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Jig's Hidden Strength In Hills Like White Elephants By Ernest Hemingway

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Jig’s Hidden Strength Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” is a controversial piece of literature, both in content and the way it is written. The piece contains lots of dialogue and symbolism; it is in no way blunt or obvious, not even the ending. It is only through careful observation that it becomes clear that the main characters, an American man and his female companion named Jig, are arguing about an abortion. The story has been interpreted many times, and a multitude of explanations for the ending have been proposed. The only aspect that seems to be agreed upon is “the existing relationship between the American and the girl will deteriorate, or terminate” (Hashmi). A variety of critics interpret the story in a way that portrays Jig as a weak character, willing to give into the American’s wishes in hopes of continuing their relationship. However, this interpretation does not take into …show more content…

Despite its short length, it has inspired much discussion due to its subtleties. Critic Nilofer Hashmi argues that “Hills Like White Elephants” is a “complex portrayal of woman’s, not just Jig’s, final compliance.” However, close examination of the text reveals that Hemingway actually demonstrates Jig’s strength as a character and the way in which she fights for herself and her child. Despite it making more sense for Jig to stay with the American because of all he is able to bestow upon her, as the story progresses, her realization that she wants more than he can provide prompts her to decide to leave the American. Her strength comes through as she makes decision to protect herself and her child. Without this understanding of Jig’s strength, the interpretation of the ending would be turned on its head completely, preventing readers from seeing her true character and leaving them thinking she had the abortion for the American rather than making a decision for herself as well as the

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In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, there is a relationship unfolding, a complex relationship difficult to understand. The relationship is revealed by a conversation between a man and a woman, a topic of conversation that people rarely discussed in the period that the story was set. After researching interpretations, it is consistently said “She is pregnant, and he wants her to have an abortion” (Weeks 76), to which I agree that this conversation is about abortion. With the man seemingly pushing the topic and the girl hesitant and questionable, it is unsure as to the result of their conversation. However, it is my belief that she chose to follow her heart and not get the abortion.

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In Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants”, the American and Jig are like parallel lines, they can never meet. As they struggle to find common ground, the very discussion that can bring them together only tears them apart. The relationship between Jig and the American is complex from the very beginning since their personalities, methods of communicating, and desires are different. The American represents infertility, selfishness and death but how can he not be when he’s a single man, traveling, trying new drinks, spending nights in hotels with no worry about money and now he has impregnated a women, of course he will lose his zest for her (Hannum).

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The Dialogue In Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

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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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This tells us that his point of view is subjective by writing about each character equally by giving their thoughts about each other's choices and letting their actions speak louder than their words. Furthermore, this shows the theme of the not appreciating what's in front of you because the American already made up his decision by his actions to move the luggage to the train station meanwhile Jig sat by herself trying to make her decision of what to

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According to Smiley, “The dialogue contains the essence of the story's power; for to read Jig's and the American conversation is to recognize the powerless frustration of parallel interchanges” (2). The girl's character passes changes throughout the story. It appears that “Hemingway works out the story's conflict, which revolves around the development of his female character” (Renner 28). The girl gains power and frees herself from the following the American man. In the beginning of the story, the girl take the initiative to speak which leads to the discussion: “'what should we drink?'

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