HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANT BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY

SUMMARY
Jig and the man is called “The American” go from Barcelona to Madrid. She is pregnant. They drink beer and talk about “operation”. This operation refers to abortion. Although Jig doesn’t want to have an abortion, he insists on this issue. According to man, child is obstacle for them and after operation, everything goes smoothly. It’s clear from his sentences: “That’s the only thing that bothers us. It is the only thing that’s made us unhappy.” As for Jig, she can not decide what she will do. She looks out from window and sees hills like white elephant. He doesn’t interest in her comment. During their journey their conversation is abortion and end of the story what they will do is uncertain.
PLOT
The plot is conservation between two main characters. Their conversation is about abortion. This topic “abortion” is understood from that sentence “It’s to let the air in.” They don’t say clearly “abortion”, they choose to say “operation” instead of it. May be they don’t want to be heard their conversation. Maybe there are two reasons for this: They lack of sharing of feelings and reaction of society.
POINT OF VIEW
The story is narrated by third person narration because “he said” and “she said” are used and dialogues are not given perspective of the narrator.
THE SETTING
The place is a bar at a train station in Spain. The time is not given, but more probably it is summer.
CHARACTERS
Jig: She is young woman and pregnant. Because she is referred to as a “girl” in the story, we can say she is young. She is in conflict with herself because she cannot make a decision whether to have an abortion or not. She wants to be sure whether their lives change or not after operation.
The man: A man is called “The American”. He wants Jig not to give a birth. For him abortion is the best solution. This is clear due to his words “simple” and “easy”.
ANALYSIS
Unnamed Character: There are two main characters, one of them Jig and the other “a man” or “The American”. We don’t know their real names. This indicates that their story can happen to anyone.
Title: Title is a metaphor when the girl looks at mountains; she likens them to white elephant. A white elephant is a burden to its owner because it is very huge animals and not only is difficult to feed it, but bring it up also. Because of this there is relation between elephant and baby, both of them require responsibility. There is also one point that “white elephant” is an idiom and its meaning is useless or unwanted things. At the same time, hills resemble stomach of a pregnant woman because of similarity of their shape.
Train: Both characters travel by train not a car, bus or ship. Movement of train symbolizes dilemma of Jig. Train must go either forward or backward and Jig must decide whether she wants a baby or not.
The last decision: At the beginning of story, Jig starts to talk and the story finishes her sentence. It is understood from that the last decision for the abortion will belong to her.
Beer: Although Jig is pregnant, she drinks beer. She is the one that even said, “Let’s drink beer”. She says “Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.” Absinthe is very strong alcoholic drink. As it is known alcohol is harmful for babies. Although she still hasn’t decided for operation. She poisons her baby. At the same time, this is irony.
The land description: The landscape is very important symbol in the story. When Jig looks at one side of the train station, she sees “the country was brown and dry” but when she looks on the other side, she sees “fields of grain and tress 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.” Both of landscapes are different from each other and they symbolize decision of Jig. The first one shows her feelings of after abortion and what society thinks about her if she gives a birth. The second shows that she wants to give a birth. Fertility and beauties of tree and cloud symbolize good things such as a having a baby.