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Abortion In Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway

763 Words4 Pages

Ernest Hemingways' short story "Hills Like White Elephants" portrays a young couple's struggle facing the choice of abortion. A young girl by the name of Jig is pregnant, and the story is a discussion between the couple about whether she should get an abortion or keep the baby. The couple is waiting for a train while enjoying drinks. Jig admires Ebro's long hills, comparing them to white elephants. The man pushes for her to get an abortion saying the procedure is safe and natural to persuade her. The couple goes back and forth, discussing their opinions, where it becomes apparent there is a fracture in their decision. The man continues to feed Jig drinks, intensifying his efforts to change her mind. She rebels against him, demanding he stops …show more content…

The couple uses alcohol to detour their problems, beginning with drinking light beer as the conversation is delicate. The only pause between the subject of conversation is to get more drinks, which is a temporary relief from the crisis. However, as the couple becomes divided and the discussion intensifies, Jig says, "Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe." a liquor that was so strong it was illegal in America at this time. The use of more potent alcohol throughout the story is the man purposefully attempting to intoxicate Jig to make her less aware and clear-headed so that she will agree to an abortion. Hemingway uses alcohol to show the couple's attempt to escape their reality as a reaction to deciding whether to have an …show more content…

The physical symbolism of the material making up the curtain is that the string of beads can be the circle of birth, life, and death or the unfulfillment of the girl if she does not have the child. The circle represents a void or missing part a woman feels without a family. In addition, Jig can be Catholic as she tries to escape from reality by praying to the belid mother for the soul of her and her child as she holds two curtain beads as a rosary. The first mention of the curtain symbolizes the division of the couple's views as "the man said into the curtain," showing separation that the couple feels as if they are talking to a wall. Later in the story, they are behind the curtain in an attempt to escape the other side. The people outside the curtain represent society as they hide from the judgment and controversy that having a baby out of wedlock or an abortion brings. By displaying the couple's physical boundaries with the curtain, Hemingway shows their attempts to separate themselves to escape the reality they

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