Hills Like White Elephants
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Hills Like White Elephants is a short story by Ernest Hemingway.
The story takes place in the Ebro river valley in Spain. The two main characters are a man (referred to only as "the American") and a girl, whom he calls Jig (perhaps short for jigaboo, a racial slur). They are a couple. They drink beer and a liquor called Anis del Toro while waiting for the train to Madrid. Their conversation is mundane and testy at first, but it soon becomes apparent that he is pressuring her into an abortion. Hemingway uses the plain language to disguise the topic but also to show the characters' inability to cope with the issue. The American is afraid of commitment; Jig seeks his approval, but wishes for the stability of a child.
Though the conversation seems quite brief, it takes place over the course of approximately 35 minutes, with Hemingway leaving the reader to construe the silences.
The story is filled with symbolism, including the white elephant, a costly and unwanted burden. Consistent with the oblique style of the conversation, Hemingway never explicitly states whether or not the couple will go forward with the abortion.
Hemingway uses what has become known as the "iceberg theory" in which the reader is left to find the meaning beneath the surface. Hemingway was famous for his "iceberg theory" in such classic short stories as "cat in the rain" "out of season" and "the three day blow."
