Reaction Paper of Ernest Hemingway’s Short Story “Hills Like White Elephants”
“Then what will we do afterward?”/ ”We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.”/ “What makes you think so?”/”That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.”/ The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads.”

Notice that the girl called “Jig” questions the man known as the “American”, when he tells her that they will both be fine afterwards. It only means that she believes otherwise, that things won’t be fine, that things will never be like they were before. In fact, it seems as though something inside her had already changed. She realizes she wants to keep the baby. This story centers on a couple’s verbal argument, which is strongly implied by the text and widely believed by many scholars, whether the girl will have an abortion of her partner’s child. Even before this conversation she talks about their lifestyle with a hint of sarcasm and possibly boredom, “I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it-look at things and try new drinks?” You see the girl refers to their sightseeing as “things”, which shows a sense of weariness and tediousness with their regular day to day activity of the same “thing.”
On the other hand, the man displays his naivety as he tries to calm her fears, saying “That’s the only thing (baby) that bothers us. It’s the only thing (baby) that’s made us unhappy.” It is clear that the American is anxious for Jig to have the abortion because he really “doesn’t want anybody but her”. As a selfish man, he is only interested in his life with Jig continuing on living their life as it has, travelling the world and having sex in different hotels, as evidenced by Hemingway’s description of the couple’s bags: “He… 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 repeatedly states that

“It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,”… “It’s not really an operation at all.” “And I know it’s perfectly simple.”

It is interesting to note that he never mentions the operation is “safe.” But rather, describes the operation as “simple.” It is also interesting on how often they use the word “it” and how it may refer to one thing at one moment, and then suddenly mean something else the next moment.
From reading the story, it also appears that the American’s ammunition in his verbal duel with Jig is to provoke her by making their relationship emotionally hostile for her. This is also evidenced by his reactions to her comments about the appearance of the hills and that everything she waits for tastes like licorice. Hemmingway seems to imply that “Jig” is more emotionally invested in the relationship with the American. And it is quite apparent that the American is mostly interested in their relationship for the sex.
The title of the story, “Hills Like White Elephants” has led many including myself to speculate on what the “white elephant” symbolizes for the couple. “A white elephant” is an expression generally used for something unusual and cumbersome, basically, a huge problem. The “white elephant” could be symbolic of many things in the story. The white elephant could be the pregnancy, the baby itself, the abortion, Jig’s reluctance to get the abortion, the American’s insistence that Jig abort, and even Jig herself or the American himself. The most accepted and widely believed among scholars are that the white elephant is actually the baby and/or pregnancy which are of course the obvious choices including the American himself because of his bullying Jig.
This story is not only about the issue of abortion, but also the miscommunication of the couple. They are both very reluctant to explicitly say what they mean by “it” all the time, certain points in their conversation seem to be misunderstood both by their partner and also by the reader as well. It is not a clear-cut story and I at times lost track of what they were actually talking about.
However, one point is clear in this story, and it can be seen in the final statement of the girl: “I feel fine,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.’” At first reading this, it seems as though she’s simply talking about her condition. But I believe this statement goes much deeper than that. She is also referring to her state-of-mind, that there is nothing wrong with her, and there is nothing wrong with her wanting to keep the child. There perhaps may even be an accusatory tone on her part. Perhaps she is saying “There’s nothing wrong with me, but something wrong with you.”
In the end, Hemmingway’s style in this short story is what makes this story very interesting and persuasive. Because he does not expose what each character is thinking, I am left to ask myself, “What are their motives, desires and aspirations?” He only gives us their words in conversation to examine. I think Hemingway purposefully made the words of the characters to fall short and unclear as to what is really going on in the story. And he cleverly leaves it up to the reader to speculate and draw their own conclusions.