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  • Essay / Comparison and Contrast of “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Nightingale and the Rose”

    My main idea is to compare and contrast the following three literary elements: the settings, symbols and theme of both short stories, read “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Nightingale and the Rose” in class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay¨Hills Like White Elephants¨ is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1927. The story takes place in Spain, in the Ebro valley, in a station. Why does he set the story in a train station? Because he wants us to know that the relationship is at a turning point. This station is a stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid, and when the train arrives the passenger will have to decide in which direction they want to go, which makes the relationship similar. Additionally, the difference between the two parts of the valley refers to the decision the girl faces between having a baby or not.¨The Nightingale and the Rose¨ is a short story written by Oscar Wilde, published in 1888 Almost the entire story takes place in three different locations. The first place is the center of the grassy patch, where he sees the white rose. The second place takes place around the old sundial where he finds the second rose, the yellow one. And the third place is under the young student's window, so when the day comes, he opens the window and sees the beautiful red rose. Both “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Nightingale and the Rose” show the use of different symbolism in an attempt to represent something else. Because the best way to create different emotions and meanings is to use symbolism, also because through symbolism readers can draw a deeper meaning from the story themselves. In the two stories ¨Hills like white elephants¨ and ¨The Nightingale and the Rose¨ we can find many different symbols which I will explain to you below. In "Hills Like White Elephants", the most characteristic symbols I could find are: First, we have the hills which play a major role in the story, because the hills it represents as white elephants , in reality, Hemingway wants to refer to them as the belly of a pregnant woman. Second, the train. Why is the train symbolic? Because the train only goes one way, in this case Hemingway wants to represent the girl's choice, in other words, those she decides to abort, there is no going back possible. Third, drinks as another symbol referring to abortion. Because as we all know, alcohol can affect the baby. And the last symbol I'm going to talk about are white elephants, according to Dictionary.com the definition of white elephant is: ¨a possession that is unwanted by its owner¨, according to this meaning Hemingway refers to this meaning in the story referring to the baby as the white elephant, because just like pregnancy, it is an unwanted thing like the white elephant. In “The Nightingale and the Rose” we can find many different symbolisms, Wilde's goal was to make us, the readers, derive a deeper meaning from the story for ourselves. The most characteristic symbols that I found in history are: First of all, the red rose, which has always been associated with love and romance. So if this is a romantic story, it's only fitting that Wilde includes it. The rose changes its meaning at the end of the story. At first, the rose represents the student's love for the girl, as she refuses to dance with him, until he brings her a red rose. This suggests to us that neither.