Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants Review

Hills like white elephants, is a sort story written by Ernest Hemingway. It is an important piece of Ernests work from his second collection of short stories Men without women. Hills like white elephants could be tagged as one of the best writings by Earnests. What makes Ernests Hills like white elephants so fascinating is that almost after 9 decades it is still read and it is Ernests fictional masterpiece. One of the traits of Ernests writing is that it is very less descriptive without much detail which compels the reader to put in some extra effort and decode it (Flanders para.1).

Born on July 21 1899 Earnest was an American writer and journalist. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the noble prize in literature in 1954. Hills like white elephants can be stated as a classic example of Ernests work where he just shares enough to keep the reader interested in the story. This omission of detail could be found in most of Ernests work.

Characters of the story: The story revolves around two characters Jig a woman travelling in Europe with her male partner. Throughout the story Ernest does not reveal the relationship between the two; however it appears that they are girlfriend and boyfriend. The man traveling with Jig is only identified as the American.

Setting: Surroundings of the story is something like that it is set up in the mid of 1920s at a station in Zaragoza a city in northeastern Spain where the couple is waiting for the train to Madrid.

Plot of the story: This story based is on exchange of dialogues between a man and a woman. Although the topic of the conversation is not very clear but the statements made from the man makes it pretty obvious that the ongoing discussion is on abortion for the girl. The majority of the story is based on this dialogue between the two characters and some observation of the environment is also included. The title of the story Hills like white elephants is used as both the title as well as its used in the dialogue. The thing which is needed to be grasped from the story is that White Elephant is a symbol for an expensive priced possession which is usually considered as financial burden to maintain. A white elephant is a privilege to own and a symbol of pride but it requires a good bit of financial assistance to maintain its expenses (Stukas para.3).

The woman in the story Jig is a young lady who is pregnant and ageing somewhere less than thirty. The story revolves around the contentious issue that is about Jigs pregnancy and the mans suggestion of abortion. The man initiates the topic of abortion by stating that Its really an awfully simple operation, Jig,

Jig is more than interested in keeping the child and it seems that she is not at all comfortable with an abortion but still she is willing to go with the mans wishes despite her own personal wish. Jig looks very dissatisfied with her lifestyle which according to her is not more than travelling from one town to another, trying different things and having new drinks. She used to enjoy all this but having a baby has opened her eyes and she wants to settle down with the man in peruse of a proper family life. According to The man the current change in Jigs behavior is because of the baby and that because of the baby the couple wont be able to lead their life in the current manner and the easiest possible solution for this is to get an abortion. Therefore the man thinks that the easiest possible way is to have an abortion. The ongoing conflict between the man and Jig doesnt seem to resolve the story. She tries to get the affirmation from the man that after having the abortion their life would be the same again but at one point she sees it is hopeless for her. After the discussion reaches at its peak there is no use of continuing the discussion and further more discussion on the current topic would make the issue even worse. In pursuit of doing that Jig tries to end the discussion by requesting the man to keep quiet. The train is about to arrive in five minutes and both of them are getting ready to leave. The man asks Jigs that if she is feeling better, Jig replies to him with a smile and says that she is fine which presumably not the case is. It is obviously not a happy ending and it is open to speculate that what happened afterwards. Jigs opts to put down her desire of having a baby against her wishes and seems to be ready with the abortion. These sentences leave the reader with their own interpretation of what Jig has decided whether she has decided to abort the baby, or vice versa or she simply decided to put it off for another day (Trejo para.3).

In short we can say that it is very clear that Jig does not want to have abortion, but from the pressure that the man is constantly applying to her she is getting baffled. The man is at his stance which states that after having the abortion their life would become happier and they would be able to enjoy more like they used to enjoy in the past. He tells her its the best thing to do and its perfectly simple and she doesnt have to be afraid.

At the end of the story it could be felt that Jig is ready to have an abortion against her wishes and she made this decision because of the reason that she thinks the man neither understands nor he cares what she wants. Consequently she ends up the conversation by asking the man to please stop talking (Bernardo para.5).

Subject of the story: The story is all about a couple who is travelling in Europe in pursuit of contentment and happiness. On their way to Madrid at the station Jig states her feeling of dissatisfaction with their wandering life style specially now when she is pregnant. She apparently wants to have the baby and settle down to a normal life which can be manipulated by her statement in the story when she symbolizes the greenery and thriving grain fields on one side of the station (Cummings para.12). The man is not interested in having the baby and he suggests Jig to go through an abortion so that they can continue their adventure which would be difficult if they would have a baby. Jig carried out argument to ensure that the man is convinced to the woman to give up her resistance for abortion, but when he carry on with his argument Jig becomes frustrated and says Would you please stop talking?

Things to learn: According to me the meaning behind the story is to present a view according to which it could be stated the significance of having a family. In this case the man appears to be selfish not caring what Jig wants and he is even ready to sacrifice a human life to continue his joyride. He is afraid of responsibility and tries to run away from it. As a typical American perspective the man considers the baby as a White elephant, which is a useless object and expensive to own and maintain.