Theme Of Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants

In Hills Like White Elephants, the story opens up with a description of the scenery. There is a couple that is at a train station at a bar going somewhere far. Throughout the story, the couple is having a conversation about something that is never mentioned. However, by paying attention to the characters, the language, and the symbolism, one can see that the conversation is about an abortion and that the couple’s relationship is falling apart. Ernest Hemingway uses characters, sexism, and the setting and symbolism to give the readers a chance to know couple and see their broken relationship.

She tragically died, only three months before the family received a letter stating that the twin sisters were alive and well. After some time, Jing-Mei convinced her Aunt Lindo to reply and reveal the truth of their Mother’s death, as not to give them false hope. Hence, Jing Mei and her 72 year old father,Canning Woo, traveled to China to visit relatives and meet Jing-Mei’s half sisters. The trip is full of emotion, new experiences and cultural discoveries for her. Despite hesitation and doubt, Jing-Mei meets her half sisters in an airport for the first time.

Both short stories, “Good People” by David Foster Wallace and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, deal with the dilemma of abortion. An American in “Hills Like White Elephants” wanted his girlfriend Jig to have an abortion. Likewise, a boy named Lane and his girlfriend Sheri in “Good People” had an abortion scheduled. Jig and Sheri interacted with their partners differently, and both were distressed, however, due to religious and moral reasons, Sheri did not go through with the abortion while Jig did.

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.

The story is around an American-conceived Chinese lady, Jing-mei, who goes to China to meet her twin stepsisters that her mom was compelled to relinquish numerous prior years. Since her mom had passed away just a couple of months prior, the meeting is full of vulnerability and bitterness. Jing-mei battles with self-character issues and what it truly intends to be Chinese. En route, she takes in reality about the reasons her mom deserted her sisters and the significance behind their names. At last, she at last associates with her sisters and makes the passionate association with her Chinese legacy.

The couple had an immense argument about the unborn child. She asked the question of love saying “Do you love me?”. There was a long hesitation, a pause you could have poured all the affirmation of the world into.” Yes,” he said finally, his voice so soft and reluctant it was like the last gasp of a dying old man”. The fact Jeremy hesitated signifies his love for china is in the merge of failing. On the day of her delivery she called Jeremy and he immediately took her to a motel. In a blink of an eye she gave a painful birth but China kept telling Jeremy to “get rid of it” by refusing to assign gender to the new born

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

“I will tell her at eighteen the prettiness drained from my cheeks. That I thought of throwing myself in the lake like the other ladies of shame. And I will tell her of the baby I killed because I came to hate this man so much.” (P.248) After knowing her husband left her, Ying-ying aborts the baby in her own womb due to her hatred and sees the baby as her husband’s leftover in her life, regardless that it’s her own blood and flesh. She turns to her black tiger side, hides her true self and feels nothing toward killing her own baby.

Ultimately, China gives birth to the baby girl, and she immediately tells Jeremy to get rid of it. He does as she says. Boyle

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.

Jing-Mei Woo discovers her mother Suyuan’s complete history after Suyuan passes away. A letter arrives from the two babies Suyuan had mentioned in her stories and Jing-Mei learns those two babies are her older twin sisters. They write what happened to them after Suyuan was forced to abandon them on the side of the road in order to save herself. The twins were rescued from a passing couple and raised by them after failing to find any remaining relatives. Likewise, numerous children in China are abandoned every day, mostly due to the one-child-policy, a policy that limits couples to one child. Due to this policy, parents dispose of children based on their gender or their health (Ripley). For example, a young boy named JiaJia, who was paralyzed from his waist down, was left outside a Chinese clinic after an unsuccessful surgery when he was three months old. JiaJia is still living in a foster home at the age of nine while his soon-to-be foster parents finish their paperwork (Ripley). Although JiaJia was abandoned because of his health, he was most likely left by parents that didn’t want to continue with a child that could slow them down, just like Suyuan had to leave her twins because she no longer had the strength to keep going with

Children can often be a deciding factor in relationships. Dealing with this conflicts may happen when a child in unexpectedly conceived. No matter what the decision is, it could very well change your life. In the two short stories “Hills Like White Elephants” and “Good People “both women are faced with an unplanned pregnancy. Neither one of them wants to give up the chance of being a mother, but they have to decide on what is the right thing to do. Jig and Sheri has felt love at one time or another. The America tells Jig” it’s the only thing that has made them unhappy (592)” and Lane doesn’t love Sheri (220)”. Although the American confesses his love to Jig, he is still demanding that she has an abortion because it has made their relationship so unhappy, While Lane may not be “in” love with Sheri, he still cares for her.

“Hills like White Elephants” is a story about a couple who is going to undergo an abortion together (which relates to the theme of death). While abortion is not said at first- the reader can tell it is being proclaimed. The story is filled with tension but the reader can tell that this couple loves each other. The tone of this story is hard to identify at first but it can defined as skeptical or confused. Due to the fact that these two young people are unsure about what they

Relationships can be difficult, but a lot of couples work through the difficultly by supporting and helping each other. In the short story “Hills like White Elephants”, written by Ernest Hemingway, an unnamed American and a young woman, named Jig, are waiting for a train to arrive. Set in the mid-1920s, the couple are sitting at a bar drinking beers, and awaiting to travel to their next destination. Talking vaguely with each other, Jig describes the hills as “white elephants”, meaning an unwanted gift. During the story, the couple discuss an ‘operation’ that the man wants the girl to have, but she doesn’t to want to, symbolizing wanting to keep their unborn child. In this story, “Hills like White Elephant”, the theme is the ending of a relationship, by the of lack of communication, selfishness and choices.

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.