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. The couple is unmarried and the girl has become pregnant, but the man wants her to have an abortion. The man is really selfish he is didn’t want to responsible to take care the baby and become family. Writer 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.
Hills Like White Elephants In Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants”, the story illustrates a young woman named Jig and an American man challenged with the decision of abortion. Throughout the sequence of the story it is apparent that the man is persuading Jig to undergo the procedure. The apprehensive discussion the two are having suggests that they are avoiding the underlying issue at hand. In addition, the setting of the story establishes the stigma involved with the procedure, as Jig left her town and traveled to Spain. Hemingway’s use of symbolism in the dialogue and setting helps reveal the difficult matter through suggestion without the actual term abortion being mentioned.
And then, she introduces us to the other scholarly interpretation that Hashmi most likely to agree: “the girl will indeed have the abortion. Expecting this way to stay with the man, but after the operation has been performed, he will abandon her” (Hashmi 72). Hashmi tries to define the meaning behind the use of the title "Hills Like White Elephants." For Hashmi the hills "appear to symbolize the glimmering hope, remote yet real like the hills themselves, that her sexual relationship with the man might change the solid relationship of family and permanence" (Hashmi 75). Other scholars in their search for an
Lastly, it was highly unlikely for women to climb the social status ladder compared to a man that could slowly but surely work his way up. The “Tale of Genji” and the “Tale of Ise” gave some examples that support the submissive social status of aristocratic Japanese women and how they were not equal to men. Selected chapters from the “Tale of Genji” painted a story of an emperor’s son-in-law who had an affair with his wife’s sister and took this sin with him to his deathbed. The Third Princess, the woman involved in the affair, birthed a son. The fact that she had a son later reveals the unfair gender roles of the child, compared to the idea of if she had a daughter.
They give these as a gift to someone else, like the unborn child in this story. The couple is conflicted whether to have or not to have the baby. Jig saying "you wouldn't have" to her American boyfriend is her way of telling him that she is sure he has not seen a baby and wanted to have one of your own. (Hemingway, 1927, para. 5) The "hills" are symbolic of the way woman's stomach looks while she is pregnant.
She never states this, but it is in her tone. It is clear that the man in the story is sure if what he wants; his own happiness. The tone of a story is the feeling the author is trying to portray. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the underlying tone is restlessness and impatience. The girl in the short story is undeniably nervous about having an abortion.
The second symbol encountered in this passage are the hills. The girl claims that the hills look like white elephants. In years gone by, white elephants were symbolic of a great but burdensome gift. This could potentially be linked to the pregnancy and the child itself. It almosts seems as though she already realizes the great burden that the child could place upon her and her partner.
This made the procedure a huge issue for the two main characters. Hemingway’s use of symbolism throughout the story is shown through even the tiniest of details from the setting, their conversation, and even the body language that makes the story more complex than it seems at first. The story’s setting takes place in northern Spain, at a train station somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid. Throughout the entire story “Jig” is debating on having the abortion which Hemingway describes through the scenery. In the beginning of the story Hemingway describes the scenery.
Justin Simpson Mr. Pikus Summary of scholarly article 3/6/12 Summary of scholarly article Authors often use literary elements to leave the reader questioning the outcome of the story. This applies to Ernest Hemingway’s haunting story “Hills like White Elephants.” Most agree that the relationship between the American and the Jig will eventually deteriorate. Nilofer Hashmi argues in his scholarly article “The Jilting of Jig” that there is another outcome. Hashmi states that “the girl will indeed have the abortion, expecting in this way to stay on the man, but after the operation has been performed, he will abandon her” (Hashmi) Hashmi observes that “various verbal and non-verbal indications found in the story support this interpretation of the narrative, as does the very symbolism of the title itself” (Hashmi) According to Hashmi, it is plausible to believe that there is still some love between the American and Jig. Hashmi notes, “Thus the girl, who now wants more than a relationship based on sex and alcohol, would have no reason to stay on with the man” (Hashmi) But, there are a few details that do not seem to fit into this.
By the end of the story it becomes clear that one character has succumbed to the pressure of another character to have an abortion. Within the first moments of reading this story (and after looking at the title) we come to realize that the symbol in the story is the “white elephants”. The first sentence of the story reads “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white.” This gives us the first clue that part of the symbolism of the story has to do with the color white. As we continue reading we come to find that there are two main characters to this story; a man and a woman. This story is set in Spain, while the man and woman are waiting for a train to come.