Hills Like White Elephants

"Hills Like Whit Elephants" was written by Ernest Hemingway. The first thing I noticed about this story is how the male in the story was referred to as a man while the female was referred to as a girl. This suggests the time period this story was written in and also that the "girl" was younger than the man was. I also noticed that Hemingway noted that the man was American and said nothing of where the girl was from. I think she may have lived in Barcelona or somewhere in Spain, which was also mention in the first paragraph.

The way that Hemingway writes is very different. The whole story was merely a conversation. When the girl said that the hills looked like white elephants I think it was just a conversation started but the man had something else on his mind. Later the girl says, "They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees." The man mentioned to Jig, which is a really awkward nickname, that it was really a "simple operation." The type of operation is never written out so one can read it but the context clues suggest an abortion.

I could tell that Jig was young and very naïve, she was very insecure and needed to be constantly reassured. This is why much of their conversation was repetitious. The man describes the operation by saying, "It’s just to let the air in." I think referring to an abortion like this can only come from someone who is ignorant and inexperienced. The girl wants the man to be happy and doesn’t care about herself. The man tells her that everything will be like it was before because "it" is the only thing making them unhappy. Through her uneasiness I could sense that Jig did not want to have the operation. The girl was simply a "girl" and only wanted to make him happy and would go through with the operation.