POV/Voice Written Response

The poem “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemmingway is told in third person objective point of view. While reading this piece of literature, you are only able to know the setting of the poem and what the American and the girl are saying to each other. Since the work does not reference the past or the future, that means that it cannot be third person omniscient. It is also not first or second person because it is not from one perspective. The voice of the work is conveyed through the persistent dialogue between the American and the girl. Showing that what they are deciding is a life changing decision that is very serious and has many consequences. So the combination of the third person objective point of view and the back and forth voice of the author reveals to the reader that people can change their minds swiftly regarding important decisions.