Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" relies on symbolism to carry the theme of either choosing to live selfishly and dealing with the results, or choosing a more difficult and selfless path and reveling in the rewards. The symbolic materials and the symbolic characters aid the reader's understanding of the subtle theme of this story. The hills symbolize two different decisions that the pregnant girl in our story is faced with. Both hills are completely opposite of each other, and each "hill" or decision has a consequence that is just as different as the appearance of the hills.

Throughout history, power dynamics between men and women has persisted in literature, and it makes for good entertainment.

Women and men have rarely ever been able to wholeheartedly agree upon something, especially something as significant as an unwanted pregnancy. “Hills Like White Elephants” centers around an unwanted pregnancy and how a young couple is talking about it and handing it. While the mention of pregnancy or abortion is never actually said, it can be inferred through their conversations and simple clues Hemingway includes such as, “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig” (Hemingway) (Link). The man in this relationship, the American, continues to reassure the woman, Jig, that the “operation” is simple and tons of people have it done. He also continues to repeat “how simple” it is. Jig

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.

The girl looks off into the hills. She mentions ‘They look like white elephants” (11). Which at first seems to be a random remark as they drink their beers. Once the topic of the operation rises she she then retracts her statement saying they no longer look like white elephants, however she is still very optimistic about the avoiding the operation and thinks life could continue on as normal and they would remain happy. Across from the hills is a valley. Once seeing the valley, the girl is destined to end the conversation in frustration and is willing to buckle to the American.

In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, the author utilizes various fictional elements to provide his readers with the information necessary to further explore and discover the depth of the short story’s significance. The story is set up as a dialogue between two characters, the American and Jig. The American has gotten Jig pregnant and the two are debating on whether or not to keep the baby, and inevitably become parents, or have an abortion and try to rehabilitate their relationship. Having to make a decision will have an impact on each of the characters and their lives, but most importantly Jig. Through setting, symbols, and characterization, Hemingway provides his readers with the essentials needed to effectively analyze how Jig’s character transforms from an accommodating young girl into an independent woman with maternal instincts as a result of the couple’s unplanned predicament.

The negative connotation of a white elephant is expressed in this explanation. It is this negative meaning that is describing the hills, or her pregnant stomach and the unborn child. Further on in their conversation regarding the decision to be made, Jig says to the man, “I know. But if I do it then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants and you’ll like it?” (Hemingway). The girl deliberately asks the man whether the decision of aborting the child will better their lives, or continue moving them down the path of unhappiness. The decision that Jig is faced with ties back to the main theme that Hemingway portrays throughout the short story, decision and indecision. The constant uncertainty that is revealed through the girl’s character is seen in other instances as well.

In literature, authors use a certain image or collection of images in order to produce a particular effect, eliciting a response from the reader’s senses. Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” utilizes the imagery of the train station in order to produce the effect of transition between the characters, both in terms of physical location and emotional mindset. Much like Hemingway, James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” takes a similar approach, using Sonny’s passion for music to expose his deepest insecurities. Though their approaches are different, both authors use imagery to create a pathway to the character’s internal thoughts.

Swaying trees in the distance, blue skies and birds chirping, all of these are examples of setting. Setting can create the mood and tone of characters in a story. In the story Hills Like White Elephants, the story starts out with our two characters, Jig and the American, also referred to as the man, on a train overlooking mountains. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry” (Hemingway). In the case of this short story, the hills provided Jig something to take her mind off of the grueling conversation she was having with the Man. As said by a critic, “the story itself is comprised almost entirely of dialogue. Although there is a situation, there is no plot”

In Hills Like White Elephants , Ernest Hemingway utilizes the symbolism of the white elephants and the railroad tracks to show the indecisiveness and lack of communication in a relationship.The author compare the hills to the long and white traits of an elephant in order to represent the difficulties of the existence of the pregnancy.The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white.Hemingway further justifies this notion by stating ”On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun.” In addition the ”two lines of rails” that the station sits between are a symbol of having to make a difficult decision in life causing conflict on which direction their relationship will go if the abortion take place.The discussion puts The American in a weird place and make him very fraught.Furthermore,Hemingway acknowledges that this building sits in the sun as a means to show the issue of the pregnancy as being brought to light.Because the relationship is brought to the light it causes more tension between them Jig and The American. By stating that there was “no shade and no trees” Hemingway emphasizes the serious and necessary nature of the conversation between The American and the girl.This statement also highlight the discussion of the baby is a hard thing to talk about but is something that has to be discussed.By Hemingway expressing the seriousness between the two characters, it gives Jig ambiguity about if he would agree on Jigs decision.

“Hills Like White Elephants” By Ernest Hemmingway is an interesting piece that consists entirely of an odd conversation between two people sitting at a train station in Spain, having drinks while they wait on their ride. The couple do not have names, just “The American” and “The Girl” who is also called “Jig” a time or two by The American. Hemmingway uses these characters and their actions along with the setting and symbolism to paint a beautiful picture of an untruthful relationship and a secretive “Operation” that brings out the true feelings between an unknown couple.

What exactly does the phrase white elephants mean? According to Merriam Webster white elephant is “An object no longer of value to its owner but, of value to others” (Merriam Webster). In other words, the phrase white elephant is an object that is not worth anything and keeping it is very expensive or a burden. In my opinion, the phrase “white elephant” means useless because white elephants are beautiful. Also, white elephants can be worth something but are useless because they are difficult to care for and require a lot of care to keep. However, the phrase “white elephant” is very significant to Hemingway’s story “Hills Like White Elephants” because the title is called White Elephants. In addition, of the title, the phrase is very significant

The pair is sitting outside at a table facing the dry hills. The girl looks out at the bleak, arid landscape and comments to her paramour that "[the hills] look like white elephants"(143). He brushes off this remark as a flight of fancy; after all, the hills bear no physical resemblance to white elephants. The girl is looking at these hills as being emblematic of their current lifestyle, and is trying to find some good in it, perhaps to convince herself to heed her partners wishes and go through with the abortion. She is trying to find magic in something very grim, but this self-pacifying tactic fails. His callous response to her attempt at finding beauty only furthers the emotional and ideological

“Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway and “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood share a gender-oriented theme. They both show women struggling to attain equality against their male partners. This theme is depicted through the use of symbolism, point of view and plot conflict.

Relationships can be difficult when two people have an opposing stance on a controversial topic such as abortion. Men, in their self-interest, perceive this option as an easy way out, in which they can have all the pleasure and none of the consequences. However, for a woman an abortion causes both physical and emotional pain which a man could never understand. Thus, making this one of the utmost difficult issues a girl may need to face in her life. In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” there are two Americans traveling in Spain. The setting of the scene is a bar located near the train station where the man and the girl discuss this life altering operation, as they await the arrival of the train to Madrid. Throughout the story the man is persuasive, as he attempts to convince the girl to have the operation, while at the same time, the girl expresses her reluctance and remains unconvinced that an abortion is the answer to their problems. Abortion remains as controversial today as it was when Ernest Hemingway wrote “Hills Like White Elephants”. Although Hemingway never used the word abortion in his story, he found ways to evoke emotions of sympathy for the girl and disdain for the man through his creative use of symbolism, setting, and characters in the short story.