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`` Hills Like White Elephants `` By Ernest Hemingway

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Words Left Unspoken: Hills Like White Elephants 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…show more content…
Immediately the couple has poor communication and they begin to argue obliviously. The couple is having drinks at the bar, while awaiting their train from Barcelona to Madrid. The man replies to the girl, “Let’s drink beer,” (Hemingway, 475). after she asks him the casual question of what they should drink. This is just one small example of how he is making most of the decisions in the story. The girl mentions innocently that the hills remind her of white elephants, sparking a small argument between the two. This immediately indicates tension within the couple. Jig tries to change the subject of their conversation by pointing out the liquor advertisement on the beaded curtain that hangs over the bar’s doorway. After noting the ad, the couple decides to try the drink. The conversation becomes even more tense when the man begins to try to talk Jig into getting the unborn child aborted by stating “It’s really an awfully simple operation Jig. It’s not really an operation at all” (Hemingway, 476). She doesn’t say anything and looks down at the legs of the table, putting her hesitation of the idea on display. The inadequate communication between the two become increasingly worse as they become more frustrated with each other and the situation. After Jig questions whether or not the operation will put their relationship back in order and make things better for the two, the man
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