Hills Like White Elephants

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. Where does “Hills Like White Elephants” take place?

2. What does the “American” claim is “just to let the air in”?

3. What language does the bartender speak?

4. What does Jig say Anis del Toro tastes like?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the man trying to pressure Jig into doing?

2. How is Jig characterized?

3. How is the “American” characterized?

4. What is causing tension between the couple?

Paired Resource

“The Road Not Taken”

• “The Road Not Taken” is a poem by Robert Frost.
• Like Hemingway, Frost was one of the most celebrated American writers of the 20th century.
• Also set at a travel junction with two possible routes, this poem contemplates the impact of choices.
• How does Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” illustrate the theme of Crossroads and Existential Crisis?

Recommended Next Reads 

“The Snows of Kilimanjaro”

• This short story (also the title of a collection of short stories) by Ernest Hemingway recounts the last hours of a man named Harry. As he awaits his death after an accident while on safari in Africa, he reflects on his life, determining that he has largely squandered it by making bad decisions.