Hemingways "Hills like White Elephants": What Happiness Is

In his short story "Hills Like White Elephants," Hemingway explores the decision making process between what Jig wants for herself through the use of imagery, symbolism, setting, and dialogue. He explores the mental conclusions and breakdown of actions that lead to the final decision to either keep or dispose of the unborn child. Throughout "Hills Like White Elephants" Hemmingway teaches how all people should live their lives by making wise and enlightened decisions. He explores the moral and ethical decisions that all humans must face at some juncture in their life and expresses this by giving the reader an outsiders view into the life of Jig who must figure out what happiness truly is.

It is human nature to over look the reality of a situation and see the good in it even though it makes us unhappy. Jig represented a person of uncertainty about what she truly desired because she did not know what her future held for her. Jig thought she had found happiness in the American Man who she had been traveling hotel to hotel with because that was all she had known. Jig who was uncertain about her future had more likely then not had been alone for most of her childhood and teenage years. Jig's world revolved around this American man and that the only way that she could be happy was to make him happy. The dilemma that Jig was in only came about from the constant push she gave to make the American man happy. If she had not always tried to please the American man she would have never ended up in this situation. To the American she was nothing more then a sexual instrument he could manipulate to do anything he wanted. Hemingway brought this to my attention by only naming the young girl in the story as Jig. This minuet detail in the story reveals many of the decisions, which were made throughout the story, and the final decision Jig made at the end of the story. Interestingly enough the word Jig is a reference to a fishing lure. By using this name Hemingway represented the young girl as someone who was being manipulated by the American to fulfill any desires that he dreamed of. This small but powerful detail explains the reasoning for the setting Hemmingway picked. The American man had forced her into thinking that she needed this abortion so that they could be happy together again and so that they could be the way they were before. "And you think we'll be alright and be happy." "I know we will. You don't have to be afraid. I've known lots of people who have done it" (Hemingway 656). Now that Jig was pregnant, the American was afraid that the baby could ruin his future plans so he manipulated the thoughts of Jig by changing the subject of abortion so that she would not think to deeply about keeping the baby.

Jig reached the point of no return where she had to make a decision to keep the baby or proceed to Madrid where she would have the baby removed. "They're lovely hills, they don't look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees" (Hemingway 655). This is one of the first moments where Jig truly realizes that the embryo inside of her is more then a burden, but a seed, that could bloom into something more beautiful. The coloring of the skin through the trees represented the skin covering her unborn child and the white elephants described the color of the child's skin. This realization that Jig made created an emotional bond between herself and the baby making it even harder for her to choose to have an abortion. This connection made me believe that Jig was actually going to keep the baby, but of coarse Hemingway immediately created dialogue that swayed Jig back to having the abortion. Hemingway hints at this by describing the warm wind that blew the bamboo curtain up against the table. The warm wind represented the air that is let in when an abortion is performed and the table upon which the beads are blown onto reminded me of the operation table on which the surgery would be performed.

Though an abortion at the time seemed to fit the ethical guidelines in their culture they were still leaving their town to have it performed elsewhere. This led me to believe that where they had come from, abortions were not performed on a regular basis. Though abortions may not have been legal in Madrid, it must have been commonplace because Spain's Parliament in 1985 legalized abortion. Jigs decision to keep the baby was purely a moral decision that was not swayed by what society thought was right or wrong. Hemingway revealed that abortions in Spain at the time were commonplace by having Jig and the American reveal that they both knew people who had the operation themselves. "...I've known lots of people that have done it" (American Man). "So have I" (Hemingway 656). Since Jig had no moral or ethical guidelines to follow she seemed to wonder back and forth between the two decisions she was faced with. On one side she believed that if she went through with the operation and had the baby removed she would be happier but on the other side if she kept the baby she could have the warmth and love of a newborn child. The idea of the abortion was never concocted by her own doing, but by the American because if Jig had ever thought up the idea of an abortion she would have never swayed so frequently back and forth between the two decisions she was faced with. The only reason Jig ever thought of having the abortion was because the American was so caught up in what he wanted, he did not care about what she wanted. Within the text the American tried to keep Jigs mindset towards the abortion by giving her alcohol and arguing with her but this did no good because she eventually knew what was right for her.

"The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were 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" (Hemingway 656). At this very moment Jig realized that the piece of flesh that she had thought was a burden to her now defined who she was. Jig saw more then the pale mountains in herself but saw the piece of her that flowed into her soon to be child. Though it may have not made the American happy Jig chose her own destiny that would ultimately make her happy. Hemmingway throughout this piece expresses that those who are truly happy with themselves make their own decisions whether those around them agree with it or not. He took the emotion of happiness and turned into an action that can be used repeatedly to enhance our emotions. Hemmingway proved that at heart all humans can overcome pressures that are brought upon themselves by those they love to make the right decision.

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." Legacies. Eds. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. 654-657.

Ertelt, Steven. "Spain Has More Than 1.1 Million Abortions Since Legalization in 1985." LifeNews.com. August 2007. .