Hills Like White Elephants

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“What’s Next?”

In this activity, students will briefly extend Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants.”

Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” ends without a tidy resolution and leaves the reader with many unanswered questions. What will Jig ultimately decide? How will this tense moment between the two lovers come to its conclusion? Using Hemingway’s minimalist style, write the next passage in the story. You may decide to employ a more traditional ending, but you do not have to; focus instead on staying true to characterization, symbolism, and style. Your extension should:

• Be approximately 150 words in length.
• Employ Hemingway’s style, including simple but powerful language, notably short sentences, and a reliance on unattributed dialogue to drive the action.
• Include the symbol of the baggage.

After you have written your extension, trade with a peer for shared feedback.

Teaching Suggestion: It might be helpful to engage in a class brainstorming session in which students discuss a variety of plausible next moments before settling on the extension they want to write themselves. Students might use the imminent arrival of the express train from Barcelona to spur a decision from the characters.