Flaws are what define a character’s personality. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” character flaws are expanded upon to create conflict between the two characters, Jig and the American. The American and Jig, most commonly referred to as the girl, differ on how they handle conflict created by their individual flaws. The girl’s flaws are that she avoids her problems and is subordinate which is contrasted by the American’s flaws of manipulation and being guilty of the fallacious argument: begging the question. Their flaws add context to the title of the story since “white elephants” has double meaning. One meaning of the words signifies it costs more than it is worth and the other meaning refers to the characteristic of how rare
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She sees the problems in her relationship with the American but resorts to sarcasm or deflection instead of discussing them. An example of this is when Jig changes the topic in order to avoid confrontation after the American gets defensive about whether he had seen white elephants or not which eventually leads to them drinking more alcohol. After tasting the drink, she sarcastically remarks that “‘Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe’” (27). The reason she says this is because she is trying to subtly tell him that she is tired of the way they spend their time and wants to spend it in a more original way for a change. Jig is able to add in the tidbit that what she has been waiting for is similar to absinthe. Absinthe can also be referring to a mortifying experience therefore when she compares her hopes for the future to absinthe, she is characterizing them as a mortifying experience. This suggests that her past expectations for the future failed to measure up with her current situation. By not plainly expressing her thoughts and changing the subject, she avoids making the tension in their relationship worse than it is. The problem with not being straightforward is that the American does not pick up on her sarcasm or the hidden meaning of what she is saying which makes it harder for the problems of their relationship to be
She sees the problems in her relationship with the American but resorts to sarcasm or deflection instead of discussing them. An example of this is when Jig changes the topic in order to avoid confrontation after the American gets defensive about whether he had seen white elephants or not which eventually leads to them drinking more alcohol. After tasting the drink, she sarcastically remarks that “‘Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe’” (27). The reason she says this is because she is trying to subtly tell him that she is tired of the way they spend their time and wants to spend it in a more original way for a change. Jig is able to add in the tidbit that what she has been waiting for is similar to absinthe. Absinthe can also be referring to a mortifying experience therefore when she compares her hopes for the future to absinthe, she is characterizing them as a mortifying experience. This suggests that her past expectations for the future failed to measure up with her current situation. By not plainly expressing her thoughts and changing the subject, she avoids making the tension in their relationship worse than it is. The problem with not being straightforward is that the American does not pick up on her sarcasm or the hidden meaning of what she is saying which makes it harder for the problems of their relationship to be