"Hills Like White Elephants"- I love this story!!

I have read "Hills Like White Elephants" at least three times now, and each time it gets better and better. I remember the first time I read it in tenth grade, and I was not sure what to think about it. I thought it was odd, and I definitely did not understand what was going on. At this point, my English teacher was extremely modest, and rather conservative, so discussing this story was a little awkward. However, this also made it entertaining. I’m pretty sure I did not understand the meaning behind this story until my teacher uncomfortably brought up the topic of abortion. I remember that initially, I was confused as to how abortion had anything to do with this story. However, as we more closely read the text, I began to notice things that I did not originally.

            This is my all-time favorite Ernest Hemingway story. I love how Hemingway characterizes both the man and the woman in the play. For the man, the abortion is not a big deal. He seems so detached from the topic, not thinking about how it would affect “Jig.” The girl on the other hand, keeps going back and forth between wanting to talk about the subject and wanting to completely avoid it. She is much more hesitant when it comes to having the surgery. It is almost as if she is going back and forth between choosing to keep the baby, or choosing to keep the American. I think it is interesting how she is trying her hardest to confirm with the American that he will still be around and love her after and if she has the surgery. She seems so unwillingly dependent on the American.

I love how Hemingway develops these two complex characters without giving them names. However, he does give the woman a nickname. I believe this supports the readers’ perception of the man. The fact that he is almost forcing the woman to have the surgery done in such an unsympathetic way sort of creates this evil character image. Because he is not given a name, he is even less personal to the readers. Although the woman is not given a name, she is given a nickname, which in many cases makes her even more personal than she would be if she just had a name. We usually don’t call people by nicknames unless we are closer to them, or at least on a friend level. Hemingway immediately puts us, the readers, on that personal, friend level with “Jig.”

Last but not least, I love the way Hemingway uses “white elephants” as part of the opening dialogue between the two characters. Even though the woman is describing the hills in the distance, we immediately realize that there is something present between the couple acting as a true white elephant. We also immediately get a taste for the man’s personality and attitude towards the whole situation when he responds with, “I’ve never seen one,” referring to her comparison. We know that he is uninterested and extremely unsympathetic. I am so happy that we read this story- I love discussing it!