view that limits the narration to what
the characters say and do.
The hills across the across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there
was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. close against
the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings
of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies.
a) LEXIS
From the beginning of the story we can notice that Hemingway chooses to use a foreign
language. The author uses Spanish language to help construct his story. The American says into
the curtain dos cervezas which means two beers. Taking this into consideration we can say
that Hemingway incorporates the Spanish language into his writing to make it more effective.
The author also succeeds to give more credibility to the story by the use of this noun phrase. In
this way the readers are sure that the setting of the story is in Spain.
b) GRAMMAR
Hemingway opens the story with the description of the place using nouns modified by
definite article. By doing so, the author suggests that the setting is familiar for the narrator. This
paragraph contain the cataphoric reference since the use of the implies known or given noun and
there are no preceding sentences showing the first appearance of the word, so it points readers
attention forward in the text.
The story starts with the description of the station. The mental picture of it is build up by
Hemingways notably nominal style. In the sentences outside the quotation marks, we can notice
Hemingways requirement for nouns, adjectives, even static verbs to create the scenery which is
symbolic in nature.

Personal Pronouns
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In Hemingways short story Hills like White Elephants first person singular pronoun is
used frequently. The whole story is mostly a conversation between the American and Jig. Their
dialogue is the centre of the story. The sentences are usually short and for this reason the
dialogue does not give us much information about the situation. Since the dialogue is the centre
of the story the use of the pronouns I and you are implied. This means I points to the person who
is speaking and you to the person who is listening as in the following example, the American is
speaking and the girl is listening:
Ill go with you and Ill stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then its
all perfectly natural.
The first person pronoun is the most frequent in the text because the discourse is speakeroriented.
The story Hills like White Elephants is told through the dialogue between the
characters and this makes it difficult to distinguish which of the two characters are actually
speaking at a time:
If I do it you wont ever worry?
I wont worry about that because is perfectly simple.
Then Ill do it, because I dont care about me.
What do you mean?
I dont care about me.
Well I care about you.
Oh, yes. But I dont care about me. And Ill do it and then everything will be fine.
I dont want you to do it if you feel that way.
In the above dialogue there is lack of identification and it is difficult for us to distinguish
the lines that are spoken by different characters. The pronouns I and you do not have gender
division.
The woman brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the
beer glass on the table and looked at the man and the girl.
This example show typical anaphoric reference. Here the referent the woman presents
the new information and the referring item she passed this information.

The non-human third person singular pronoun it is different from the other personal
pronouns because it can refer to any identifiable part of the text not only to a person or an object.
It can refer to something in particular. For example: Anis del Toro. Its a drink.

Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives

The demonstrative this does not appear very often in the story but it is relevant to the
cohesion. The following example shows the demonstrative functioning as a Head.
And we could have all this, she said. And we could have everything and every day we
make it more impossible.
This sentence does not have a noun phrase and here this might be referring to the baby or
the family because it seems that is what is bothering the main characters. Apart from this there
are any other examples in the story in which this functions as a Modifier.
The hills across the across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there
was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun.
It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped
at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid.
I wanted to try this new drink.
In these examples we can notice how this creates the cohesive ties with the noun phrase
that it refers to and its meaning is the same with the noun phrase. This does not carry new
information although it belongs to the noun phrase as this side, this junction, this new drink. This
warns the reader to look for more detailed information. For example, in order to know what this
side refers to it is necessary to look back in the previous sentence to make sure that the hills are
the ones described.
The following examples will show that the modifier that is more used than this. In this
story that is used as a modifying element of the noun.
I dont want you to do it if you feel that way.
The demonstrative that does not give any extra information but it helps us to emphasize
and distinguish from the other, for example that way (that particular way.)
Time deixis is indicated by the adverbs now and then which refer to the time. Now it is
used mainly in dialogues and it indicates the time of the utterance:
Would you do something for me now?

In the following example then has an anaphoric value because it refers to the
immediately preceding sentence or part of the text. Here then points to the future. It says that
after the operation the things will be better.
I know. But if I do it then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants,
and youll like it?
c) TEXTUAL COHESION AND COHERENCE
But it can also refer to a text. For example: Yes, said the girl. Everything tastes of
liquorice. Especially, all the things youve waited so long for, like absinthe. Oh, cut it out. In
this example it refers to all the things youve waited so long for. It refers here to some kind of
things that the girl was wishing for and the American says to forget about it.
In this story the pronoun it is used quite frequently. The conversation between the main
characters is ambiguous, since there any direct information is revealed. Only after we read the
story we can understand its meaning. In this story simple sentences refer to something else:
Ill go with you. And Ill stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then
its all perfect natural. Here it refers to abortion. But there is no use of this word in
the story because it was mention as simple operation.
No, we cant. It isnt ours anymore.
Its ours.
No, it isnt. And once they take it away, you never get it back. This is another
example which illustrates the ambiguity of the story. Only after the reader analyzes
the story it becomes clear the third person pronoun it in this extract refers to a baby.
What should we drink? the girl asked.
This following example shows us the reference between the pronoun it and the noun
operation. It refers to an operation and even if this reference seems to be clear at first but this
item seems to refer to an abortion and for this there is no actual mentioning, but it can be
assumed.
Its really an awfully simple operation, Jig, the man said. Its not really an operation at
all.
We can deduce that the referring item it was used in order to create intrigue, because it
does not show clearance. Being a non-human third person pronoun it can refer to things or
situations and it gives wider options for the referents.

The most obvious means of highlighting in this story is the repetition of sentences and
lexical items. For instance, the phrase like white elephants occurs five times in the text. The
title describes the hill like white elephants instead of hills (that look) like white elephants. This
particular choice leaves the comparison based upon value rather than appearance.
The significant feature of the patterns within the quotation marks is the deictic with
cohesive function.
Repetitions
The stylistician M.A.K. Halliday observes that motivated prominence is frequently
generated by the repetitions of words, clauses, and groups of related words and lexical sets.
(Halliday, 1973, page 112).
The most obvious way of highlighting in Hills like White Elephants is the repetition of
sentences and lexical items. For example the phrase like white elephants occurs five time in the
story. The title describes the hills as being like white elephants instead of hills (that look) like
white elephants. This particular choice leaves the comparison based upon value rather than
appearance. Jig even qualifies the description by stating that the hills dont really look like them
except through the trees. This instance creates significance by establishing a pattern and the
deviating from it. This can be seen in the final repetition of like white elephants which breaks the
established pattern by changing the comparisons focus from hill to a highly general noun:
things: But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants.
As far as lexical repetition is concerned, one instance is obvious: Would you please
please please please please please please stop talking? This seems to be a command. However,
it is made optative, it asks, rather than demands, by its modal use of the modal verb would and
the repetition of please. By the use of these words it is emphasized both the urgency of the
request and its lack of power.
d) FIGURES OF SPEECH
The whole story is full of ironic twists. When the girl tastes the Anis del Toro and say that
it tastes like licorice then says that Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things youve
waited so long for: like absinthe. That is ironic because Anis means licorice and licorice is the
main flavor of absinthe. The title of the story Hills like White Elephants is ironic, because a
white elephant is a term used for something that comes between two people an/or for something
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that you do not really want, but have to accept. The baby is a white elephant that the American
does not want.
The name of the boy Jig develops the central conflict of the story. The name suggests a
dance, the music for the dance and a joke for instance, and this meaning exposes the mans
ultimately egoistic attitude toward the girl. However, Jigs has a number of associations with
mechanical devices