Week 13

1.Discuss the significance of the symbolism in the short story "Hills Like White Elephants" by Earnest
Hemingway.

2. Describe the tone of the following poem.

Death, Be Not Proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

1.The main symbol present in the story "Hills Like White Elephants" is the hills, which, as the
title suggests, look like white elephants. The Hills symbolize the female character's unborn baby in
two ways. Visually, as the hills resemble the abdomen of a pregnant woman, and figuratively: the
characters never openly say she is pregnant, it is only implied. The "elephant in the room" can be
likened to the baby in this way.

2. The author's tone in the poem "Death, Be Not Proud" is one of defiance, and transitions to one of
Victory by the end of the poem. We can see the author initially sets out to tell death why it ought not
to be proud, taking it down a peg through a well rhymed argument (the only kind death will listen to).
The author then compares death to much less harmless things which have similar effect, until finally
triumphantly stating that man, or life, is eternal, stating that death itself shall die.