Jig's Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway

The story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is about an American man and a girl, Jig. Hemingway described this story like an iceberg, where we can see only some parts of the iceberg which is on the water, but we can’t see the parts of the iceberg which is underwater. This story is mostly composed of dialogue with a few pieces of descriptive detail. The American man and Jig are at a small station-bar. They are waiting for the train which will go to Madrid. The story of their conversation is told during the forty minutes of waiting for the train. They both talk about something important, which is Jig’s abortion. They are discussing whether or not Jig should have the abortion. It is hard to know which decision they took at the end …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, when they drink their beer, Jig wants to try a new drink and she says, “I wanted to try this new drink: That’s all we do, isn’t it―look at things and try new drinks?”. It looks like, she is not satisfied with her current life with the American man, and she wants to try her new life with her baby and the American man. When they talk, many times Jig looks at the at the hills; wondering about something else when she looks at the hills. She looks at the white hills and imagines how her belly will look in few months comparing her stomach to the hill. Also, she thinks hills looks lovely. That shows she is not thinking about the abortion; she wants to keep her baby. Meanwhile, Jig stands up and walks to the end of the station, where there are fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Jig sees the growth of the trees and the field of grain, and she thinks about the growth of her child. After seeing this, she says, “And we could have all this”. It means she doesn’t think that her baby is a problem in their relationship as the American man says, but she thinks that they can be happy with their baby together. In the end, when the American man keeps talking about abortion, she says, “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”, and she says that she will scream if he keeps speaking. Clearly, she doesn’t want to talk about the abortion because she …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, the American man’s intension looks clear; he wants Jig’s abortion. Therefore, he keeps pushing Jig for the abortion. However, when jig says, “Then I’ll do it. Beacause I don’t care about me.”, he turns defensive, and he says the first time, “I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way”. There he realizes the first time that Jig doesn’t want to do the abortion and she wants to keep their baby. After that, he continuously repeats, and he also mentions that he is perfectly willing to go through if the baby means anything to Jig. As the story goes on, the American man’s intension of Jig’s abortion become wick. In the end, when Jig says that she will scream if he keeps talking about the abortion; he understands completely Jig’s intension about not to do abortion. Therefore, he takes their bags and carries to the other side of the station. Hemingway does not clarify which way they go, but we do know that they are waiting for the train which will go to Madrid. However, in the end, they go to the other side of the station; assuming, it is probably the way of their