The first thought in reading the title of the short story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is to wonder what the title means. Once the reader gets into the story and becomes caught up in the interaction between the man and his female companion, the title may slip away after the first and second mention as symbolism and the author’s presentation of gender characteristics. However important and interesting the other aspects of Hills Like White Elephants may be, it is proposed that the entire story is based around the premise of the representation of the hills as the girl’s body that directs the conversation between the pair.
In order for the concept of the hills symbolizing the body of the girl, it is important to agree that the “operation” of which the couple speaks is an abortion. Hemingway does not absolutely confirm this and there are some readers that contend it has another meaning, but in the context of the conversation all clues point to ending the pregnancy as being the topic of the story. It is apparent from the mention of suitcases with many tags that the couple has been traveling together for some time and the man has been happy with the situation (792). He refers to the girl at one point as “Jig”, which is another word for a toy or a carefree dance; in effect, he views her as a plaything to amuse him (page). When she becomes less compliant, he keeps repeating how the operation is simple and he will be there with her. He attempts to address any objection she may have, professing his love and fidelity and they will be happy afterward, implying they were not currently happy.
Hemingway refers to the characters as a man and a girl, not a woman. As she has become pregnant, she is fertile. As she looks at the mountains initially, she compares their appearance to that of white elephants with their skin showing through the trees (788). Further in the poem, the girl walks to the end of the station where the fields have grain and there are trees along the river (page). Then a cloud passes over the field, possibly representing the difficult decision she must make. The side with the hills is dry and brown. Nevertheless, the girl thinks the hills are “lovely” (page). Another aspect of the bleak landscape surrounding the “white elephants” is the period of time when the story takes place. When Hemingway published the short story in 1927, extramarital pregnancies were a social stigma; Jig would have had problems finding employment and acceptance within the community unless her boyfriend married her and the impression was that he preferred a lifestyle free of responsibilities.
The hills are white elephants symbolizing something no one wants; in the story, the unwanted “thing” is the unborn child. The land surrounding them is brown and unpleasing while the land without the mountains is green and inviting. As the hills become the pregnancy that diminishes the girl’s relationship with the man, eliminating it would create a situation where everything was “fine” and “happy”. Hills or mountains are also obstacles that must be overcome to continue a journey. Jig’s decision whether or not to have the abortion will determine how she will overcome the issue of the pregnancy; either option will change the way her life has progressed to this point.
The Legend of the White Elephant is that the King of Siam gave them as gifts to couriers he didn’t like because although they were a prized possession, the upkeep of an elephant was expensive and they were difficult to regift (AlbinoPhant). The American man may have seen the unwanted child also as difficult to eliminate from his life and expensive in terms of limiting his freedom and affecting his relationship with Jig. Also, elephants are wild animals, and the man and Jig have been living a “wild” life to this point. In India, the white elephant is a symbol of increased power, similar to the strength Jig received when she made the decision to keep the child, changing her perception of the baby from being a burden to being a prized possession (Crystalinks). The symbol of the white elephant is also linked to fertility and knowledge. As they became more rare, finding a white elephant became a time for celebration.
Later, the girl states that the hills don’t look like white elephants at all (page). In other words, she has come to see her child as not being unwanted. The reader has the feeling that she has decided that her relationship with the man is irreparably damaged by his attitude toward the pregnancy and that she is going to keep the baby. Her view of the mountains has changed and they are no longer bleak but pleasing, as is her pregnancy. They are white and may symbolize the purity of motherhood. The shape of the hills may even bring to mind the roundness of a woman’s abdomen in her final months before birth. Another reference to elephants may be the fact that the subject of the pregnancy and the man’s urging her to terminate it looms over their entire conversation even though it may not be in the process of being discussed; it is the “elephant in the room”.
The man also states he has never seen a white elephant before, perhaps an allusion to his never having had a child (788). Jig also makes a reference that may be interpreted as saying that he has not traveled as much as she has and therefore not been exposed to one. This could be a foreshadowing of her emergence from his shadow into becoming her own person in deciding the outcome of the pregnancy. The man argues that he may have seen one and that the girl wouldn’t know; this could mean that he has had a pregnancy with another woman or that he has traveled more than she thinks he had. The man also has no interest in the topic of elephants and in the course of the story never refers to a baby, only to the “operation” and “it” (792). The conversation, in fact, has very little actual dialogue aside from the man’s coercion for the girl to have the operation. They are in the station approximately 40 minutes, yet they speak only about 12 minutes. Long periods of silence are left between the times the couple speaks, demonstrating how their strained relationship is no longer amusing for him. Jig recognizes that even if she were to have the abortion, their situation would never return to what it was before and they would not “have the whole world” (page).
Some interpretations of the story are that Jig has become more accepting of the idea of having an abortion, recognizing her compromised position in a society unforgiving of an illegitimate child and her partner intimating he is not interested in marriage. By stating that she is “fine”, she is giving in to his repeatedly pushing her toward a procedure that is neither safe nor easy for her. However, when the roles change from his discomfort with her attitude, demonstrated by having another drink alone at the bar (792) and her more confident demeanor, this points more strongly to her deciding to take her future in her own hands.
Works Cited
AlbinoPhant,. "What Is A White Elephant And A White Elephant Gift?". AlbinoPhant- White
Elephant Gift Source. N.p., 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Crystalinks. "Elephants - White Elephants - Crystalinks". Crystalinks.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 10
Apr. 2016.
Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: WW Norton & Co Inc., 2014.
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