Abortion In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

“Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story of a pair of couples having an argument with an operation of whether the girl should do the abortion during their travel. The story shows the audience two different views and attitudes between two different genders--men and women. By using ethos, pathos,and logos, Hemingway gives people a social message that men were short of responsibility and encouragement to get into a family, and they were supposed change this situation by understanding and care more about women. Nowadays, as the time changed, the social message people get from the story change as well-- women are taught to be more independent.

As humans, we tend to rely on others to guide us in choosing “right” decisions. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway tells a story of an American man with a girl, named Jig, having a conversation about whether or not Jig should undergo this “operation,” which we could assume is abortion. Jig looks to the man to tell her what she should do and what would happen afterwards, basically looking for a “right” decision. The girl is torn between listening to the man, who pushes her to have an abortion, or separating from the man, to instead, keep the baby. Hemingway uses setting and symbolism to interpret the girl’s struggle with abortion.

Most men side with the men, and most women side with women. In the short story Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemingway explores a power dynamic through a situation that is still controversial today. While this short story explores the decision-making process between a girl and a man, the controversy arises: whose decision is it? This power struggle for a decision that, arguably, mainly affects the life of the girl. While the man may choose to wish to be a part of the child’s life, the pregnancy and abortion is solely affecting the girl, not the man. Hemingway strips the girl of any authority and knowledge by differing between girl and woman, yet by closely examining the interactions between the girl and the man, it is the girl remains authoritative over the decision of a possible abortion.

“Hills Like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in 1927 that takes place in a train station in Spain with a man and a woman discussing an operation. Most of the story is simply dialogue between the two characters, the American and Jig. This couple is at a critical point in their lives when they must decide whether or not to have an abortion. Certain themes arise from this story such as choices and consequences, doubt and ambiguity, and how men and women relate. Hemingway also uses many examples of symbolism in “Hills Like White Elephants”, including descriptions of the surrounding scenery, the hills themselves, and the station where the action takes place.

The short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, talk about a young couple and their relationship issue about abortion. Even though, the story happened in a short period of time, but it tells more than just a story. The woman named Jig, where the man only called as “ a man” or “ The American.” Although the relationship between them is complicated, but it is clearly that they are not married. However, they continued their relationship which came to result that Jig became pregnant. The couple love to travel and stop in many differents cities before moving on to the next. Their last stop was somewhere in Spain and that was the place where they had to make decisions either they continue their relationship with the child or

In Ernest Hemingway's “Hills Like White Elephants”, the use of imagery and symbolism in the landscape of surrounding Ebro Valley, as well as the use of language and tone, shape our understanding of the conflict between the two main characters. The man referred to only by “The American”, is trying to convince Jig to get an abortion. Though the word (abortion) is never stated directly in the entirety of the story, it is conveyed by the use of symbolism and imagery in the surrounding landscape. Furthermore, we can conclude that the topic at hand will come to a final and abrupt solution that Jig will, in fact, get the abortion due to her tone and language at the end of the story.

Enerest Hemingway’s short story titled Hills Like White Elephants, is a story that may seem as simple and plain as if not much is going on. However, the story is actually very intricate; the author was able to say a lot without using many words. The story is about a conversation between a man and girl who are waiting for a train in Spain. The couple are both distressed about how they should make a decision of whether to keep their baby, or terminate the pregnancy. Hemingway is able to say indirectly that the conversation is about abortion with clearly stating it by using literary elements. Some of the elements Hemingway uses are ones such as symbols to show different meanings for concision, irony to talk about something complicated in a clear way, and he uses an objective 3rd person point-of-view to make the reader feel as if he or she is observing the event themselves. This story is a great way to show how one can tell a story in a simple and economical way to reveal something very complex.

Tough topics such as death of a loved one, breaking up with a significant other, and abortion are always tough things to talk about with another person. For example, in crowded, cramped places like a coffee shop or cramped restaurant bustling with people, when these conversations arise one will try to hide it from other meddlesome people listening in on their conversation while trying to figure out what the people in the predicament are talking about. In the story, “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemmingway, the American and the girl use this same tactic while in the cramped bar patio in the train station in Spain. The difficult situation the couple is facing is concealed within Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants.” This can be seen by examining the problem latent within the story, the use vague pronouns, and what consequences that the author has using the short, hasty dialogue pattern, more specifically how these effects are still used in today’s American society.

What are we reading when we read between the lines? Dialogue allows room for personal interpretation. Interpretation of not only what the characters are saying but what they are feeling when they speak and we can do this by reading between the lines. “Hills like White Elephants” by Hemingway is a perfect example of this. As an American man and his girlfriend, Jig, sit in a train station while waiting to part ways, they converse about a conflict that is left for the reader to interpret.

In this story, there a few hints that somewhat give the reader a clue on what's going to happen during the story. The “wind” of the hills simply defines on what abortion is: “the warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table”, the American is quick to say, “I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in and then it’s perfectly natural” (Kozikowski.)

Finally, when Jigs says that she wants him to stop talking, it means that she has accepted the abortion to save their relationship. Together with the other symbols of the drinks to wipe out her morals and the beads that hint that she gives in to the abortion, it makes sense that she will give in to the abortion, and she wants him to stop trying to convince her with his empty assurances and words (Flora 51). When the American announces that he will bring the bags to the other side of the tracks, she smiles since she is contented that she has a moment alone to grief. However, she does not want him to leave her for eternity. Thus, she proposes that he can come back later to finish their drink (Hemingway 255). When the American comes back, she smiles again, for she knows that she must hide her true feelings to save this relationship and that her crying will result in him leaving her. Hashmi claims that when he gets a drink on his own, the incoming end of their relationship is already hinted at (80). She says that she is alright, but in the inside she is devastated, and

There is difference between love and manipulative love. In this story, the love being describe is manipulative love. Jig, the girl, is in love with an American man. She is ambivalent, but she doesn’t realize it. In the story, she says” And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be they were and you’ll love me?”(pg.3) Jig really wants loved by American man. He makes life with him worth giving up everything be with him. She doesn’t want nothing to destroy the relationship between her and him. Jig states “And you think then we’ll be all right and be happy.” (Hemingway pg.2) She not sure if doing this would keep him or make him leave her. Abortion is a dangerous operation. In the early 1900s, abortion is illegal to do and most women would

At first glance, Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, may allude to many interpretations, however, the short story has a clear purpose. Set in the Ebro River valley in Spain, the story looms around the issue brought forth by Jig and the American, who is nameless throughout the whole story. The issue here being the ‘simple operation’ that Jig is about to undergo which happens to be an abortion. Set in the early 1920s, the idea of abortion is as irrational and controversial as today’s ongoing debate over gay marriage. Although the term abortion is never used in the story, the imagery Hemingway uses along with the language and

According to author Frederica Mathewes-Green, “No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg.” The debate over abortion is an ardent and polarizing issue as there are those who believe that all humans including those unborn should have a right to life and on the other side of the spectrum are those that believe it should be a woman’s right to choose whether she wants an abortion or not. In Gwendolyn Brooks’, “The Mother”, is a recollection of a mother’s inner conflicts as she laments over the guilt of having had an abortion and the future she never gave her would be child. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”, the relationship between two people comes into question as there is a dispute between the man and woman over whether or not the woman should have the abortion. Through Brooks’ poem “The Mother”, we’re able to understand Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” as it pertains to the difficult choices a woman has to make towards abortion through juxtaposition between her reality and the child’s possible life, religious pressure, and the sensitivity of discussing the issue.

The short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” seems to be nothing but a casual conversation between two people as they wait for their train to Madrid. Although Hemingway stripped this story down to the essentials, there is a lot of underlying meaning that can be found throughout the text. The plot, characterization, setting and symbolism of this piece support the theme of what the difference is between communicating with someone and simply talking to a person.