Hills like White Elephant

Ebro River side

Ebro River side symbolizes life. The river side has lush of green where it has Ў°fields of grain and treesЎ± (171) and beyond the trees there is a river. All these components make up life, and in the story, this indirectly describes the baby. As she looks at this scenery, she says that Ў°we could have all thisЎ¦ and we could have everythingЎ± (171). This shows that the baby is very important to her. She believes that the baby can bring everything like the life itself. However, only she wishes this life. Due to their disagreement, she thinks that Ў°everyday [they] make it more impossibleЎ± (171) to achieve that. Therefore, she cannot have everything nor whole world because Ў°once they take it away, [she] will never get it backЎ± (171).

The Other side

The dry side represents the AmericanЎЇs attitude toward the baby. In the story, Jig comments that the hills Ў°look like white elephantsЎ± (169). White elephants are rare animal and they do not have much use, but are very expensive to maintain. Therefore, to American, the baby is like a white elephant; a heavy burden. While Jig is full of life and has a growing life within her, he is just like the other side with no trees, no shades, and no life. Also, he describes the baby as the Ў°thing that bothers [them]Ў¦itЎЇs the only thing thatЎЇs made [them] unhappyЎ± (170). The readers can see that