Reading Reflections Wk 2 1

Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants"

Dawn Korsick

ENG125

Professor Porter

March 13, 2011

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“Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway. It takes

place in Spain while an American man and woman wait for a train. The story is in third person

objective point of view to which the narrator uses a detached approach to the action and

characters (Clugston, 2010). This is evident in how this story is set up as a dialogue between the

two characters, the man and the woman, Jig. Throughout the story, the man is trying to convince

the woman to do something she is hesitant in doing and.

Ernest Hemingway has written “Hills Like White Elephants” using the combination of a

third person objective point of view, theme, and symbolism to create a story, and while the word

“abortion” is nowhere in this story, it is through the author’s use of the literary terms, setting and

symbolism connecting to the theme that it is understood. I believe that there are two themes in

“Hills Like White Elephants” (Hemingway, 1927), one is choices and consequences and the

other is talking versus communicating.

The main characters, Jig and the man, are faced with a decision in their relationship and it

is at a stop on their way to Madrid that they start to reflect on their choices and the consequences.

Jig has the decision to either be persuaded in aborting their child, or most likely end their

relationship by having the baby. It is during the first paragraph that the setting allows the reader

to see a tense atmosphere that is surrounding the remainder of the story, “The hills across the

valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the

station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway, 1927). The symbolism used in

the setting tells of the couples stop in the middle of a crossroad so to speak, “and the station was

between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway, 1927). It is symbolic that this is where they
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stop to contemplate the decision that they were making and to where they would go from here,

only two choices, two directions, just as there are two rail lines that are going pass the station.

The setting of the weather, “The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the

shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty

minutes” (Hemingway, 1927), and the notation that they were sitting on the side that did not

have shade or trees, symbolizes the point of the pressure building, like a water boiling from heat,

the choice to be made has now come to a boiling point between the couple.

As we analyze the setting with symbolism, we need to remember that the hills along with

the rest of the landscape existed before the American man and Jig came into the factor and that

the hills will remain after they leave. This setting of the landscape represents the choices in the

context of “Hills Like White Elephants” (Hemingway, 1927). In regards to projection, Jig

projects her problem of making this decision in the hills, “The girl was looking off at the line of

hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry” (Hemingway, 1927),

“They look like white elephants”. The white elephants can be a symbolism of innocence and

purity which is taken from common symbolism of the white color (Clugston, 2010). This could

show that further into the story, Jig looked at the hills again and stated, “They don’t really look

like white elephants” (Hemingway, 1927). This may be in reference of her innocence taken along

with her purity with the pregnancy and the thought of abortion. We can also depict this

symbolism to a white elephant that is large and by definition, expensive to own and maintain; a

possession that is unwanted by its owner (Merriam-Webster, 2011).

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The second theme of talking rather than communicating is shown throughout the story by

the narration of third person objective point of view. As the reader, we are not shown the

thoughts and feelings of our characters unless shown through symbolism in what is being said

between them. It is also true to the characters that are involved, they are speaking to each other

but they do not understand each other’s point of view. The American man will say anything in

order to persuade Jig to go along with the abortion stating that “It’s really an awfully simple

operation, Jig”; “It’s not really an operation at all” (Hemingway, 1927). Going even further to

telling her that she wouldn’t mind it because it was such a simple operation and stating, “That’s

the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy” (Hemingway, 1927).

This is how the man if perceiving the pregnancy.

At one point, Jig concedes to having the abortion so that the man would stop talking, but

he is persistent and she finally begs him, “Would you please please please please please please

stop talking” (Hemingway, 1927). The symbolism is shown in the woman’s name, Jig. It merely

indicates how the couple dances around each other throughout the story regarding

communication and saying anything meaningful. Furthermore, the woman’s inability to speak

Spanish with the bartender and reading the painted writing on the bamboo curtain illustrates her

dependence on the man and her difficulty in expressing her feelings.

Towards the end of the story, we see why the American man wants this abortion. “He did

not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them

from all the hotels where they had spent nights” (Hemingway, 1927). The bags with the hotel
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labels symbolizes his lively spirit and if Jig decides to keep the baby, he would have to then

settle down and raise a family, this would put an end to his youthful desires.

Throughout the short story Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” we have

analyzed that while the word “abortion” is nowhere in this story, we are shown the plot and the

themes through the two literary terms of setting and symbolism that we understand the meaning

of the character’s dialogue. To keep within the theme of communication, as the word “abortion”

is not mentioned, the story ends without a decision made and the train is arriving within five

minutes. What we can take away is the symbolic meaning of Jig’s last sentence, “There’s

nothing wrong with me, I feel fine”, (Hemingway, 1927), meaning that she is content and feels

fine with being pregnant. Suffice to say that I believe, Jig has made her decision.
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References

Clugston, R.W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Hemingway, E. (1827). Hills Like White Elephants. In R.W. Clugston(Ed)., Journey into

literature. (pp. 110-116). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.  

Merriam-Webster (2011). White Elephant. Retrieved March 11, 2011 from http://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/white+elephant