In “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway uses a basic set up and situation that stands for so much more than what is discussed in the story itself. The American man and woman with him are at literal crossroads, railroad tracks, just like their relationship. They speak about a “special operation” that they never actually name and the man is obviously all about while the woman is a little withdrawn. The story focuses on the man and woman speaking about their love for one another and their need to be happy again. The man explains that to be happy the woman must get the operation. She is scared and is not completely sure about it but to make him stop, she obliges. “Hills Like White Elephants” is written about a couple’s love and how their current situation is causing trouble between them but the bigger situation is that the woman is struggling with either not listening to the man and not having the operation, which would most likely be the end of their relationship, or listening to his suggestions and carrying on with the operation and choosing his wishes over her own difficulties. 

Hemingway sets the story at a railroad station in Spain on a very hot day. On one side of the station there is no shade and no trees. On the other side there is a warm shadow where a curtain is hung across the open door to the bar to keep flies out. While the couple waits for the train to arrive from Barcelona, they sit down together in the shade for drinks. This is when the woman describes the hills to the side of her as white elephants because they are white in the sun and everything else is brown and dry. This is also when the “special operation” is brought up by the man and that is when the woman seems to shut down. The man says a couple times that he does not want her to follow through if she is not comfortable with it but he also subtly says that is she chooses otherwise their relationship will most likely be over. They also talk about how much they love each other but from the situation that the man is putting this woman in, you can tell that she is in love and he is not. The woman tries twice to change the subject from the operation and the man consistently brings it up until the woman just gives up. This shows that she does not have the confidence to stand up to him and wise up to the fat that he does not really love her. She is okay with the man making decisions for her and this is also reiterated when the woman is not able to speak Spanish to the bartender. In this situation, she depends on the man to speak for her. She is content with the fact that he has control over her and she is dependent on him. 

The only name that we hear in the story is the nickname, “Jig”, for the woman. The man calls her this and defined, “Jig”, means a lively dance with leaping movements. The nickname itself describes their relationship in a way and shows that they are quite literally dancing around the situation at hand. They are doing a jig in their conversation when the woman would make a statement and the man would say something of another topic and it went back and forth. They both have dialogue in the story but they never truly talk because neither one is listening to the other or showing any signs that they are trying to understand one another. The man knows that she is uncomfortable with the decision that he is trying to push onto her but he also knows that she will pick what leaves her with him and so he pushes the operation. The woman knows that she is not okay with the decision of getting the operation but she gives up the conversation so easily and is not able to stand up for herself. When the train gets near, the man leaves to take their things to the right location at the station and on his way back he stops at the bar to have a drink by himself, leaving the woman alone. When he returns the woman just says that she is fine, which whenever a woman says this she is quite obviously not fine, and he simply takes that as a suitable answer. 

My prediction is that the operation is an abortion of their baby. They discuss that they want things between them to be happy again and how other people have had the “special operation” and have been able to return to their previous happy times. The man says that if she goes through with operation then they will be able to be happy again but only if the operation is performed, something the woman is still apprehensive about. The whole time the man is talking about the operation she does not speak much. She does, however, speak up later when she says “we could have everything”, which to me shows that she wants their child. The man responds by basically saying that they would not be able to have everything if she does not follow through and again, the woman obliges.

“Hills Like White Elephants” is written about a couple’s love and how their current situation is causing trouble between them but the bigger situation is that the woman is struggling with either not listening to the man and not having the operation, which would most likely be the end of their relationship, or listening to his suggestions and carrying on with the operation and choosing his wishes over her own difficulties. The woman must pick between her unborn child and a man who she is in love with but, he is not in love with her. She is unable to see that his intentions with the operation are for him and not her health or wants. He is able to talk her into it before she even realizes that the decision is made because she sits down for beers and that is damaging to the baby. She has already chosen him over their child whether she really realizes it yet or not.  