Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

Conversations can seem like words and sentences being passed back and forth between one another, but looking deeper, they divulge a larger idea. A person’s meaning can be more than just the words they are speaking, very much like and iceberg; 1/8 of the iceberg is visible, but under the surface, the true size is revealed. Ernest Hemingway used this technique in his short story “Hills like White Elephants.” The story is about two people, a man and a woman, sitting at the train station having beers and talking. At first it is just small talk, but then the man brings up the fact that the woman, Jig, should have the operation. Throughout the conversation, Jig asks if they will be happy afterwards and go back to how they were before. Jig isn’t happy with the relationship and in the end, decides to break it off with the man. The story starts with the couple waiting for a train at a train station. The American orders two beers, big beers. Throughout the whole story, alcohol is involved between the two. The couple orders multiple drinks and Jig says that “That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks” (552). Jig is …show more content…
A white elephant is an unwanted gift that a person was given. The person who received the gift feels that it is awkward and not something that they like or enjoy. Usually it can be something that a person would want to get rid of. When Jig mentions that the hills look like white elephants, she is comparing the hills to her unborn child. Later in the story she says that “they don’t really look like white elephants” implying that maybe she wants to keep the child (553). She wants to get the man talking about a life with a child and if he would want to stay with her. He continues to tell her to get the abortion and never suggests that he would want to stay with her and keep the