Contrast Of The Other Side example essay topic

In Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", nature, darkness, and lightness are all strong symbols. The story is set in northern Spain at a train station near the Ebro river. We learn about the natural qualities of "this side" (757), or the side where the train station lies, versus "the other side" (760) of the valley. "The girl", as the main character is referred to as, is much like the valley of the Ebro - caught between "this side" and "the other side"; life and death. The girl and "the American" (757), her lover, sit waiting for a train on "this side" of the valley. They discuss, semi-heatedly, whether the girl will abort her recently discovered pregnancy.

As he tries to persuade her to do so, they " [sit] at a table in the shade" (757). This dark description coincides with the rest of "this side" of the valley. There are "no trees" (757) and the country is "brown and dry" (758). This parched land seems very infertile; no vegetation grows, and it sounds unpleasant.

It is appropriate that they discuss this issue in the infertile land, in the shade - the darkness represents what seems evil and unhappy to the girl. There is no life on the side they " re on, and the girl can't help but gravitate toward the other side. On the other side, the girl sees that are "fields of grain and trees" (760). She walks over to the opposite side of the station and sees that "far away... [are] mountains" (760). Such life is on the other side, such fertile land, such possibilities. She realizes what all this means when she " [sees] the river through the trees" (760) - she now understands the benefits of the other option.

"And we could have all this" (760) are her words of hope. Most importantly, on the other side lie the "long and white" (757) hills, which represent pregnancy. But as she turns away from all of this to rejoin her lover in the shadows, she loses hope. "No, we can't" (760), she replies when he encourages her by saying "we can have everything" (760) in agreement with her previous statement. The pessimism that she now shows after having seen the contrast of the other side to the one she's on, or of her two choices, prompts her lover to bid her to "come back in the shade" (760), before she gets any ideas over in the light. She sits back down and looks back across at "the dry side of the valley" (760).

The girl has a very hard decision to make. On one side she sees a future of brightness and happiness with her child. On the other is her present lifestyle, one of carefree traveling, her lover, her freedom. The imagery in the story suggests which choice is better for her - where she is now has become dry, dark, and old, but her new life on "the other side" looks promising, and could be glorious. We can never know which choice she makes; we can only know that she, like the valley of the Ebro, is trapped between "this side" and "the other". The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction.