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.