Abortion In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” is a short story that tells the conversation of a young lady and older gentleman of the 1920’s. The two characters, Jig and an older American man are being portrayed from a third person point of view and their thoughts and feeling are sometimes questionable throughout the story. Both characters are at a train station in a valley in Spain drinking. The conversation is about a procedure that the young lady is skeptical about having done. Hemingway’s characters never specifically says what the procedure is but by reading the story and using historical context you can come to the conclusion that the procedure is an abortion. This story consist of a lot of symbolism and leaves questions that the …show more content…
However the feelings and thoughts of both characters are debatable. It is obvious that the American man wants Jig to have an abortion, but we are not sure if his feelings and concern for Jig are sincere. A reader would also not be able to tell if Jig decides to go through with the abortion. Early in the conversation there were signs that Jig wanted to talk about the abortion but not have an argument. The first thing we hear from Jig in the story is about asking for a drink. This could show that Jig wants to drink away her problems or gain the confidence to defend her decision. She also begins to talk about the landscape and when she realizes the conversation is turning she gets aggravated and expresses how she was having a fine time talking about the landscape before the conversation turned. She uses the landscape to refer to the baby. Jig became aggravated when she received her glass of absinthe and it tasted like licorice. It was a shock to her because it made her realize that she did not like what she asked for. This could mean that Jig wanted a baby, but now that she could be possibly having one she’s realizing it may not be what she really