Rational Sentiment: A Formalist Essay on Hills Like White Elephants Rightful choices come whenever the realization of something wrong occuring comes. The various, contradicting dialogues of the characters evident in Hemingway’s literary piece exemplify their baffled minds and frequent loss of reason in seeking for transformation despite the circumstances. The short story focuses on a couple set in Spain who are faced with the argument as to whether she would have the operation or not since according to him, it would be as easy as “let[ting] the air in.” At one part of the text, the man would say, "I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to," where it is clear that he is still giving the woman some options although the American has made his choice final.
From the beginning of the story, the American’s decision was made clear to the readers that he wanted no baby, no family, no responsibilities, and only pleasure. Just like what he said, “That's the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy.” It is also seen many times in the text that he would always try to divert the conversation whenever the woman becomes too serious with the issue of abortion so he asks her to drink more beer with him; this line being frequently repeated: "Should we have another drink?"
Jig, the woman in the text, had actually took into consideration the idea of giving away her child, as seen in the lines "Oh, yes. But I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine,” just because she wanted not to disappoint him. As the succeeding events in the story suggested the idea of having another person involved in their relationship, the man told Jig that it is fine with him to “go through with it” if it would mean anything to her. In return, the girl responded "Doesn't it mean anything to you? We