Hills Like White Elephants

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. In literary theory, agency is the ability of a character to take action, make decisions, and affect the outcomes of their own lives. In this way, the character shapes the outcome of the text.

• How is Jig characterized as having agency? (topic sentence)
• Describe one moment from the text that suggests that Jig is powerless, then choose two other situations that suggest she does indeed have agency. Support your response with text evidence.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, briefly summarize the conflict Jig is engaged in. What does this conflict suggest about her power as a woman in this situation?

2. The American’s attempts to persuade Jig and her response to these attempts tell us a great deal about each character.

• How does Jig respond to each attempt? (topic sentence)
• Identify two or three strategies the American uses to persuade Jig to have the operation. How does Jig respond each time? What does this suggest about the American’s character? Jig’s character?
• In your concluding sentence or sentences reestablish the differing perspectives the American and Jig have toward their Differing Perspectives on Loss.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. In Western society, a “white elephant” is a euphemism for an unwanted and burdensome gift. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Jig repeats this phrase 4 times—first in line 9, then again in lines 30, 35, and 59.

How does her perception of the “white elephant” she has been “given” change over the course of the short story? What does her shifting attitude suggest about her agency as a woman in the 1920s? How does Jig’s character exemplify one or more of the following themes: Crossroads and Existential Crisis, Differing Perspectives on Loss, and/or Detachment Versus Engagement? As you compose your essay, incorporate at least three quoted lines or phrases from the short story that support your claims. Cite your quotations with paragraph numbers.

2. Part of Hemingway’s minimalist style of writing centered around his “iceberg theory,” or the idea that the reader will not be able to see most of the story and will have to infer the unseen drama based on the few details available to them. What must readers infer indirectly about the American? Jig? Their relationship? How does this “filling in the details” impact the reader’s perceptions of the characters? Does this make the read more captivating? As you compose your essay, incorporate at least three lines or phrases from the short story that strengthen your discussion. Cite your quotations with paragraph numbers.