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Jig In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

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In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”, a conversation takes place involving two people who discuss an crucial decision to make that is unknown to the audience. Jig, the young girl in the discussion seems to be the one who is ultimately going to be the most affective by this decision. While, the American man, whose name is not mentioned, frequently encourages the woman that whatever choice she makes he will stand by her. The ambiguous choice to make is assumed by many scholars to be about an abortion (Cummings) which is referred to in the text by the American as “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig” (Hemingway 887). The conversation between these two lovers is clearly dominated by the young girl, Jig, who uses various techniques of psychological manipulation to influence the man and figure out if he is truly loyal to her. The setting takes place in a bar by the Barcelona train station where the next train is headed for Madrid. Jig eases her dominance gently …show more content…

At first, the girl remains silent and listens to the man quickly assuring her he would stand by her, “I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time” (887). Jig now continues to ask him more questions after every assurance or encouragement he gives her. At one point the American claims his love for her saying, “I love you now. You know I love you” (888). This acclamation was in response to Jig asking him if they will ever be happy again like they used to be before the operation has taken place. From this point on, Jig uses another tactic where she plays the victim rather than aggressor who irritates the other person or asks the heavy questions. Through playing the victim, Jig allows the American to feel like he is the one who is dominant and she is the one who plays the submissive role. By playing the victim role, the man becomes even more hysterical to prove his devotion towards

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Lane Jr. who's struggling with his faith will support and stand by Sheri and her decision concerning the pregnancy. Ernest Hemingway's" Hills Like White Elephants” allows his readers to come to the conclusion as to whether the couple in question will terminate or keep the unborn child. As Jig, and the American are

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A conservative is defined as a person who is averse to change and holds to traditional values and attitudes, typically in relation to politics. More directly, it means to conserve the way things are. They often pride themselves on patriotism and want to bring back the “good old days”. Most conservatives are very supportive of traditional values and customs, unwilling to change. They put a heavy emphasis on individualism.

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It almost seems like the girl is just a While they are sitting, waiting for the train, the two discuss an operation that the girl is going in for. The man insists that it’s a simple one and that they will be “‘ fine

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Throughout the short story (1), “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway is speaking about a seemingly unwanted pregnancy and a woman’s uneasiness with going through an abortion. However, Hemingway never explicitly says in this work of fiction (2) that it is about abortion or that the woman, Jig, is uncomfortable with it, but uses symbolism (3) to present this to the audience. At the time “Hills like White Elephants” was published, in 1927, abortion was illegal in most places and a very taboo subject that wasn’t to be openly discussed in public. Thus, Hemingway relied greatly upon the use of symbolism to get his message across for this reason as well as the third person narrator (4) that did not give insight into the character’s thoughts within this piece of literature (5) . He uses symbols such as the train station, white hills, the baggage, and the drinks to point towards the underlying internal conflict (6) of Jig’s decision that is being heavily influenced by the American man, who wants Jig to get the abortion.

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He only cares about himself; he says at one point, “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig.”, even when he doesn’t know that it is. The girl isn’t admirable

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Jig's reference to white elephants could be in reply to the baby. The American could see the baby as a white elephant and not want to raise it because of the cost, while Jig could see the child as an extraordinary addition to her mundane life of drinking and mindless traveling. Ernest Hemingway is bringing you into Jig and the man’s

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[he’s] known lots of people that have it done”(53). After all of these comments he made to convince her of his decision he tries to play it off like he wants her to do whatever she feels is right. The final key to manipulation: make it seem like it was her decision when in reality he manipulated her into making this choice all along. Manipulation is unfortunately a common theme in relationships and this short story does an incredible job by shining light on that issue in human relationships.

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Although the author gives us limited information and doesn’t tell us directly that this story is about an abortion, he truly portrays everything through his detailed symbolisms. The significance of “Hills like White Elephants” is Jig’s battle throughout the story because at first she easily influenced by the man, and goes along with what the man wants, but near the end she enforces that she’s tired of the man talking, and this shows us she’s becoming more independent with her decision-making by saying, “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” I would highly recommend this short story because it’s full of drama and the complexity will make you think deeper, and maybe you will develop your own theories on what the story means. “Hills like White Elephants” is definitely a good

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Meanwhile, Jig is prepared to go to great lengths to make this man happy, even if it means sacrificing not only her own happiness and morals, but her own child. The sheer amount of love Jig has for this man is made clear when she states “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me” and later “But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine” (Hemingway 337). All that matters to altruistic Jig, is the happiness of American man, and unfortunately that is all he cares about as

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The dialogue in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” reveals a man’s and a woman’s incongruent conflict on abortion, and the author’s fundamentally feminist position is visible in the portrayal of the woman’s independent choice of whether or not to keep the baby she is carrying. The plot is very simple in the story which is less than 1500 words long. A woman and a man spend less than an hour on a hot summers day at a Spanish train station in the valley of Ebro as they are waiting for a train heading for Madrid. Their dialogue takes up most of the space and only few major actions take place.

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Abortion: to be or not to be? ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway in May 1927. It was published in Transition Magazine in August 1927. The story is situated in Spain, more specific in the bar of the train station, according to some sources the location is Casestas. A girl, named Jig, and a boy (the American) are waiting for the train, as regular people they are having a discussion.

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Between the lines 106 and 110, the American drank another beer at the bar and the girl remained sitting at the table. This part of the story implies that they will end their relationship and go their separate ways. Jig has realized that she does not need the American anymore, and that she is capable enough to handle life on her own. When asked, “Do you feel better?” (109) by the American, she responds with a confidently stated, “I feel fine…

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In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants we are introduced to two characters on their way to Madrid, an American and a girl named Jig. The pair sits and drinks beer for a while, until the man brings up a procedure that Jig would have to endure. Jig is immediately closed off, clearly not wanting to talk about it. This becomes the main conflict of the story, as the readers are left to their imaginations, and context clues to figure out what is really going on.

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In his story “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway points out the couple's inability to make the decision: whether to abort the unborn child or not. The reader finds that the story deals with couple's miscommunication through the conversation and the emotions that they express. One can observe that no descriptions are given to the characters, thus, Hemingway creates universal dilemma to focus on the crucial issue. In this way, Hemingway leads the reader to identify with his female character that undergoes a struggle.

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