The short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, is about a young couple and the polemic issue of abortion. Though the word ‘abortion’ is nowhere in the story, it is doubtlessly understood through Hemingway’s powerful use of two literary elements: setting and symbolism.
From the first paragraph the setting immediately introduces the tense atmosphere that will surround the rest of the story. The story takes place in Spain in the late 1920’s. The setting is described as follows:
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. […] The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid.
The couple is in the middle of making a drastic decision where there are only two choices, two directions, just like the two rail lines that pass by the station. The openness and loneliness around the railroad station imply that there is no way to back out of the problem at hand and that the man and the girl must address it now. The heat turns the scene into a virtual teakettle, boiling and screaming under pressure. The landscape that encompasses the station plays a fundamental role in the conflict of the story through its extensive symbolism.
When the girl sees the long and white hills she says that “they look like white elephants.” As she observes the white hills she foresees elatedly the birth of her baby – something unique like the uncommon white elephant. The color white symbolizes the innocence and purity of her unborn child. She also admires the rest of the scenery:
The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were the 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..
The fields of grain and trees represent fertility and fruitfulness, which symbolize her current pregnant state and the life in her womb. The Ebro River also represents life, as it germinates the fields. Just as the girl appreciates the panorama and its connection to her unborn child the “shadow of a cloud,” which represents the abortion of the fetus, overcomes her happiness. After an exchange of words with the man she again looks at the scenery, but this time in a different way, as the following sentence illustrates: “They sat down at the table and the girl looked across the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.” The man is obviously in favor of the abortion, and everything he says is an effort to persuade her into it. As she considers his point of view she looks at the dry side of the valley, which is barren and sterile, symbolizing her body after the abortion. The man and woman continue arguing and stop for a little when she says, “Would you please please please please please please please please stop talking?”
He did not say anything but 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 apparently wants this abortion because he wants to keep his current lifestyle. The bags with all the hotel labels on them are symbolic of his vivacious spirit. If the woman goes ahead with the pregnancy, he would have to settle down and raise a family, which would mean forgoing his youthful desires of seeing the world.
The story ends with the couple expecting their train’s arrival in five minutes. There is no resolution and there is no decision stated regarding the abortion. Hemingway’s interweaving of setting and symbolism helps him juice each sentence to provide maximum detail. This story was not only intended for the pleasures of reading, but also though provocation. Hemingway has intentionally left the readers to conclude for themselves what will happen next.
ooooooommmmmggggggg how confusing was dat?!?!?!?!?!?!
Maybe lay off the meth next time you write a book reveiw, chief.
this is actually very accurate. i read this before in a writting class in college and the thing about Hemingway is that he lets us figure everything out on our own.
from an outside point of view, this would be a worthless story of two people going to a train stop and then leaving. But when you think about it in the way Hemingway would have, then you get into the deeper things, lik his looking up and then back down would show that he has no care for her, the water and greens show life and the dryness shows death.
it’s stuff that i honestly did not get when i read it, then it was explained to the class, and now i read the analysis and it’s spot on, i can understand it better.
Heminway was brilliant, but the stupidest thing he did was commit suicide~
The story is so short you wouldn’t think there’s so much hidden material! The story is chock full of symbolism and as a result quite thought-provoking.
You’re wrong, white elephants don’t stand for purity or something unique, they stand for something you don’t want, aka the baby. Get it right.
Dear commenter…First of all you’re missing the point of reading Hemingway’s short stories if you think anyone’s interpretation is flat out “wrong.”
To elaborate on “white elephant” a bit more…
White represents purity.
And while you’re right about a White Elephant representing something undesirable…you’re missing the point as to why they are undesirable to begin with. White elephants are of value because of their rarity and their sacred standing as reflected in Southeast Asian lore – as a result, the white elephant represents something of such great value that the cost of its upkeep and/or preservation of that value is so high that it may become cumbersome to maintain. This may very well be symbolism for a baby being born to parents that aren’t ‘ready’ to raise and maintain a child.
wow that was beautiful mauricio
it represents both an undesired and desired thing. Thus the argument between man and woman, abortion or no abortion, carefree lifestyle or family. This is meant to be interpreted many ways. To say there is a right and wrong way of interpretation in this case is naive.
I thought it was about an abortion, but was it a parent and a child …. one the beer thing …. in two things because she was refered to as girl …. hummm very young and then would a girl be drinking in front of the father ?? …even thoe she in the pg conditions … but still …. did not make 2 and 2 equal 4 ….. so still locked on confused ??
~~~~~~~~M
what does the hill symbolize in the story??
her stomach
It’s definitely between a man and a woman who have “spent nights” together. They represent the lifestyle so many of us live, a selfish carefree life with no thought of the future until we are pinned to make a life-altering decision due to our actions. At these cross-roads, our true character is shown.
The waitress intrigues me enormously because the man by fetching suitcases does not see the train supposed to stop in 5 minutes. Then the girl has taken her decision. I find it curious…
I always thought the elephants stood for her own naivety. How she points out something looks like an animal the way a child would. How shes almost like the child shes going to abort (not the mention the fact that she keeps being referred to as girl instead of woman).
In her eyes they are some pretty little thing and when the man doesn’t embrace her little childlike comment and she doesn’t like that he doesn’t care for her little quirks anymore.
The second thing is the desert to me doesn’t represent how shes going to be barren and whatnot. The heat and the desert to me just represent the discomfort of the whole situation. How something like a cool pool of water would be so welcomed there but there isn’t . Its just hot, wasteland nothing that makes you just want to lie down and rot to become apart of the wasteland. Something she might even rather do that make this decision. There’s no relief there, or from her predicament, its just hot and brutal, for miles around. The only relief is the beer, in both the literal and figurative sense. It relieves the heat and maybe if shes lucky the decision will be taken away and she’ll drink until the baby has died (though effects of alcohol on a fetus was not entirely recognized at this point in history so this could be a moot point)
The American and the girl also have an age difference I’m guess based on the way they are referred to as Man and girl (I think of them as he is mid 20s, shes late teens). Shes probably just a bit of a fling who he feels he genuinely cares (and there’s no doubt in his mind that he doesn’t) but cares nothing for her feelings and happiness. Now that shes pregnant he doesn’t actually care about her opinion he probably don’t even think she has one. Hes doesn’t even realize that all of this is hard for her because all he can think about is continuing his life he has, traveling without a care with a beautiful young girl. He probably hasn’t even thought that she may make the choice to keep it, he expects her and the world to revolve around him. In a sense hes just as immature as her, thought it would be everyone who would see her as immature.
She probably likes the idea of having a baby and carrying it in her arms just like most girls, just she cares so much for the man that shes willing to throw away a dream of hers for him.
how does the objective point of view contribute to the meaning?
well you see stanley it contributes when you see the elephants side of the story
IM JUST WONDERING.COULD THE WAITRESS SYMBOLISE ANYTHING?
So it’s an abortion. Big deal. Small writing. Boring. Anodyne. If you want to pick up some real writing turn to the short stories of Cheever or Updike, who really know how to use language to convey feeling. This is like reading appliance instructions.
why doesnt the Aerican man have a name?
I just read this in one of my classes, and a fellow student who hadn’t read the story got that it symbolized abortion right off the bat.
if so i wanna know why she is drinkin beer?
Remember that this was published in 1929. The effects of alcohol on and unborn fetus were not as clearly understood at that time. While you can read a decision into the drinking, I believe it would be wrong to do so. Hemingway leaves this open ended.
But the idea that she smiles at the waitress is a good point.
I think the train not being able to go backwards represents the couple going FORWARD with the abortion. Andddd, the decision to keep drinking alcohol definitely made it seem like they made up their minds.
To Mlondy
The waitress can be seen in this story to represent the mother figure because she is refered to as “woman” whereas the main character is refered to as “girl”. Thus, we can easily assume that the waitress as children and thus represents one of Jig’s options. At the end of the story when Jig smiles brightly at her could signify Jig’s choice.