Hills Like White Elephants Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

In "What’s Up with the Title?" we break down the literal meaning of the components of what is for many the story’s key symbol – the "hills like white elephants." In "Setting" we t...

This symbol is overshadowed by the hills and elephants, but the bamboo curtain is still powerful. It sets us up to think about boundaries, thresholds, and separations – all the issues the cou...

These are symbols of bodies in motion, of travel and maybe even transience. Since the man and Jig's suitcases have stickers that give a record of their travels, the luggage can be seen as a map of...

As we note in our discussion of "Setting," some critics and readers resist or reject the symbolic approach to this story. All this talk of symbolism can seem overly fancy, at odds with the clean, s...