The short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway tells the tale of Jig and the American, two characters with a great deal of ambiguity and complexity arguing about an implicit conflict of which the audience is given very few details. By keeping the nature of their conflict and relationship ambiguous, Hemingway allows the audience to fill in the blanks with their own biases, prejudices, and interpretations. While there are many different interpretations available for “Hills Like White Elephants,” the most plausible explanation is that Jig and the American are (or were) in a relationship, Jig is pregnant, and the American is pressuring her for an abortion.
While the ambiguity of the story is one of its most defining features, there are a few details that help to structure the interpretations that are possible. Two characters spend time at a pub in a Spanish railroad station, talking about their relationship and the “operation” they are meant to be making a decision on (Hemingway). The American is absolutely for the operation, but Jig is more reticent, having to be told by the American: “It’s really an awfully simple operation, JigIt’s not really an operation at all” (Hemingway). The two discuss whether or not the operation will make them happy, and that Jig will “like it” when it is all done, but she is still reticent about proceeding.
One possible interpretation for the short story is that Jig and the American are parting ways as a couple. The setting of a Spanish railroad crossing contributes heavily to a feeling of separation and loss; the two characters are at a stopping point from one place to another, which goes in either direction and carries the possibility for them to split. The two characters seem to have a contentious relationship, given their predilection for focusing on the details around them at first (the types of beer they are drinking, the hills looking like white elephants, etc.). The American, in particular, bickers defensively with Jig when she claims he has never seen a white elephant: “Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything” (Hemingway). When the two characters get down to business and actually discuss the issue at hand, they may be discussing just how their futures will go without each other. Jig, in particular, is tired of their boring, samey and repetitive relationship, stating that “That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks?”; this implies that she wants something more out of her life (Hemingway). The constant use of “we” and “ours” as something they can no longer have can be interpreted as the possibility of the two as a couple dissolving. The American could be read as attempting to get Jig to agree to a breakup in order to save both of their senses of happiness; while he claims he doesn’t want anyone other than Jig, he may be resignedly admitting that despite their love for each other, their relationship is not working and it must end.
However, the most plausible explanation for the conflict that Jig and the American are going through is that they are contemplating an abortion. Here, the American is pressuring Jig to have an abortion; the white elephants could easily be interpreted to symbolize their upcoming baby, with Jig seeing it but doubting the American’s ability to see or recognize it. It is only after the American convinces Jig to get the abortion that he starts to back off slightly, saying that “I’m perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you” as a way to imply that the couple is going through this particular journey together (Hemingway). The divide between the American’s calm, collected pragmatism and Jig’s seeming emotionally and argumentativeness echoes the panic of a boyfriend desperately wanting to avoid the responsibilities of parenthood while also looking at it from a distance that is impossible to reach in the one actually bearing the child. He focuses on the tangible, provable and concrete, controlling the conversation by dictating the rules and pretending to be the more calm, practical one (Smiley 4). The American tells her that “You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it,” implying it is a surprisingly common occurrence that is not talked about often in public; Jig says the same, stating that “afterward they were all so happy” (Hemingway). In the context of abortion, this conversation makes sense – abortion is a taboo even now, but the two discuss the fact that the other couples they knew had abortions and were then relieved of the responsibility and investment a baby requires.
The abortion interpretation of “Hills Like White Elephants” is well supported by the imagery that surrounds the characters, with a few exceptions. The ‘hills’ that surround the characters could symbolize the bulging curves of a pregnant woman, and the railway station itself still serves as a point of no return for the characters to make a fateful decision – this time, it is about aborting their prospective baby. The explicit naming of this decision as an ‘operation’, if taken literally, implies strongly that any important operation that involves the discussion of a couple and the optional nature of the (implicitly medical) operation would likely be an abortion. Though the idea of Jig being pregnant may conflict with her ability to drink beer in the opening pages, this may be indicative of her lack of care for the baby once abortion is set out as an option.
The Americans’ authoritative arguments support both his churlish personality and the increasingly clear context of abortion as their big dilemma. Hemingway frames the abortion argument as a thing that could change the nature of their relationship forever, the American wanting it to be the same, but Jig having second thoughts about it being different. The American tells Jig, “I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else” – while this could be interpreted in a romantic context, this also can be read as him not wanting anyone else in their family, like a baby (Hemingway). By aborting the baby, they can be “just like [they] were before,” a childless relationship that allows them to gallivant across Europe and “try new drinks” (Hemingway). Though Jig previously mentions a sense of unease and boredom with their current lifestyle, the American eventually wears her down with his constant arguments and Jig’s own discomfort about even talking about it: “please please please please please please please please please stop talking” (Hemingway). Finally, when she acquiesces to his demands, Jig says, “there’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine” – this is a lie designed to keep him quiet about the decision (Hemingway). The discomfort and inability to truly face the issue at hand leads even more strongly to an abortion interpretation of their conflict; the sheer emotional closeness and tension inherent to such a decision can easily be read from this perspective.
While there are a number of ways “Hills Like White Elephants” can be interpreted, it is most likely that Jig and the American are talking about whether or not to have an abortion. The hilly, lonely railway station provides a suitable backdrop for the casual-yet-tense conversation a young couple has about the possible responsibilities of having a baby. The American’s controlling, logic-based behavior wears down Jig’s subtle, frustrating feelings about being forced into such a decision, evincing a level of avoidance that might naturally come with a woman being coerced into giving up a baby for the sake of their boyfriend’s idea of what a relationship should be.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." Men Without Women, 1927. Print.
O'Brien, Timothy D. "Allusion, Word-Play, and the Central Conflict in Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephants.'" The Hemingway Review vol. 12, no. 1. 1992. Print.
Smiley, Pamela. "Gender-Linked Miscommunication in 'Hills Like White Elephants'". The Hemingway Review, Fall 1988. Print.
Renner, S. "Moving to the Girl's Side of 'Hills Like White Elephants.'" Hemingway Review, Fall
1995. Vol. 15 No. 1.
