"Hills Like White Elephants," by Ernest Hemingway is a short story about an American man and a girl named Jig who are confronted with a difficult issue of whether or not terminate a pregnancy. The main tension within this story is that Jig sees the possibility of keeping her child and having a happy life, while the man fails to see the positive possibilities and works to persuade her to go through with the abortion. Hemingway uses symbolism through alcohol, the hills, the white elephants, and the train station to develop the theme of the story. .
Hemingway's writing style in this story is well crafted. His simple style and taut dialogue pull readers into the story, and he shares just enough about the couple to keep the readers interested. He tends to strip everything but the bare essentials from all of his stories and novels, leaving readers to sift through the remaining dialogue and bits of narrative on their own. Plenty of clues are provided while deliberately withholding key details. Readers never learn the name or occupation of the male protagonist. There are no physical descriptions of the couple. The facts of their dilemma must be pieced together from their disjointed conversation. Hemingway uses many symbols within this story that give the readers the freedom to decide what he is trying to symbolize and his frequent hints provide the readers with insight as to what he is trying to accomplish with his writing. .
In Hemingway's story, the American man and the girl drink alcohol throughout their conversation at the bar to avoid each other and the problems within their relationship. The heavy drinking in this story is used to represent the couple's usual activity that they do together. Their recreational activity bothers the girl because she says, "That's all we do, isn't it-look at things and try new drinks?" (Hemingway 1956). This gives the reader some suspicion that the girl has grown tired of doing the same things over and over again and would like to do something different, like getting married and starting a family.
