Everything is Wrong While Nothing is Wrong

中图分类号：T96 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-914X（2015）46-0349-01

Being one of the representatives of the Lost Generation， Earnest Hemingway， the Nobel Prize winner for literature， stood out as one of the best writers in the contemporary American literature. His works in the short story genre have always been considered equal or better than his achievements in novels. His short stories are characterized by direct description， dialogues and a minimum of the commentary and interpretation from the narrator， which showed Hemingway’s telegraphic style and his famous “iceberg theory.”

Hills Like White Elephants is one of his short stories. It tells what happened between the American and the girl at a train station. While waiting for the train， the two sat in a bar， drinking， talking and looking at the hills like white elephants. They talked about the drinks， the hills and the “operation”， which to the American is “the only thing” that’s made them unhappy. To the American， the baby which the girl carried in her body， an unwanted being， had been worrying him and if she had it “taken away” they “will be all right and happy.” To the girl， she was unwilling to “do it”， for she “knew things.” The station was situated in a valley where the hills across it looked like white elephants. The woman commented on the hills twice： the first time about them similar to white elephants and the second time saying “They don’t really look like elephants.” The reader must know in idiomatic English “white elephants” symbolize things beautiful but useless. To the girl， the baby in her body is like a white elephant（beautiful but useless）， and in the meantime， not necessarily so（they could have everything）. When she said， “They’re lovely hills，” she meant she could have the baby， although against the American’s wishes.

Reading through the story， the reader was filled with questions such as： Why did the American and the girl keep talking about the drinks？ Why did the American want the girl to “do it” when she didn’t？ Why at last did they smile to each other when nothing is solved？

At the beset of the story， there was a description of the hot weather and the surrounding， through which a general mood was in place， depressive， miserable and intolerable. There was little information about the protagonists， no names， or social and educational background of the two. The deliberate ignorance of this aspect can be explained in view of the post-war society where the old morality and traditional values were no longer held as sacred among the people whose life was in chaos due to the destruction brought about by the war. People in this society had no purpose in life and they became rootless. Here the American and the girl are such people， being cut off from the society.

The story is unfolded in the conversations between the two with their subjects on drinks， hills and the “operation”， contrary to the romantic ones between lovers in normal times. It seems that everything is wrong. The reader thinks the American should feel happy， excited at the news of the baby. It seems impossible and unreal for a father to be willing to have his baby “taken away.” He said， “I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anything else.” The reader will feel the American doesn’t want the baby， nor the girl. His estrangement from feeling is not the consequence of any wounds in the war or misanthrope， but of a deep-rooted sense of loss. The American is lost， so is the girl. The labels on their bags（“There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.” reflect the nature of their life： meaningless， purposeless and rootless. What is the meaning to bring a new life to the already meaningless life？

The story ended in reconciliation. --“Do you feel better？” C“I feel fine.” The phatic dialogue between the two shows that both of them have given up the quarrel to restore themselves to the reality. No matter what comes their way， they will go on living as usual. The spiritual crisis reached its peak with the two going about their unsolved entangled life.

Bibliography

1. Hemingway Ernest， Hills Like White Elephants

2. Wikipedia， “Lost Generation”

3. 百度百科， “欧内斯特・米勒尔・海明威”