Losing What You Love

            
             In the fictional tale, "Hills Like White Elephants," writer Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism and imagery to depict a couple in the mist of a crisis. Hemingway, who was a journalist, was known for his realistic stories. This story is about a woman who wants to keep her baby as well as her male companion. But in order to keep him happy, she realizes that she must abort the baby. Not only does she have to deal with an external conflict with her lover, she must also deal with herself an internally. Although the word abortion is never used in the story, the reader understands the concept through Hemingway's symbolism. .
             The story begins with the narrator describing the scene and setting of the story. The reader can tell that the story has an ambiguous tone and it is being told in a third person omniscient point of view. Throughout the story, the narrator only speaks when a scenario is being described. The story takes place at a train station near the valley of Ebro. The hills across the valley are described as being "long and white" (334). This description is important because it introduces the image of the color white to the reader. On the same side of the hills, the scene is also described as and hot because there were "no shade and no trees" (334). This illustration also sets a picture in the readers mind because it portrays the view of the area as being lifeless.
             Throughout the story, the two main characters, an American man and his female companion, Jig, are having a discussion about abortion. Because of the heat, the couple decides to have a couple of drinks. Jig might be having the abortion because she is drinking during her pregnancy. Jig does not even think twice about drinking, she is the one that even said, "let's drink beer" (334). Furthermore, Jig drinks a lot of alcohol at the train station. She is already thinking of the child as dead and not being a part of her.