In What Ways Does Hemmingway Suggest the American Is Advocating the Abortion?

Rebecca Denton

March 28, 2015

Topic: Hills like White Elephants

Question: In what ways does Hemmingway suggest the American is advocating the abortion?

Thesis: Ernest Hemmingway uses symbols found in dialogue and setting to reveal that making decisions requires a great deal of thought, and can sometimes not be mutual between couples. The American uses his insensitive and dominating commands into convincing Jig the abortion is the right thing to do. 

Hills like White Elephants 

Earnest Hemmingways's short story, Hills Like White Elephants is based on a conversation between a man, the American, and his girlfriend, Jig. The couple have a casual conversation at a bar while waiting for their train to Madrid. This conversation never states what it is truly about but ambiguous and vague language, dialogue, characterization, and metaphors lead to the assumption that their are speaking about abortion. Ernest Hemmingway uses symbols found in dialogue and setting to reveal that making decisions requires a great deal of thought, and can sometimes not be mutual between couples. The American uses his insensitive and dominating commands into convincing Jig the abortion is the right thing to do. 

The American physiologically manipulates his girlfriend that an abortion is the right thing to do. In spite his transparent assertions,"I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to", he is implying he wants her to go through with it. It's almost as if they are never truly communicating with each other. But rather they talk with one another as neither listens or understands one another. Both the American man and the girl drink alcohol throughout their conversation to avoid each other and the problems with their relationship. They start drinking large beers the moment they arrive at the station as if hoping to fill their free time with anything but discussion. At one point he says:

 "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig," the man said. 

"It's not really an operation at all." The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.

 "I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in." The girl did not say anything. 

"I'll go with you and I'll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it's all perfectly natural."

In fact she can't even order or decide for herself, which seems to be the tone throughout. . At one point of their discussion Jig begs him to please just stop talking when she realizes the conversation is going nowhere. Her nickname, Jig, could symbolize how they just dance around each other and the conversation and never have anything meaningful to say. 

The calm and seemingly simple setting as well as the lack of colorful imagery on their side of Ebro hills reflects their life, but contrasts the escalation of tension in their conversation. While at the bar Jig refers to the hills looking like white elephants. A white elephant is a gift no one wants is turn she is referring to her unborn child. An elephant could also refer to the fact that no one usually wants to discuss the elephant in the room or in the case the discussion about the baby. Her comments about the hills looking like white elephants seems a little random but actually opens up the conversation with the American about their baby and the possibility of abortion. "The shadow of a cloud moved across  the field of grain", could be a metaphor for abortion. Jig's baby is fertile and alive  just like the field and the shadow of abortion will come upon the fertile baby and kill it.  Towards the end of the conversation she suggests that maybe the hills don't look like white elephants which could mean that maybe she wants to keep the baby and not get the abortion. Here she could be viewing pregnancy and having children differently. 

Another key factor about the  setting of the story is that  the train station represents Jig is at a crossroads with her boyfriend. They aren't at their final destination but at a point where they must decide where to do or in this case what to do. The bar they wait for their train is a casual place that implies that their relationship is possibly casual. As Jig looks at the mountains she states:

"And we could have all this"  

"And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible."