Hills Like White Elephants: A Lovers Struggle Against the Society

What impact does our society have with respect to love and relationships? How can love be both a
moral and societal construct? In his short story Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemingway attempts to
address these questions. The author has woven a plot which talks subtly about love, gender and racial
equality, life, and how all these connect to our society. The short story paints a picture of how all sorts of
decisions in life are affected not only by personal but also by social views.
There are various elements in the text which we can use to be able to understand what it is being
conveyed. We could consider the characters, the setting and symbolisms used, diction, point of view, the
authors biographical background, and cultural and historical contexts. These elements can help our view of
the story become clearer.
We need to take a look first at the characters of the text to get a hint of what Hemingway wants to
express. There are only two major characters in the story: the American and the girl named Jig. The
American is a stereotype of the males based on how he is depicted in the story. He is condescending,
straightforward, and not yet ready to be committed just like most men. Jig, on the other hand, was called a
girl, which means she is still young and possibly mentally and psychologically incapable of handling
relationships. She is submissive to the American but in latter part of the text, she began to reason out and
express what she wants to say. Jigs character is also a generalization of most women in the sense that she
tries to put herself in a position lower than the man. This is explained by the nature of the relationship of the
two.
The relationship of Jig and her lover is unstable; it has become cold as time went by. Their bags,
which are full of labels from all the hotels where they had spent nights (Hemingway, 478), tell us that their
relationship has been there for quite a time. But, the very labels from all the hotels imply that their
relationship is not permanent. They are transient lovers. They have an affinity for the temporary. Moreover,
the way they talk to each other is not typical for sweet couples. Their conversation is quite airy and cold, and
there is a pang of heaviness into it. Their speech makes it seem like their hearts are hollow.
Aside from the characters, we should also look at the setting of the story and the symbols used for us
to get a more vivid idea of what is happening in the text. The story happened at a train junction from
Barcelona going to Madrid. The weather at that time was very hot and sunny. The crossroads is an image
similar to what the couple is going through. The American is telling Jig to have an operation, which she

clearly does not want to have, and that is the root of the conflict between the two of them. Their relationship
is at the crossroads; they are on the verge of separating from each other. The hot weather emphasizes this
conflict and intensifies the tension between them.
Hemingway facilitated a handful of figurative expressions in his story. Different forms of alcohol
have been mentioned. There is beer, Anis del Toro, licorice, and absinthe. These drinks symbolize the way the
couple escapes their predicaments. Every time they encounter a difficulty in their relationship, they resort to
drinking to get the illusion that they have already mended what needs to be mended.
I wanted to try this new drink. Thats all we do isnt it look at things and try new drinks?
I guess so. (Hemingway, 476)
In addition, he used bead curtains as a symbol of the separation between the two lovers. The bead curtains,
made of bamboo, might be a symbol of the barrier between the two of them. The author also mentioned
white elephants, an idiomatic expression which means something that requires a lot of care and money and
that gives little profit or enjoyment(Merriam-Webster.com). The American got a little annoyed when Jig
mentioned that the hills looked like white elephants, similar to Jigs reaction when the American asked her to
have the operation. This may point out that the operation and white elephants might be related, and
this gives us the idea that this operation might mean aborting a baby. Jig could be pregnant, and because
the American is not yet ready to have a family, he wanted to get rid of what is inside of her womb. After all, a
baby is something that requires a lot of care and money, and would eventually become a burden for the
couple as it grows older.
Of course, we cannot understand a text fully by its content alone. We also need to look at other
elements such as form, diction, and the authors writing style. In the story, Hemingway utilized a simple
selection of words. The sentences are also short and most of the time, straight to the point. The diction is not
complicated because the author wants the story to be universal - anyone should be able to feel and relate to it.
There are also minimal quotation tags. Hemingway, by doing this, lets the readers experience the
awkwardness and difficulty of the communication of the two lovers, which is one reason why they often have
misunderstandings. The point of view of the narrator in the story is third person, but it is not entirely
omniscient. We can notice that the narration does not state the characters emotions or feelings. We only
know that a character is angry or happy or sad based on their respective lines. This point of view is effective
in letting the readers interact with the text.
The author also employed the Iceberg Theory or the Theory of Omission. Hemingway is known for
applying this literary technique in his works. This theory states that by omitting superfluous and irrelevant
matter, writing becomes more interesting ("Ernest Hemingway's style of writing"). He stripped the short

story with a lot of unnecessary things and focused on the story itself. Just like how he used very minimal
adverbs. By doing so, he is letting the plot speak for itself and does not bombard the readers with needless
verbiage.
Now, more than the content and the form of the text, we need to consider the authors biography
and the cultural and historical contexts of the story. Hemingway, before being a creative and fiction writer,
had served as an ambulance driver and a journalist during the World War I (Ernest Hemingway
Biographical). His journalistic background quite explains his writing style. Journalists are concerned about
word economy and accuracy more than anything else, and that is why the works of Hemingway are written as
though he is on a tight budget with words. He tries to deliver the story in the simplest words possible.
Moreover, Hemingway experienced heartbreaks with women, as we can see with his multiple divorces. That
explains why he writes about conflict between men and women in a relationship. In fact, he wrote Hills Like
White Elephants during the same year he had his divorce with his first wife. He must have written the story
to express how hurt and bitter he is because their marriage has failed. In here, can see how the writers life
can be connected to the story.
Cultural and historical contexts are also very crucial in the comprehension of a literary work.
Knowing what is happening in the society at the time the work was written will greatly help in the
comprehension of the text. At the time of Hemingways writing, racism is still rampant in the society,
especially in America. During the 1920s, the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) campaign took place,
and this campaign aimed to legally stop immigrants coming into the USA who were not white, Protestant or
from Western Europe ("USA 1919-1941. Racism and Intolerance in the 1920's"). This idea of racism is
manifested in the text. The American, obviously, stands for the white. Jig, short for the word jigaboo which
is an offensive word used to refer to black people (Dictionary.com), is the representation of the black people
who Americans do not want to let inside their country at that time. The conflict between the lovers
represents the conflict that is taking place between the Americans and the jigaboos in real life. We can also
see how Jig can possibly be a young slave or prostitute because of how black people were viewed back then.
By pairing Jig with the American, the author could be possibly implying how the black people are regarded by
the Americans.
Moreover, feminism is also on the rise during the 1920s. The First Wave Feminism happened in the
1920s, and its first focus is for women to attain suffrage ("And I Found Feminism"). Feminism, however, did
not bloom abruptly. Its beginnings were humble, and it started out rather slow. This can be manifested on
how the American treats Jig. He asks her to have the abortion as if he is asking for a piece of candy. He does
not consider that Jig has a right over her own body because he sees her as a lower individual than him.

Its really an awfully simple operation, Jig, the man said. Its not really an operation at
all. (Hemingway, 476)
The author is aiming to tell the readers how much the society, which is a patriarchal one, disregards women
back then. Forcing a woman to have an abortion just because she is a woman is a despicable deed.
Now, what does the society have to do with love and life in general? As we can see, the way we do
things is in accordance with the standards set by our society. We dress according to the latest fashion trends.
We act in imitation of the hottest celebrities. We speak based on what is considered as cool and funky.
We even love people in agreement to what our society dictates. That is how powerful the society is, and that
is what Hemingway tries to put across.
In the story, various societal factors can be the reason why Jig and the American are undergoing a
predicament. First, their society might not approve of their relationship because of the difference in race. We
inferred that Jig is black while the American is white, and since the general public of America at that time
abhors the Negroes, the relationship might be considered an unacceptable one. This can be the reason why
the couple is transient; they are trying to find a place where they can love each other freely without the
loathing eyes of the people around. Secondly, we could also say that their society might not approve of
pregnancy out of wedlock. If it happens that it is morally acceptable at that time for a man and a woman to
have a child without the sacrament of marriage, abortion wouldnt be much of an issue for them. They could
have opted to have the child and then marry afterwards. The world at that time, however, can be cruel to
them if they choose to do so. Furthermore, their society may view their relationship as dirty due to their age
differences. We know that Jig is still a girl. Because the American acts like he already has a lot of experiences
in life, we can also infer that he is already mature, probably in his late thirties to early forties. The American
might want to abort the baby because having a baby means he has to stay with Jig, and he does not want
society to look at him with disdain.
The ending of the story is widely open. We are not sure if they continued their journey together. We
are not sure if they had the abortion or not. We are not sure if their love will continue. Nothing is certain
because their decisions are dependent on the society they are living in. That is how critical the role of society
is when it comes to decision making in various aspects of life. We often tend to think of what will make the
society nod in approval than with what will make us happy.
The simple words and short sentences in Hills Like White Elephants can sometimes be misleading.
It makes us believe that the story in itself is light and easily comprehensible. But, if we try to explore further,
we can see how heavy the text is when it comes to meaning and significance. The story gives us a good
overview of how societal factors influence our lives. Following what the society dictates, however, does not

guarantee you a happy ending, as what we have seen in the story. If we want to experience happiness, we
should be willing to take the risk and deviate from the standards set by the world.

Works Cited

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