Transcript Hills Like White Elephants

Hills Like
White
Elephants
Dr. Peih-ying Lu
Apr. 8th, 2012
 Pre-reading questions
1. What’s the issue the American man and
the girl are arguing about?
2. When do the characters mention the topic
of their conflict?
3. Why does it take so long for the subject to
be brought up? Are the characters thinking
about it before it’s actually mentioned?
Pre-reading questions
 4. How does the title relate to the
story?
 5. What type of operation is it? Why
is the operation not referred to be
name?
The Story is developed through _____.
The dialogue reveals to the reader that
there is a definite conflict between the
two main characters, but it does not
reveal the exact nature of the conflict:
the topic of conversation is never
explicitly identified.
The man’s Perspective
The procedure is “awfully simple” and
that she “won’t really mind it… it’s not
really an operation at all… it’s all
perfectly natural.”
The man enjoys their lifestyle and
wants it to continue. He pressures Jig
to have an abortion so they can be
“just like [they] before” she become
pregnant. He knows that Jig is
reluctant to have the abortion, and he
assumes she is concerned about the
operation itself.
Abortion was not legalized in Spain
until 1985, and illegal abortions were
neither safe nor painless.
Why is she afraid of having the
abortion?
Because she wants the child (perhaps
one of the things that “[she has]
waited so long for ”) and because she
knows that “once they take it away,
you never get it back.” Despite her
desire to have the child and her belief
that “[they] could get along.”
Railway
The railway station where they are waiting
is between two lines of rails at a junction, a
place where different rail lines meet and
converge. The rail lines on each side of the
station lead in different directions. The
options from which Jig must choose-bring
her pregnancy to an end or to term- lead to
drastically different futures.
The station is situated in the middle of a
valley: on one side of station, the valley is
hot and sunny, and “the country [is] brown
and dry”; on the other side, the land is
fertile and inviting, Jig is drawn to the fertile
side of the valley, repeatedly looking at it
and eventually moving towards it:
In –Class Discussion
1. Compare and contrast Jig’s reasons for
and against the operation with the
American’s reasons for and against it.
2. Will the couple’s relationship survive?
3. Does Jig have the operation?
4. Characterize the American and Jig, as
individuals and as a couple.
5. Compare the importance setting between
“Hills Like White Elephants” and “The
Lottery”.
6. Explain iceberg theory.
7. What do you think the man’s strategy is to
persuade the girl?
8. To Jig, the setting becomes symbolic of
the decision she must make. Explain the
symbolism.