In “Hills Like White Elephants,” the reader is able to undoubtedly recognize that there is a major dispute between the American man and the girl, but Hemingway never establishes the “White Elephant” that is the center of the story. Readers assume that the argument is focused on an abortion. Throughout the story, the reader sees that neither the American man nor the girl listen to each other’s side of the argument, creating a sense of detachment from one another. Hemingway writes “Hills Like White Elephants” in third person as a way of representing not only the distance between the characters and reader, but also the aloofness within the relationship of the American man and the girl. Through Hemingway’s use of imagery, dialogue, and diction from a third person point of view, the reader is able to grasp the sense of distance throughout the story.

Hemingway uses vivid imagery to elaborate on the surroundings of the couple using third person narration; this perspective sets the distance between the reader and the characters, while still giving the reader enough context to understand the story. In the opening paragraph of the story, the narrator says, “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun…. The American and the girl with him sat as a table in the shade, outside the building” (527). The use of the imagery in this paragraph allows the reader to understand the surroundings of the American and the girl with him without the bias of the characters. The reader receives a more neutral explanation of what is happening, rather than a skewed vision, which displays the sense of distance between the characters and reader. The use of third person also allows the reader to grasp a sense of what both characters feel and do at a given time without receiving a character’s bias that would come with the story being written in first person. “He picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station… He went through the bead curtains. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him,” The narrator establishes this distance between the reader and characters when he says, “He picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station… He went through the bead curtains. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him.” The quote only gives the reader insight to what each character is doing, but doesn’t allow the reader to know one character’s feelings over the other. The true feelings of the characters are left up to the discretion of the reader’s interpretation due to the third person point of view. The imagery that the narrator uses allows the reader to imagine the situation through a neutral interpretation without putting the reader in the center of the argument, in which gives the reader an outside look into the conflict establishing the distance. 

The third person point of view throughout the story separates the reader from the character’s interactions and represents the distance within the man and the girl’s relationship. The third person narrative in this story allows the reader to sense the tension and distance between the man and the girl. The reader uses the dialogue as a way of getting insight on the characters’ conversation, further explaining that the two aren’t on the same page. “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,” the man said. “It’s not really an operation at all.” The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on. “I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s not really anything. It’s just to let air in.” The girl did not say anything (528). Through this dialogue and the third person narrative the reader can catch insight on how both characters feel at this point in the dispute. The dialogue reveals that the man is persistent in wanting the girl to get an abortion, but the narration tells the reader, based on the girl’s actions, that she doesn’t want to get an abortion. The man and the girl are not seeing eye to eye and the reader sees that they are not expressing their feelings towards one another. The reader is able to feel the distance and tension between the two by being able to see what’s going on with both sides of the dispute at all times. The dialogue is used as a way to express one character’s thought while the third person narration is a way to convey to the reader the other character’s actions after the dialogue to establish that they are not on the same page. The reader might not be able to know exactly what a character is thinking. For example, in this dialogue, it doesn’t bluntly say how the girl feels about what the man said to her but the narrator states “the girl looked at the ground that the table legs rested on,” then says “The girl did not say anything.” Without the narrator directly saying the character’s thoughts, the reader feels a sense of distance and is left to interpret the girl’s feelings. The reader’s interpretation of the girl’s feelings within this dialogue hint at the girl’s opposition towards an abortion just by the narrator elaborating on her actions after what the man said. This goes to show the detachment between the man and the girl. They are unable to express each other’s feelings to one another resulting in lack of communication, ultimately causing the reader to interpret the actions received from the narrator and perceive how they might feel. The dialogue and use of third person point of view are important aspects in showing the distance between the two characters and the reader.

The use of diction in the narration suggests a vaster sense of distance between the characters and the reader. The narrator refers to the two characters as “the girl” and “the man” instead of calling them by name, which puts up a barrier between the reader and the characters. It keeps the reader from becoming attached to the characters, so the reader can understand the entire situation instead of being skewed one way by being attached to a character. The narrator creates the distance between the reader and the characters, that the girl wants between her and the man; this enables the reader to feel how the girl feels in this situation. The narrator also refers to the waitress as “the woman” as a way of keeping the reader completely isolated from the whole encounter. By keeping the reader isolated from the situation, the narrator has the advantage of being able to control how the reader sees the scenario. The reader only views the story from a witness’s standpoint and is solely able to understand the situation from the outside source. With no names of the people, the reader feels greatly disconnected from the people themselves, but contributes to the reader’s superior understanding of the entire situation.

Hemingway uses third person point of view to disconnect the reader from the characters to enable the reader to grasp the larger picture behind the story. He achieves the audience’s attention by using imagery, dialogue, and diction. The narrator uses imagery as a way of describing the scene and the actions of the characters, which keeps the characters and reader separate, while keeping the reader informed of the situation. Almost all of the story is  dialogue between the two characters, but the fact that the story was written in third person establishes distance between the characters and reader. The dialogue also engaged on the disconnection that the man and the girl feel throughout the story. Third person point of view gives the reader larger margins of interpretation in “Hills like White Elephants” because nothing was blunt, but with that comes the disconnection between the reader and characters.