The interesting thing about this story is the boyfriend's inability to see things from Jig's point-of-view. He does not have to deal with the emotional aspect of abortion, so he can say things like, "It's not really an operation at all" (Hills Like White Elephants 1391). The nameless man is selfish and a liar because he tries to convince Jig "It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in" (1391) and "it's all perfectly natural" (1391). Hemingway purposefully leaves him nameless in an attempt to reveal how very little there is to his character. What is worse, he probably is not concerned with what Jig is experiencing. He fails her and he fails to see her struggle, alienating her with just a few words. In addition, while he is alienating her, he is separating himself from her by demonstrating how selfish and shallow he is. She undoubtedly loves him and tells him, "I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine" (1391). However, she knows not everything will be fine, as things are already changing as they have the conversation. The relationship is practically over as the couple sits and waits and, ironically, it is as if they are waiting for the end of their relationship to approach. Here, Hemingway demonstrates the how people can drift apart and alienate each other. It does not take much for people to drift apart and it only takes one difficulty to reveal a person's true colors. The task of being responsible will be more than Jig's boyfriend can bear, a truth she already knows facing her future alone. Hemingway's work encompasses a great deal of characters and circumstances, all intriguing and compelling. His stories grip us with the grit of life, exposing the frailty of humanity through the act of being alive. Things happen and individuals are shaped by their experiences. These experiences range from war to love to

Hemingway used his real life experiences to add a genuine flavor to his stories. His fiction often reveals the pain of life and relationships and while these situations may be disheartening or painful, t we cannot deny they are real and sometimes unavoidable. Sometimes we become out own worse enemy as Jake does in The Sun Also Rises. He never finds the strength to walk away from the people that are enabling his destructive behaviors. Sometimes living is a challenge when we consider the problems associated with aging. "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" allows us to peek into the sadness of old age when we would simply rather not think about it. Sometimes other people make our lives more difficult for many reasons. Love is a reason people stay together until things become difficult. Love then somehow changes into something else; something more painful to accept as is does in "Hills Like White Elephants." Hemingway touches on the sadness of life with these stories but the thing we cannot deny is that they are not fantastical; they are real and this hits us square between the eyes.
Works Cited

Aldrige, John. "The Sun Also Rises: Sixty Years Later." Readings on Earnest Hemingway. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. 1997. Print.

Hemingway, Ernest. "A Clean Well-Lighted Place." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction,

Poetry, and Drama X.J. Kennedy, ed. New York: Longman. 1998. Print.

-. "Hills Like White Elephants." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. II.

Lexington D.C. Heath and Company. 1990. Print.

-. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1970. Print.

Young, Philip. "A Master Key to…