The jig is a form of lively folk dance in compound meter, as well as the accompanying dance tune. In Hills Like White Elephants, jig can symbolize the fact that Ernest Hemingway dances around the topic of Jig being pregnant and deciding on whether or not to get an abortion. Another thing that the name Jig might be symbolic of is a jigsaw. A jigsaw is a tool that one uses to build things. Jig can be compared to a jigsaw because she is often seen as the victim of the man. In other words, one can say that she is being used as a tool for pleasure by the American man. Jig tends to be very submissive to the man and only cares about how he feels. She would rather do something to make him happy than herself. The author shows us this by saying, “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me” (Hemingway 313). Lastly, one can see that the name that Ernest Hemingway gives the main character, Jig, is considered symbolic in different ways.
All in all, Ernest Hemingway’s short story, Hills Like White Elephants, uses the term white elephant, the landscape, and the name Jig to show symbolism throughout the