“Hills Like White Elephants”, one of Hemingway’s terrific works, is a story that happens at a train station in the Ebro River valley of Spain. An American and his girlfriend are drinking beers and having a conversation when they are waiting for the train. In the dialogue, the young man’s attempt of convincing the girl Jig to take an operation has caused a lot of arguments. Though they are not explicit about what this operation really is, I consider this operation an abortion.
The conversation between them suggests that they are talking about an abortion. In the text, the man says it is an awfully simple operation and “it is just to let the air in” (Hemingway, 373). “To let the air in” is a process of vacuum aspiration in America in the 1920s, which is commonly used as a method of induced abortion. What is more, in their argument, Jig says, “Once they take it away, you never get it back”(Hemingway, 374). The man also makes it clear that he does not want anyone else but her. And this statement indicates a third person is involved. What could be the thing taken away in an operation that you may still want it back? Who could come to get in their life if the girl does not take the operation? All we can come up with is a baby. The man does not want a baby before they settle down, before he is ready to take the responsibility of raising a family. And Jig is still struggling about whether to take this operation or not in their debates. So this is an operation to take the unexpected baby away---abortion.
Sceneries between the two lines of the rails are also indications of their two different choices in pregnancy. On one side, there is no shade and no trees but only barren land stretching toward the hills. On the other side, the land is covered with green, fertile fields and river. Barren is used to describe a woman who is unable to produce children while fertile represents female’s capability of producing babies. If Jig agrees to take the operation, then the baby will no longer exist and thus making her barren. But if she chooses not to, then she will be consider as a fertile woman who is able to produce babies. That is to say the two totally opposite views symbolize their dilemma of the pregnancy --- infertile or fecund, undergo the abortion or not.
The title of this story itself is a metaphor implying this is an abortion. White elephant denotes something that is completely burdensome, although it may be precious enough. And here in this text, the white elephant is the symbol of a baby—valuable but troublesome. There is no doubt that the baby is a treasure. But the fact is that they are a young couple traveling around the world without a place to settle down. They have neither enough time nor energy to take care of a baby. Even if they don’t have to worry about those material conditions, they are not psychologically ready yet. Problems like “requirements of being qualified parents” has never occurred in their minds. Based on both physical and psychology circumstances of the young couple, we can see that the baby is precious but also a burden. Hence the white elephant here is an intimation of an abortion.
The phrase “to let the air in” makes it quite clear that this is an abortion. And during their debates, we can get to know someone is involved in this young couple and the American is trying to get away from this third person by requesting Jig to take the operation. Furthermore, the two different landscapes on the two sides of the rails is also foreshadowing us the outcome of Jig’s choice. Take it, she is barren. Reject, fertile. And the white elephant becomes emblematic of a baby that could be a sweet burden in their life. This symbol strengthen the operation that has been talked about in the whole story is an abortion. With all these factors integrated together, we can conclude this is an abortion.
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