`` Hills Like White Elephants `` By Ernest Hemingway

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

“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.

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.

Hemingway is an incredible writer who has a keen sense for putting actual conflicts and themes into well written short stories. In his story,”Hills like white elephants” Ernest Hemingway explores many different issues that are still present today. Ernest Hemingway gives us a true controversial tale of tough decision making and the will a person has to change the thinking of a person. To add onto the list of controversial topics is the abortion , which is the tough decision that conflicts these two characters. In“Hills like white elephants” Ernest Hemingway creates a theme of how tough the decision making can be for an abortion and the control that a person has in wake of the decisive decision.

White elephants in the story symbolises something that no one wants. The woman comments that the surrounding hills ‘look like white elephants’ (Hemingway 219) to serve as a transition for the couple to discuss their baby. Comparing the hills and metaphorically the baby to elephants is a ‘figure of speech, that suggests some common quality shared by the two’ (Baldick “Metaphor”). The use of this metaphor exploits how the pair has contrasting opinions about the pregnancy, as she is deeply disappointed that he wants her to have an abortion but doesn’t want to marry her, since she knows that having the operation will destroy her. The spatial and physical setting with repeated threshold images marks central conflict about which path to take, as the white hills and barren valley builds climax between life and death or fertility and sterility. The woman is clearly torn between the different landscapes that coincides with her abortion decision; in which the conversation escalates to have Jig say to the American man to ‘please please please please please please please stop talking‘ (222). This embarks that she needs be alone with her thoughts, as her overlook on life will have to change. Underneath this dispute lies a major complication of how a relationship can compose demands on personal freedom, as both characters struggle with the reality of a shared relationship, that can refer back to commitment and how poorly they communicate with each

Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills like White Elephants,” is centered on a couple and the potential abortion of their child. Although the abortion is unmentioned throughout the story, readers can infer toward an abortion by the characters’ mention of a “procedure” (Hem-ingway, 553). Writers analyze the state of the baby’s future and the American man and the girl’s relationship. While the authors reach a consensus concerning the couple’s relationship, there are different ideas as to what the woman, “Jig,” decides to do with her child. Stanley Renner, author of the article “Moving to the Girl’s Side of ‘Hills like White Elephants,’” concludes that Jig keeps her baby; he reaches his conclusion according to the physical movements of the woman

The short story, “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is about a young couple travelling in Spain, who are arguing over a life changing and burdening situation they have found themselves in. The unnamed man is identified as the American, while the women has the nickname of Jig. It is never actually discussed what exactly they are arguing over, but it is implied that they are discussing the possibility of an abortion. Hemingway uses setting and symbolism to convey the discussion of abortion and leads the readers to conclude for themselves.

Two partners; Jig and the American Man; traveled from Madrid, Spain to Barcelona in Ernest Hemingway’s short story, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’, taken place in the 1940s. While waiting for the train at a bar in the middle of a valley, the partners thought about their life together and their life to come. A big issue stands in the room as Jig is pregnant, and the American Man is desperately trying to convince her that an abortion is the right thing to do.

The short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Earnest Hemingway, is about a young couple who likes to travel. The only problem with these two lovers is the woman is pregnant. Why is that a problem? The man wants an abortion. Even though the polemical subject is not worded in the story, it is absolutely made known through setting and symbolism.

Therefore, the characterization of the young couple in the short story symbolizes the little, and insignificant value Jig has in the American’s life. Their relationship consists of having a good time, drinking, and traveling. Thus, the reason why the American man desires and insists on Jig getting the simple abortion procedure. From the meaning of her name, the American views her as a momentarily enjoyable time, like a summer fling. He wants to continue the lifestyle they have built and surrounded their relationship with and believes “letting the air in” will solve all their problems (Charters 1).

In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway tells a vague yet concentrated story about a crisis in a couple’s relationship that is left open to the reader’s interpretation. The story opens at a Spanish train station, with a brief description of the scenery at the river Ebro and the white hills that stand tall behind it. A couple have drinks at the bar while awaiting their train, bickering about seemingly nothing. The two characters never actually say what they are arguing about, forcing the reader to infer what is taking place. It seems as if neither of them are really saying what they actually want to each other. Jig, the girl, makes the seemingly innocent statement that the hills

In the short story “Hills like White Elephants” Earnest Hemingway deliberately has the setting located in Spain on the Ebro river in the mid-1920’s. In the barren valley, in between hills they wait at a train station trying to make an enormous decision. This day of age abortion was greatly frowned upon, in fact, it was rarely talked about because the idea of killing a child was preposterous. “During the 1920’s, the child assumed unprecedented importance at the center of the American family”

In the 1920s women were beginning to so what they wanted but having an abortion was still frowned upon and unsafe. The only role women played, at the time, was giving birth to kids and then staying home and taking care of the family. Jig was pressured by the time period's expectations for women. The hills symbolized Jig's soon to be evident stomach as the fetus matured. The hills reminded her of white elephants, a white elephant is something one doesn't want. In this case it was the baby. The hills also represented Jig's projection of the thing that was concerning her. She never wanted to bring it up, but she did hint at it through seemingly random topics. The train station, that the hills were next to, was a symbol of the American and Jig's relationship; they were at

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.

The short story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is about a young couple who is trying to make a decision in their life. The woman is named Jig, and the man is referred to as The American. Hemingway uses many symbols to convey the message of undecidedness between the character over a problem. though it is not written the reader can conclude that the tension in the story is based around Jig being pregnant and the American wanting her to have an abortion. The story is set on a train station in Spain between Barcelona and Madrid, and the couple have to decide which train they will board finalizing their decision of aborting the baby or not. Hemingway uses symbolism, like numbers and objects, in his short story Hills Like White Elephants to express the decisions that Jig and the American have to make, which will ultimately alter the future relationship of the couple.