The dialogue functions significantly to introduce the conflicts and advances the action through the climax and resolution in “Hills Like White Elephants”; however, Hemingway does not directly tell what the characters want but show their stakes through the subtexts. The man says to Jig that “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig… It’s not really an operation at all”; the man tries to convince Jig to abort by impressing an abortion is not risky as Jig thinks (Hemingway 591). However, Jig does not say anything after the man brings the topic of abortion; her silence implies that she does not want to talk about it. However, the man keeps talking about the abortion because he cannot postpone their issue. If she is too late to decide, she has
