Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

¶ … Hills Like White Elephants" -- Ernest Hemingway

Will the couple agree to an abortion?

Jig, the girlfriend, knows she is going to have to give in to the man and have the abortion, and there are hints and there is foreshadowing (albeit very subtle) that provide the clues. This paper reviews the subtleties and on pages 2 and 3 points to specific passages that suggest she will in fact give in to him and abort the baby.

Subtle Hints in the Narrative

The reader knows from a careful study of the short story that these two have traveled together and are very familiar with each other's positions on the issue at hand. It is obvious from the start that there is tension between the two, and the fact that a train is on its way adds to the heightened tension. Hemingway is well-known for his brilliant use of allegory, metaphor and imagery. Could the fact that the couple is seated between the train tracks suggest that the decision could go either way -- and that the author did not want to be definitive about the outcome because keeping critics and scholars guessing over the years will keep the story alive and even create an endless literary mystery?

In the first paragraph of the story there is a hint that the decision to abort or not to abort the child could go either way and that both avenues are wide open to the pair. "…There was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun." The sun was beating down on the train station area like a spotlight -- hence the only place to hide from the reality of making a decision was in the shade created by the building.

Since setting is relevant to the deeper meaning of a story, including this one, it can also be suggested that her goals are pure. She sees white and that is the color of a baby just emerging from the womb of a Caucasian woman. Indeed it is Jig, the woman, who sees white hills that look like elephants. "The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry," Hemingway writes.

The fact that she said the Anis del Toro tastes like liquorice ("Toro" is Spanish for "bull"), and that "…everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe," shows a sarcastic side of her. She hasn't waited for absinthe -- she has waited to have a child, which every woman with strong maternal instincts waits patiently for.

Three Supporting Examples

ONE: Jig is worrying that an abortion will change their relationship. This is a perfectly natural thing for a woman to worry about. If I go ahead, she asks, and if she has an abortion "…things will be like they were and you'll love me?" An alert reader knows things are never quite like they were, and it is impossible to go back to the beginning of their romance which likely was very hot and sweet. She is saying, okay I'll do it but please love me. His answer is non-committal vis-a-vis what he might be like after the baby is aborted. "I love you now," is not saying sure I will love you then. And "You know I love you" seems more like a defensive mechanism than a sincere promise. It's like saying "Of course I love you…" which is not a very sincere or romantic way of assuring one's partner that love is true and will remain steadfast.

She wants to know that "…it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you'll like it?" In other words, she is asking if he will change and not be negative to things she says like he was earlier in the story. But again, the chances of a man changing is pretty slim. The bottom line is she doesn't trust that his love is forever, and the thought of raising the baby alone is likely sneaking into her mind, so she is reluctantly agreeing to abort the child.

TWO: If a man doesn't want his sweetheart to have a baby he would say what the man in this story said again and again, that he doesn't want her to do anything she doesn't want to do. That is his awkward way of letting her know what he wants. And the hint is that if she has the baby he won't be around to help raise it. She picks it up between the lines. Finally she agrees because "I don't care about me." This is a cryptic, sarcastic way of saying okay you win I'll have it because I really don't care what happens to me. "Everything will be fine" is an insincere but important moment in the story; it means that once she agrees, he will win, and he will have gotten his way in this drama. She walked to the end of the station after saying she doesn't care about herself and saw "The shadow of a cloud" moving across the field and that was the foreshadowing by Hemingway that she knows she will lose the baby.

THREE: The alert reader can obviously see that the man is less than forthcoming about his real feelings; yes, he wants the abortion but he uses language that strips any possible sincerity away. "I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you," he said, alluding to having the child. Imagine a sincere man who really truly cares about his girlfriend's feelings saying "…if it means anything to you" he would "go through with it." That sounds like he would grin and bear it, like he would endure the hardship of her having a baby, a real turn-off if you are the woman in a relationship and the man who got you pregnant says he's willing to "go through with it." Of course it means the world to her and of course she fully senses his reticence to have the baby. Men can never be expected to understand the maternal juices flowing inside a woman, and he clearly does not care. "Doesn't it mean anything to you?" she asks, adding, "We could get along."