Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's short story, "Hills Like White Elephants", published in 1927, portrays a tense conversation between a man, called "the American", and a girl named "Jig", the only named character, against the scenic backdrop of a train station on Ebro River with its dusty, white hills looming in the distance. Though their conversation never specifies what their conflict is, we can infer that they are speaking about the termination of a pregnancy i.e., an abortion, via the use of words like "operation". Through this conversation and the American's treatment of Jig, we see the catalyst for Jig's transformation from a naive little girl who cannot even order her own drinks into a determined young woman able to make her own serious decisions for

She appears to be thinking over what the future will bring. She asks the American, "And if I do it, you'll be happy and things will be like they were before?" Jig is bargaining for the American's affection by leveraging the abortion, much the same way a child begs their parents for rewards for good behavior. She thinks that if she simply does what the American wants, he will be happy with her again and interested in what she says, like her "white elephants". Despite what her mind may be telling her, her heart seems to want nothing more than to make the relationship good again even as she realizes this may not serve her own best

He states over and over that he "doesn't want her to do it if she feels that way" but every time Jig tries to say she does, in fact, feel that way, the American attempts to convince her that it isn't really the way she feels and if she does, she ought not to. The American sees her a silly girl who is simply afraid of pain, not a young woman at a painful crossroads in life. She walks out to look at the sterile void that is the Ebro River's hills and then takes a look at the other side of the river which is teeming with verdant life. To Jig, this must seem to symbolize her two choices at the crossroads, life or death. For Jig to go with the American and have the abortion at his request means killing the part of herself that needs to grow. For her to make her own decision means taking control of her life and all the chaos that it brings.
"You musn't feel that way," says the American and Jig now realizes that the American simply does not care to know about the emotional turmoil this conflict is putting Jig through. He just wants Jig to do what he wants, but he doesn't want to be made to feel guilty about convincing her to have an abortion. He wants her to be an adult and then a child as it suits his