What does the train symbolize in Hills Like White Elephants?

What does the train symbolize in Hills Like White Elephants?

Symbolically, the train represents girls choice. Like the coming of the train, if she decides to abort the baby, there is no turning back. As the man takes both of their bags over to the tracks, he is hoping that Jig will go through with the surgery.

What are some symbols in Hills Like White Elephants?

Hills Like White Elephants Symbols

• Barren/Fertile Land. As the story opens, we are introduced first and foremost to the setting’s barren landscape, which is described as “brown and dry,” with “no shade” and “no trees.” Yet while the story feels as though…
• Light.
• Alcohol.
• The Train Station.

Where does the train go in Hills Like White Elephants ‘?

“Hills Like White Elephants” is set in Spain. An American man and a girl are sitting at an outdoor café in a Spanish train station, waiting for a fast, non-stop train coming from Barcelona that will take them to Madrid, where the girl will have an abortion.

What does train station symbolize?

The Train Station Symbol Analysis In literature, crossroads often represent a situation in which a character needs to make a crucial decision—just as the character must choose a physical path, they must symbolically choose a life path.

What does Hill’s symbolize?

Hills carry their own significance least of which is the concept of higher and lower levels of land – the latter can contain swamps, people, darkness, fields, heat, unpleasantness, life whilst the former can suggest isolation, life, death, thin air, purity, clear views to name a few.

What is the symbolic significance of the hills?

In “Hills Like White Elephants,” the hills are symbolic of the relationship between the couple as well as the couple’s unborn child.

What does a train horn symbolize?

A train whistle or air whistle (originally referred to as a steam trumpet) is an audible signaling device on a steam locomotive, used to warn that the train is approaching, and to communicate with rail workers. Hence a means of warning others of the approach of a train from a distance is necessary.

What is compared with white elephants in Hills Like White Elephants ‘?

Thus, it is significant that in “Hills Like White Elephants,” Jig envisions the hills, like a pregnant womb, as white elephants. For, it is this pregnancy of Jig that causes the rift between her and her American boyfriend, who perceives the pregnancy as an inconvenience and impediment to their carefree lifestyle.

What does white elephant represent?

The white elephant—which was more often than not stricken with albinism, and thus more a ruddy-pink color—was, and remains to this day, a symbol of success. To possess a white elephant connoted political power, wealth and prosperity, great wisdom, and the love of one’s people.

What is the symbolism of white elephants?

What does a train represent?

Alternatively, a train means that one may be very methodical. One needs to lay things out specifically and do things in an orderly and sequential manner. In particular, if one dreams about a freight train, then it refers to the burdens and problems that one may be hauling around. It is also symbolic of manual labor.

What horns symbolize?

Horns are an animal’s weapon, so it follows that as a symbol they function as representing strength and aggressiveness. Horns represent salvation and immortality as well, as the horn is extremely durable. Notions of protection and asylum are carried with the horn, and it also means the beginning to Egyptians and Jung.