24 pages • 48-minute read
The Hollow of the Three Hills
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Symbols & Motifs
The Number 3
The number 3 is a motif that is carried throughout “The Hollow of the Three Hills.” The number 3 is considered in the Christian religion to be a holy number and in literature to be a religious reference, particularly considering the concept of the holy trinity. The religious implications of the number 3 allude to the theme of The Danger of Strict Religious Beliefs. The story is set in a basin near three hills. The three hills refer to the three crosses that were present in the Bible when Jesus was crucified. The fact that the two characters are in a basin and lower than the three hills suggests that they are participating in something evil or unholy.
The lady is given three visions to show the three ways that she has “failed”: as a daughter, as a wife, and as a mother. During the funeral service, there are “revilings and anathemas” (Paragraph 21) from the mourners listing the lady’s “failures” in these three areas. The visions are given to her in a certain order to emphasize the severity of her actions, with her leaving her child depicted as the worst of all.
Decay
The motif of decay is prevalent in the story. When the old woman and the lady first meet, they are in an area filled with dead grass and trees. This decaying atmosphere shows that something is not right about this meeting and portends that the meeting will end poorly for at least one of the two participants.
The old woman is described as being withered and decayed. Her outside appearance is a mirror showing her inner moral decay and the evilness that lives within her. Her inner moral decay is what motivates her to show the lady the visions that will end in the lady’s death. The lady’s parents share this decayed appearance. In their case, they are suffering from the death of their expectations of what their daughter should have acted like along with the pain of their grandchild’s death.
Names
Both characters in the story are unnamed. The lady’s lack of a name is a symbol for her feelings: She feels lost and unmoored without her family and community. She also feels as though she has lost her identity, as she is no longer functioning in the roles of daughter, wife, and mother. This symbol illustrates the theme of The Danger of Strict Religious Beliefs. Her sin has in a sense erased her sense of self.
The old woman is referred to as an “aged crone” (Paragraph 2) and an “old withered woman” (Paragraph 3) while the younger woman is consistently referred to as a lady. The word “lady” carries the connotations of a higher social class or acting in a socially acceptable manner. Although the younger woman is presented as sinning, she is still considered a lady in the eyes of the narrator, whereas the old woman is described in negative terms. These physical descriptors define these nameless female characters on the fringes of society—one because of her voluntary abandonment, and one because of her age and supernatural abilities.
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