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The Symbolic Decision
Hemingway's short story "Hills Like white Elephants" touches on an issue as ageless as time communication problems in a relationship. He tells his story through conversations between the two main characters, an American and a girl. Hemingway creates conflict through dialogue as these characters face what most readers believe to be the obstacle of unexpected pregnancy. The plot is further complicated by their inability to convey their differing opinions to each other. The most striking feature of this story is the way in which it is told. It is not a story in the classical sense, with an introduction, a development of the story and an end, but we just get some time in the life of two people, as if it were just a piece of a film where we have much to deduce. Hemingway uses a plethora of symbols and images like words, landscape, and many more other objects to convey the idea that the young girl, Jig, is ambivalent to having an abortion and that her older American boyfriend does not want to have the baby. Symbolism and imagery are two effective tools used to reveal conflict between two couples in this story.
Everything in the tale is related to the ideas of fertility and barrenness. This main topic can be seen from the title "Hills Like White Elephants," where hills refer to the shape of the belly of a pregnant woman, and white elephant is an idiom that refers to a useless or unwanted thing. In this situation the unwanted thing is the fetus they are going to get rid of. A white elephant has also been defined as an item that is worthless to one, but priceless to another, bringing to mind the saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." In the case of Hemingway's couple, the baby represents something of no apparent value to the man, yet the baby is priceless to the girl.
The impression the reader gets when he reads the story is that he is in the middle of a dry barren place under the sun, with no shade or trees "The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees […]" (11).This image reinforces the idea of lack of life, but in contrast the characters are in the warm shadow of the building where life is. This emphasizes the pregnancy of the woman and fertility. Everything around them, including the American, is part of this idea of fertility, as he is also apart form the barrenness and sharing the shadow. They are also hiding from the sun in the warm shadow, as they try to hide and escape from the decision they will make. "Come on back in the shade," (14) shows that he try to avoid the decision.
The land description is also an important symbol in this story. When Jig looks at one side of the train station, she sees "the country was brown and dry" (11). However, Jig looks in a different direction and she sees "fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees" (1). The two different descriptions are significant because they symbolize the choice that Jig has to make, to have the baby or abort it. The dry countryside represents her feelings if she does not have the baby. The countryside with grain represents fertility. The river represents life, the life of the baby. Right now, Jig does not know if she is going to keep the unexpected child and her boyfriend wants their life as it used to be, without pregnancy, but the final decision is Jig's decision. The shadow going across the field also could mean what society would think of her if she keeps the baby and that socially how they would not accept her or the child because she is not married. Moreover, it almost seems that Jig would want to stay pregnant, seeing it as being more beautiful and full of life. Nevertheless the reader never knows what she is going to do.
Moreover, the story contains the word "two" throughout it, which reinforces the idea that Jig and her boyfriend are not ready to be a three-unit family, that they are happy right now with two people. They had "two glasses of beer and two felt pads," and the train only "stopped at this junction for two minutes" (14).Other references to this are Jig grabbed just "two stings" of beads (1), and they only had "two heavy bags" (14). They are not ready for a child and that is why there is an emphasis on the word two. Ironically, the word two could also mean that Jig feels that she is ready to have the baby. She could be seeing herself and the baby as two and thus she is thinking of keeping the baby.
In the beginning of the story, Jig and her boyfriend are waiting for a train in the valley of Ebro. They did not take a car or any other customary means of transportation. Thus, the train means choice. On a train, the track can only lead one way or go in the opposite direction, which means that Jig has not made a decision about what she is going to do. At the end of the story, we still do not know that Jig is going to do or what train she is going to take.
Everyday people make decisions that affect their future lives. Do people make the right decisions? What makes a decision a right one? Jig has an undesirable choice to make, to abort the baby she is carrying or to let it live, and in the end, we still do not know what she is going to do. The man does not want the baby and will say or do almost anything to make Jig feel the same way. Then Jig will believe that if she will abort the baby "everything will be fine" (1); however, not everything will be fine. Everything will not be fine because Jig knows that having the child will make her look like a whore in the eyes of her community, thus she knows that she has to get rid of the baby, but in her heart she want to keep it, for she waited for the baby so long, Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things youve waited so long for, like absinthe (1).
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