Theme Of Abortion In 'Hills Like White Elephants'

In ‘‘Hills Like White Elephants’’ two characters are disputing over an obstacle in which the author seems to imply as an abortion. In this short story, Ernest Hemingway uses a number of poetic devices to decept the reader's thoughts and ethnic beliefs. Ernest takes the soft and delicate subject of abortion and uses it to convey a message to readers. Towards the beginning of the story, the female character, Jig was portrayed as a ‘‘girl’’. Considering that the man was described as ‘‘The American’’ it can be already be established that the girl is significantly lower, and less powerful than the man. When discussing the operation, Jig did not seem so content as she said: ‘‘I realize,’’ the girl said. ‘‘Can’t we stop talking? (281). From the

For the girl and the man, not being able to communicate properly was the first sign of an unhealthy relationship. Even though Jig seemed to be a minor compared to the American it is quite obvious that the girl had an asset on the man. ‘‘Can you please please please please please please please stop talking’’... ‘‘I’ll scream,’’ said the girl (281). In the light of the atmosphere, Jig uses her and the man's age difference to cause fear. Using the terms ‘‘the girl’’and ‘‘the man’’ does not only suggest the level of power over one another, but also advises one's experience and intelligence. Since the two characters are in a bar, customers and workers surrounding them will assist the girl if anything were to happen to her. For an example, if the girl were to scream as she threatened passing pedestrians and bystanders would quickly jump to the rescue of the girl from the man. In many ways the author slyly described the girl with low confidence in herself, and shows that the girl does everything in her absolute power to please the man. In everyday life it is very popular to see a younger girl with a man that is significantly older than the female, usually in these cases we describe the girl to have a low self-esteem. As the

The main devices Ernests used were symbolism and metaphors. From the very first line of the story which is in fact the title of the story ‘‘Hills Like White Elephants’’ the author compares the hills that look like white elephants to the operation. As defined in dictionaries, a White Elephant is a possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain or difficult to dispose of. These traits represent the exact characteristics of a baby. At the start of the story, the man said: ‘‘I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?’’ (279). The American was trying to make light of the conversation and trying to metaphorically confuse the girl by using a bizard comparison. He did not want to exactly point out what he really felt in complete words, instead he used the example of White Elephants to tell the girl that this baby will make us unhappy and ruin our lives because it’s going to be useless just like these hills . ‘‘ [This operations] the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy’’ (280). On the other hand, a few lines after the man said that the girl stated: ‘‘ They’re lovely hills.’’ she said. ‘‘They don’t really look like white elephants.’’ (279). She expressing that the baby is lovely and that they baby girl or boy is not useless. In the last pages of the text it is concluded what each character wants even though we