Hills Like White Elephants - Essay Example

However, the valley’s other side is the opposite. It is sterile, barren, bleak, and a desert landscape that has no life or animation present (Hemingway 12). This side of the valley is representative of abortion and its unwanted and deadly consequences. It is also, perhaps, symbolic of the meaningless and empty nature of the earlier relationships between the couple. In the story, it is as if the author takes the two characters and places them in a landscape, which seems to exemplify the decisions they will have to make, as well as, the major differences that stand between the two of them as individuals.

The author deftly and subtly utilizes more than one aspect of the setting in the story to show significant things about what it means, which, in this case, is the valley and its two contrasting sides.