From a feminist point of view, Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"
uses a plethora of symbols to convey the idea that a young girl named Jig is a typical woman dealing with a woman's choice. Although the word abortion is never used in the story, the reader is lead to that conclusion through the use of symbolism.
The story begins with Jig and her American boyfriend waiting for a train in the valley of Ebro, a symbolic use of the word "Embryo". In addition, the valley of Ebro has a river running through it. This river represents life.
There are many different phrases in this story that are symbolically used to describe abortion and the choice that surrounds it. For example, while the couple drinks beer, Jig looks off at the line of hills and says:
"They look like white elephants." " I've never seen one," the man said.
"No you wouldn't have." Jig stated.
White elephant gifts are gifts that people do not want in their house anymore. They give these as a gift to someone else, like the unborn child in this story. The couple is conflicted whether to have or not to have the baby. Jig saying "you wouldn't have" to her American boyfriend is her way of telling him that she is sure he has not seen a baby and wanted to have one of your own.
The "hills" are symbolic of the way woman's stomach looks while she is pregnant. They also symbolize the idea of fertility and barrenness. One hill, on one side of the station is dull, desolate, and barren; "it had no shade and no trees." However, the other hill on the other side of the station is beautiful, full of nature, and has "fields of grain and tress...
Hills Like White Elephants
Thanks for choosing to do your essay on an ever important Hemingway short story (you should delete mention of a poem in your title). Though the story was written over 75 years ago, it's still relevant today and I wish every young woman would read it. From a feminist perspective, the woman has less power in making the decision about the abortion, even though it's her own body, because she loves the man a lot more than he loves her, if he loves her at all. She wants to please him while he wants to use her. You've supported your interpretation of the story's symbols well and I would like to focus on the story's title. You are right that hills might be viewed as being similar in shape to a pregnant woman's abdominal area, but they also might symbolize obstacles in the couple's relationship because of the unwanted pregnancy. By way of background, white elephants were given in ancient Thailand by the royal family to out of favor court members who would have great difficulty affording their maintenance. The "gift" of a white elephant would be as unwanted as a baby to the story's irresponsible father who only wants things to return to "normal" by which he means sex with no strings attached. The flighty man in the story is not named because he stands for all such unreliable men. The woman in the story, Jig, seems near the story's end to start seeing him for the glib manipulator he is. She may yet choose to have the baby, if for no other reason than to find out if the jig is up and he will run (you can count on it).
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