The Role Of Abortion In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

Close interpretation of the story "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway leads the reader to an issue that has plagued society for decades. Understanding of the human condition is unveiled in the story line, the main setting, and through the character representation. The main characters in the story are an American man and a female named Jig. The conflict about abortions is an issue that still faces society today. Architectural and atmospheric symbolisms are used to set the mood and outline the human condition. The love bond between the man and Jig is strong; however, the more powerful bond between Jig and her unborn child is sacred.

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.

The final theme derived from this story is how men and women relate to each other. Most of Hemingway’s stories are masculine in nature, but “Hills Like White Elephants” shows the woman’s point of view as the more rational of the two (Short Stories for Students 158). The man is shown as being selfish and irresponsible by starting this relationship and then lacking the support Jig needs (Hamid 78). The American sees life as being very straightforward and rational, while Jig is considered to be romantic and living in an emotional world (Beacham 8). Clearly, these themes are still applicable in modern societies concerning this issue of abortion.

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.

The short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, is about a man trying to convince his girlfriend to have an abortion. The couple sits in a train station waiting for their trip to Barcelona, and are staring outside at the scenery—the line of hills “like white elephants”, as the girl, Jig, remarks. They sit and drink and they try to keep conversation light and to enjoy themselves. As the story progresses, however, cause for their underlying tenseness boils to the surface.

In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway the two main themes are failure of communication between men and women and the woman’s acceptance of abortion. Hemingway a uses higher to middle-class couple in Spain (dislocation) to explore the theme of male-female miscommunication. Hemingway’s short simple well-constructed writing technique gets points across within the smallest amount of wording. The technique connects to miscommunication fairly well. Due to the writing being allusive, the theme of abortion is kept in the background.

In Ernest Hemmingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants", an unknown narrator orchestrates the dialogue between a man (referred to as "the American") and a woman named Jig. Throughout the course of the story, Jig and the American discuss whether or not to have a life-changing "operation". Although neither the characters or the narrator indicates a result of their discussion, it is widely accepted among literary critics that the characters are talking about whether or not Jig should have an abortion. While the American wishes for Jig to have the "operation" as soon as possible, Jig remains quite unsettled about her decision throughout the majority of the story. Despite this, due to the details and information that Ernest Hemingway gives

In the short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, a young couple dances around the issue of abortion. Whether the couple will agree to terminate the pregnancy or terminate their relationship becomes a theme in the story (Wyche 56-71). Without a doubt, the couple, who go by “the American” and “Jig” face a difficult decision. Hemingway shows them standing at a crossroad; they either reach a joint decision or go their separate ways. Hemingway avoids the use of the term “abortion” to create the tension in the couple’s already strained dialogue (Gaillard 65-78).

In “Hills like White Elephants”, a vacationing couple vaguely speaks their mind on harsh decisions that will affect their relationship. While abortion is still a controversial topic, prior to the Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion was prohibited in 30 states making it a difficult process in 1927. Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” describes the human response of two American tourists in Europe on issues such as age and morality through the use of figurative language, syntax, and point of view.

Ernest Hemingway creates a scene where readers want to wonder what will happen next. He does this by “us[ing] his experiences from [his time] to carefully craft a story that [is] real and artistic (Baker 217). In the story, although the American wants the girl to abort the baby, he has to factor in the fact that, back in the 1920s, it was a federal offense to have anything to do with an abortion. Therefore, he says that he “‘[doesn’t] care anything about it’” (Hemingway 214) because he doesn’t want to force her and get in trouble for it. Using abortion as an interest in today’s society, Hemingway engages the readers to continue reading the story.

One of America’s greatest known authors, Earnest Hemingway, creatively uses symbolism to reveal the theme of abortion in the short story, Hills like White Elephants. What appears to be meaningless dialogue over drinks involving a women and her American male companion, is in reality the couple discussing a major crisis in the relationship. Hemingway purposefully leaves out a lot of important information, but instead implies the details through the clever use of symbolism. The use of these symbols informs the reader of the real issue at hand, an unplanned pregnancy. Without these symbols the reader would be left with many unanswered questions and the theme would be difficult to understand.

An American man and a very young girl wait at a train station. This story takes place in the 1920’s in Spain. The couple would have to wait 40 minutes for the next train to arrive. During those minutes, they drink beer, and carry a conversation, on what would be a “simple operation” although; the word abortion is never mentioned in the story (Hemingway 476). The man assures the girl, it would be a simple procedure, but the girl begins to have second thoughts about going forward with the abortion.

From this quote the reader can tell the wife is unhappy in her marriage. Foreshadowing is used here as well because the reader knows her husband is going to die soon by this description given of him. There is a different tone though in the “Hills like White Elephants”.

Finally the girl cannot bear her companion’s selfish urgings anymore and asks him to stop talking. The repetition of the word “please” (255) seven times implies it is more than a question. As Renner states, the repetition shows indirectly her refusal to accept his attempts to convince her to abort the foetus. Besides, the American’s hypocrisy is reflected when he looks at their bags: “ There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights. “(Hemingway 255). The hotels’ labels represent the pleasure of the careless nights they had spent together which the American wants to maintain by undergoing the abortion. The American says, “ I don’t care anything about it.” (Hemingway 255), but it is clear from his gaze at the bags that