
An American man paired with a lady at a train station in Spain sit at bar and drink, and drink, and drink some more, all the while talking about a mission that will supposedly fix everything and make them happy again, the details hidden between the lines and left a complete mystery. Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants constructs the frame for a once fiery relationship that has seemingly lost its magic and been dulled with boredom and routine, bringing a thirst for happiness to lead them beyond being just ‘fine,’ through the use of repetition along with a purposeful lack of detail and contextual symbols, Hemingway draws together the confusing dynamic that led the two to a state of uneasiness and slight desperation by slowly unfolding their lives through vague clues and detailed description of behavior and setting. 

Both of the main characters remain unclaimed by names and back stories leaving the reader with absolutely no context to go off, however through a single conversation, the tension that shadows their intense love and affection for each other becomes evident. Hemingway gives a clue through the manner in which they make small talk, choppy and purposeful in its avoidance of the underlying conflict. They sit at the bar and order beer, and the girl attempts to make intelligent conversation by remarking upon the similarity of the hills to white elephants which is quickly stunted by the fact that the man had never seen white elephants. The girl isn’t at all surprised. This provokes defense in the man who tells the girl that “just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything,” (527) revealing the first hint that their relationship has been strained by resentment. Taking the blow of hostility, the girls attempts to steer back to conversation when the man snaps at her again when she remarks upon the fact that “everything tastes like licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe,” (528) even though it was only an attempt at banter. It becomes clear that the two struggle to keep an easy flow in their relationship. Each attempt at having “a fine time” is shut down by a hiccup in the conversation. All they can do is try and pretend that everything this okay, ordering drink after drink to keep occupied and release tension, the drink symbolizing a desperation for peace and happiness. It became a pattern amongst them, just to “look at things and try new drinks,” (528) and attempt to create conversation from it. The way the conversation and sentences are structured reveals the choppy manner in which they interact with each other, as if they are trying to talk about everything else except for what is causing the tension in the first place. Hemingway gives incredible detail of the setting along with the life that is going on around the two and their behavior, however, just about everything else is left a mystery. One can only infer from the way the two act and talk to each other that there is something deeper going on which is finally confirmed when the conversation takes a sudden and intense turn.

Eventually, the man interrupts small talk to bring up what was on both of their minds and what is probably the reason they are at the train station in the first place, a mission that will supposedly make everything better. He keeps reminding the girl of how “simple” (528) it is and how “it’s just to let the air in,” (528) the actual operation itself remaining a mystery throughout the story. Repetition of these reminders begin to seem more like a coping mechanism the more they are repeated, as though they are both talking themselves up so they don’t overthink it. The entire situation clearly sparks uneasiness in the girl despite reassurances from the man, and she remains quiet, showing anxiety through her attempt at distraction by grabbing the bead curtain. The turn in the conversation reveals their feelings for each other and their desperation at saving what they have, the man assuring the girl that “we’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before,” (529) since whatever they are trying to fix is “the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that made us unhappy,” (529) revealing the interruption that has sent their relationship on a downward spiral. However, this simple fix keeps creating a back and forth between the two, the girl still apprehensive about doing it even though she knows there is a potential in this mission to fix everything. Despite the man’s efforts, the girl continues to be conflicted within herself, battling her want for things to be better and being unable to commit to pulling through out of fear. Once again they backtrack when the man repeatedly says “I don’t care about me,” to show just how indifferent he is in completing the operation, which reveals the slight danger and recklessness of the situation, giving weight to the reason why the girl is afraid. She continues to fight herself, reminding herself and the man of what they have to lose and what they have already lost, looking out at the river saying “we could have all this,” (529) and then negating it once the man agrees. It seems that they have already lost everything, or that they might as well have according to the girl saying “once they take it away, you never get it back,” (530) the details still remaining a mystery. Her anxious behaviors are scattered and seem to conquer her since she is convinced that their plan won’t work and that everything will be taken away anyway.

 By the end, she has given into her fear saying “I don’t feel anything… I just know things,” (530) settling into the pessimistic future that she has spun in her head, ordering another drink and requesting an end to the conversation. However, the man is restless and feels the need to bring the girl onboard with the plan by tying in the fact that he won’t make her do it, but he wants to do it for her and makes it seem as though he’s doing it because it’s important to her. Once again, the girl mulls over the fact that this could mean that they “could get along,” (530) since they clearly have not been and only want to return back to the state of balance they once shared. Both of them know “it’s perfectly simple” (530) and feel the need to repeat it over and over as if to remind themselves. Hemingway takes a moment to steer back to the setting in order to provide further clues to their past. Their bags with “labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights,” (530) might allude to a nomadic life, possibly them being on the run, or on a spontaneous adventure. Finally, the tension is broken when the server reminds the two that the train is coming in five minutes, which makes the girl smile at the woman, transitioning into a forced change in mood to pretend that everything is fine. She keeps up with the façade, still smiling after the man goes to drop the bags off at the other side. She tells the man when he comes back “there’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine,” (531) as if to not only remind him, but also remind herself that she has no choice but to be fine given the predicament she has stumbled into and the new life of fear and choices she has been made to live. 

Hemingway’s purposeful lack of detail and background in “Hills Like White Elephants” creates a challenge to figure out the dynamic between two unnamed characters with an unknown conflict. The author only gives the basic skeleton of what seems to be an intense situation, leaving only what is absolutely necessary for the reader to build their own interpretation of what is going on. From the detailed accounts of the characters’ body language and manner of speaking to one another, the conflict becomes evident between the two, and the state of their relationship is revealed as the story progresses, leaving the imagination to assess the gravity of the situation based on their uneasiness. Hemingway almost makes it a game to figure out what the situation is and fill in the holes in the story, leading to the reveal of a reckless and crumbling relationship between two people in love. 
