Hills Like White Elephants - Literary Analysis
The short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemmingway
From the first paragraph the setting immediately introduces the tense atmosphere that will surround the rest of the story. The story takes place in Spain in the late 1920’s. The setting is described as follows:
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. […] The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid.
The couple is in the middle of making a drastic decision where there are only two choices, two directions, just like the two rail lines that pass by the station. The openness and loneliness around the railroad station imply that there is no way to back out of the problem at hand and that the man and the girl must address it now. The heat turns the scene into a virtual teakettle, boiling and screaming under pressure. The landscape that encompasses the station plays a fundamental role in the conflict of the story through its extensive symbolism.
When the girl sees the long and white hills she says that “they look like white elephants.” As she observes the white hills she foresees elatedly the birth of her baby – something unique like the uncommon white elephant. The color white symbolizes the innocence and purity of her unborn child. She also admires the rest of the scenery:
The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were the fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees..
The fields of grain and trees represent fertility and fruitfulness, which symbolize her current pregnant state and the life in her womb. The Ebro River also represents life, as it germinates the fields. Just as the girl appreciates the panorama and its connection to her unborn child the “shadow of a cloud,” which represents the abortion of the fetus, overcomes her happiness. After an exchange of words with the man she again looks at the scenery, but this time in a different way, as the following sentence illustrates: “They sat down at the table and the girl looked across the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.” The man is obviously in favor of the abortion, and everything he says is an effort to persuade her into it. As she considers his point of view she looks at the dry side of the valley, which is barren and sterile, symbolizing her body after the abortion. The man and woman continue arguing and stop for a little when she says, “Would you please please please please please please please please stop talking?”
He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.
The American apparently wants this abortion because he wants to keep his current lifestyle. The bags with all the hotel labels on them are symbolic of his vivacious spirit. If the woman goes ahead with the pregnancy, he would have to settle down and raise a family, which would mean forgoing his youthful desires of seeing the world.
The story ends with the couple expecting their train’s arrival in five minutes. There is no resolution and there is no decision stated regarding the abortion. Hemmingway’s interweaving of setting and symbolism helps him juice each sentence to provide maximum detail. This story was not only intended for the pleasures of reading, but also though provocation. Hemmingway has intentionally left the readers to conclude for themselves what will happen next.
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44 Responses to “Hills Like White Elephants - Literary Analysis”
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Feed: 
Go for the gold
ooooooommmmmggggggg how confusing was dat?!?!?!?!?!?!
I don`t think you are right about the girl not having the abortion. Because in the story, she says that she will do, in fear of their relationship to change. If she agrees to the “simple” operation, they will be happy again, and things will be like they used to….
In my own opinion, the story portrays that there is really no abortion process being committed because the girl realizes that she couldn’t have everything when the abortion is done.
There is a line in the story where she said “Once it is has been taken away, you’ll never get it back”
That’s true since the life of the baby will never get it back once it is being aborted.!!
I agree with Maurice. There is also a point in the story where the girl is looking at dry dead land symbolizing no life (or the abortion) and that was where the couple was headed at first. But towards the end of the story the man picks up their luggage and they decide to go on the train that is leading the opposite direction, a direction where it is described that the the girl saw sunshine, trees, mountains and a river, all major symbols of life. So by choosing to go in that direction i believe it symbolically tells us that they chose not to have the abortion.
a white elephant is not “something unique and uncommon.” it’s a symbolic description of something that is often large, mostly useless, and expensive to maintain.
I dunno know, sorta stupid opinion, but I think that maybe, like if the white elephants symbolize something unwanted, maybe the couple did decide on abortion. =P
In addition, maybe the baby could cost too much to support, so they could decide on abortion. I dunno… =P
interesting story…..symbols of life dramatise our life tooo….
This story was very interesting,but at the same time rather confusing…Even with its lack of obviousness I somewhat enjoyed it…The excitment you feel when you figure out the meanings of the symbols and settings is priceless..
I believe this was a essay full of rhetoric appeals and delma’s that girls have to face daily, i think there is no final solution in fear the man will leave, or will choose to leave due to an unhappy decision. I agree with the analysis, yet i found more meaning behind each detail. this is a major pathos appeal.
I could write forever but i’ll just make a few notes. Firstly, I completely agree with evil bat on this one. the story is initially void of clues unless you are familiar with certain allusions like “white elephant”……..OMG! and Zoogs, good work on noticing that point. they did go the opposite direction. But how do know in which direction abortion awaits? However, Jig does smile when the man said he was taking the bags on the other side.
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In line 73 she said “we could have everything everyday we make it more impossible.” In line 75 the man said ‘no we can’t.” From my own point of view if the girl keep the pregnancy she is going to lose the man so i think she agree to do the abortion so she can have the man
i think the white elephat symbolizes surgory that she was gitting pressured into by the man in the storie
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Just to say, a white elephant is a phrase for a precious gift that you can’t give away. I dont think he was using white to symbolize innocence. A white elephant is an expression in its own form.
for me the white elephant is something which obviously does not exist, it is a dream. Jigs dream is to have the baby and it is her white elephant. the girl wants the baby. it is her dream to have it and to have a family, a normal life. she does not want to travel anymore whereas the american boy is afraid of taking serious action. he is afraid to have the baby to have a normal life and in one paragraph he says:”it’s perfectly simple ; it’s really an awfully simple operation,jig ; (and the best one) WE’LL BE FINE AFTERWARD”. here you an see that the american thinks that now it is not fine.
there is another thing; Ernest gives us the chance to finish his sentences look:
I’m perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you BECAUSE IT MEANS NOTHING TO ME” the man said. hehe, i think i could help.
i think it’s very meaningful to name the girl “jig”. in my opinion the writer himself writes what he thinks. otherwise why a writer names a character “jig”.is there anyboy who can comment on this issue?
iunno, but the quote that kinda stuck to me was
“It tastes like liquorice.’ the girl said and put the glass down. Thats the way with everything. Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.”
iunno why, but a pun is obvious from the start that it says liquorice but supposed to be licorice.. all the same, she talks about how everything you’ve been waiting for especially (and everything else) is depressing and seems to motivate for a person to drink.
well from my point of view this story is about how the protagonist is pregnant and is considering an abortion however she is basing her decision on the antagonist in this occasion the man and because she never gives us a clue if she had it already or not
well in my opinion you are right but I really can’t get the moral from this story so I wish someone geve me the moral from these story please
about the girl i think she didn’t do the oportion because there’s final words (Ifeel fine ) that the girl will not do the oportion & got bak to the home
I need some one send the moral on my E_mail please
( Aref_1986@yahoo.com ) I’m on waiting
thats ok
She gives up her white elephant, that’s what I think the moral is. She gives up her dreams for someone else and lets the man decide for her to keep or abort her baby. I think the moral is that you should not lose yourslf to someone else, because by the end I do feel like the woman has lost herself and will never see white elephants again.
i agree with ayse about the matter ”jig”
Why would she be drinking alcohol if she is pregnant? And I also believe the name ‘jig’ should have some sort of meaning.
the white elephant means purity or innocence. it’s the same symbol buddhists use for the baby siddartha. This is true for babies since they are pure and innocent
I think the ending will ultimately be decided by the love the man has for the woman. We know the woman is willing to abort her baby, but what about the man? Isn’t love so amazing, that it can guide people in so many wonderful ways (although sometimes things can turn for the worst)?
I also thought that the girl in the end kept the baby. “I feel fine” means that the pregnancy is nothing wrong and she can deal with it quite well. I don´t know what jig is supposed to mean and what meaning it has in the story??
And to Liane: We learned that alcohol is bad for pregnant women but I think that´s a rather new information. I don´t think they knew it in the time Hemingway wrote it in.
There is a point when it says jig can see the ebro river through the trees. this little bit of setting shows that jig is leaning towards keeping the baby and the man wants the abortion. River symbolizes life but the man wants to act like the trees to change her mind. And just to make people think about her name “Jig” dumb it down a little and think about the little dance people do when they are happy… if you read closely what the man says it seems like he has been in this position before so it is the same old dance for him…. same old jig.
No abortion happened!
Just because a woman says “I feel fine” doesn’t mean that she feels fine. Sometimes that means that everything is NOT fine. It depends upon the tone she uses, which Hemingway leaves for each reader to decide.
The “girl” is drinking alcohol because the story was written in 1927. They didn’t know that drinking/smoking, etc. was harmful to the fetus.
I agree with the person who anilized this story!! with Hemmingway you have to read inbetween the lines!! i agree with you.. Good Job
it really depends on your approach in analyzing this. but it is really useful to analyze in a formalist way so u really can read between the lines and see every detail to decide the best conclusion. there are many ironies, but these support the overall theme. so don’t conclude hastily.
I think that the guy did not care about jig, and seems like he wanted the abortion to happen, so that way he wont feel like he has to stay with her, if he doesnt want to. He can keep travelling and live his american dream…
I think you need to take into account the context in which Hemingway himself wrote in. All of his other short stories are in conjunction with the idea that the main character loses something that he or she holds up as essential to their happiness. I believe we can concur that Jig DID have an abortion simply because that is a theme that runs ravid throughout Hemingway’s other stories, primarily where this story surfaces, in “Men Without Women”.
so the railroad tracks are like cross roads theres only 1 path two of them can take 1 without the man and 1 without the baby
I feel there is an need for students to learn about life through this matter…painful objections and feelings of obligation.
en mi opinion este cuento es muy confuso pero despues de leer entre lineas pude sacar y deducir que ella estaba enbarazada ,como es posible que por el amor de un hombre ella haya aceptado hacerce un aborto , por un hombre y su amor hoy dia todavia se ven esas cosa , deverdad que me gusto mucho yo estoy haciendo un analisis d el cuento y hasta ahora todo vA BIEN!
First off, it is obvious that the man does not ‘love’ the woman. He is pressuring her to do this. This is also apparent in his nickname for her, ‘Jig’.
The woman was not American, and she was not from Spain either, considering she had her baby daddy translate. Now, she knows what a white elephant is. In the 1920’s, white elephants were valued in India. The Indians could not work the elephants because they were special. They appeared to be ‘blessed’ because of these elephants. However, they still had to pay for the upkeep. At the same time, the elephant was useless, expensive, AND valued. Paradoxical, huh?
So, if she had SEEN a white elephant, which she said she had, she might have been from India, a woman with darker skin. Thus, jig might be short for the slang term jigaboo.
And also, as a side note, absinthe, licorice, and ingredients in each of the drinks the man ordered are used to induce miscarriages.
White elephants being the symbol for fertility in this case can shed some light on the question of the abortion. Considering that they are in a place with “no shade and no trees” in the distance there are object that symolize fertile and pure life. Trees,the river, mountains and field of grain. This to me tells that she did not have the abortion.
wait..this might be a dumb question..
but if the main character is indeed pregnant…then why is she drinking beer? I know, I know..she is drinking beer because she it doesn’t matter since she is going to abort the the baby, so it wouldn’t really matter i guess. But, it seems like she is in favor of keeping the baby..so why would she damage the baby with alcohol. am i wrong here?
Melissa, in the 1920’s people did not know that drinking and smocking hurts the fetus, and i think the girl did not have an abortion because the man put their bags in “other tracks.” Symbolizing a new direction.
EVERYTHING IN THIS STORY IS SYMBOLIC. THE FACT THAT THE STORY WAS WRITTEN IN 1920 AND THAT THERE WRE GOIN FROM SPAIN TO MADRID IS SYMBOLIC BECAUSE IN THE 1920′S ABORTION WRE ILLEGAL IN SPAIN. THE WHITE ELEPHANT IS SOMETHING UNWANTED AND HARD TO MAINTAIN WHICH IS SYMBOLIC OF THE BABY WHICH IS UNWANTED BY THEM AND PROBABLY HARD TO MAINTAIN. THE LABELS ON THE SUITCASE SHOW THAT THEY HAVE BEEN TO MANY HOTELS, AND SINCE HE IS AMERICAN, SHE IS A GIRL JUST FOR HIM TO HAVE FUN WITH, BUT THEN SHE GOT PREGNANT.
The white elephants have a double meaning: they are the uncommon, unique gift for the girl, and an expensive, useless thing for the man. They symbolize at the same time something she wants and something he refuses to accept. She is obviously unhappy to carry the abortion, and he tries to persuade her.