In Ernest Hemingway’s short story, Hills Like White Elephants, two characters were introduced – the American and the girl. After my first run-through of the story, I did not come to a conclusion that the couple was on the subject of abortion; however, I was able to understand the message behind Hemingway’s work after reading the story for a second time. First off, I realized that there was a strong connection between the setting and the characters. Hemingway pointed out that the couple was sitting at a train station ‘between two lines of rails in the sun.’ He also indicated that they were between Barcelona and Madrid which are two main cities located in Spain. With the setting he provided, Hemingway’s purpose may have been to show that the couple is stuck in a situation that requires for one to make a decision that will potentially determine their course and future. After a close interpretation of the text, I’ve noticed that neither of the two mentioned anything about pregnancy or abortion. In addition, the husband did not straight out confirmed his support for the abortion but instead, he tried to act a bit indifferent while using the method of “I’ll support you no matter what” in order to get his point across. The girl was aware of his intentions; henceforth, she responded by telling him not to talk about it anymore. Overall, Hemingway does a great job with using symbolisms through the characters and the setting in order to provide a message to the audience. His usage of dialogues allowed me to see the difference between the two main characters. The amazing thing about his work was the fact that everything seemed as if it was purposely meant to be interpret a second time or so.

The setting in "Hills Like White Elephants" is as fundamental to the story as any of the other main elements, as relevant as even the characters or dialogue. In the beginning it establishes a location so that the reader can visualize where the interaction takes place. Later, however, the setting becomes symbolic of the choice that is weighing heavily on the two main characters. The hills for example, represent beautiful yet distant possibilities and are separated from the characters by a valley. This valley could represent the detriments and social conventions that often become obstacles to having a baby as opposed to terminating the pregnancy. The hills are white, a color which traditionally symbolizes innocence and purity, which also solidifies their significance as the glowing possibility of keeping the baby in my mind. The diverging railroad tracks also signify the two monumental choices that the characters are struggling to decide between; and the characters are in between the two tracks, just as they are in between the two choices, waiting to arrive at a conclusive decision. This symbolism is clearly meticulously planned to implicitly express the scope of emotions and possibilities the characters are struggling with without stating them outright. This technique also allows the reader to interpret these things however they may, which permits them to empathize more fully with the characters and leads to many unique interpretations because we are not told how to interpret the story.

In the "Hills Like White Elephants", Hemingway uses tons of symbolism that allow readers to guess or interpret the story in several different ways. Although the topic of their conversation is never said outright, the couple in the story seem to be discussing abortion and whether or not the woman should go along with it. They allude to a simple 'operation' that the woman may or may not go through and they would be perfectly happy if she did it. The man tells her that he will go along with her either way she chooses but as the story progresses, you get the feeling that the man might be hoping that she goes for the abortion. The magic of the story is that with the limited detail about the characters and their history, the reader can decide for him/herself what the story really means. ( )

In the story “Hills like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway uses many metaphors to keep the reader thinking. These metaphors illustrate a connection between the physical nature of the story and a debate over pregnancy between The Man and The girl. The hills described in the story can be referred to as breasts, which imply pregnancy and fertilization. These hills are a way for Hemingway to give the reader a side to chose in the debate on whether The girl is pregnant or not. Beyond the fertile white hills is a barren desert, which is The man’s side of pregnancy. He sees beyond the beautiful hills and into the desert which is implied to be flat and plan, or infertile and not pregnant. Hemingway does not give enough information for me to take a stand on whether The girl is pregnant or not but based on his suspicious sexism, I would bet on anything that demeans her as a character. Hemingway also uses unequal and sexist traits by establishing names such as “the man” and “the girl.” This could be related to the nature of the character or possible the simple fact that Hemingway was a sexist person. In one of Hemingway’s novels, “The Jungle” women characters get raped, ruin the men’s jobs and are constantly put down as demeaning characters. “Hills like White Elephants is a story that does not have a right answer which is why I enjoyed it. It gives the reader the freedom to know that their interpretation is neither right nor wrong.

In the short story, “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, there are many significant symbols that make the story so interesting. One of the first symbols are the white hills. The girl sees these hills as a mother’s breasts which imply fertility and birth because she might be pregnant. But over the beautiful white hills, there is a barren desert, and this is the main focus of the man. He sees her as the barren desert, meaning that she is not pregnant and infertile. Another interesting art of this story is how Hemingway calls the characters “the man” and “the girl”. Granted, they are of those sexes, but why not call them “the man” and “the woman”, or “the boy” and the “the girl”? This illustrates Hemingway’s true sexism and how he does not see women as equals to men. The story also makes you think at the end when the girl says, “I feel fine. There’s nothing wrong with me, I feel fine” (Hemingway 573). This makes you wonder if the girl is really pregnant, or if she is fine because she is not. I believe she is pregnant because it seemed that is what was going to make her happy, but the story leaves you thinking, which is really why I enjoyed reading it.