The 1920’s setting of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” examines a time period where gender roles and identities proved structurally unchangeable. The authors utilization of distinct language leads the reader on a journey, revealing the themes of the short story through the relationship of a couple faced with a difficult decision. Word choice in Ernest Hemingway’s short story relates back to the theme of man’s power over woman coupled with the prevalent gender roles perceived in this time period, and the importance, as well as effectiveness of communication.

Beginning in the first paragraph, Hemingway introduces the characters in the story as “The American and the girl with him” (527).  Just based on this introduction the audience understands and empathizes with the woman knowing her place as less important than the man. By only addressing the woman with the description, “the girl with him,” this represents the gender assumptions placed on men and women in this time period. As the conversation continues, the author purposefully manipulates the dialogue into very short statements and confusing word choice, due to the author not explicitly using male or female pronouns. The author uses the confusing and short dialogue to further explain the power dynamic between men and women. While the couple’s conversation began by the man reacting to the statement about white elephants, as it continues this begins to dwindle away and eventually the man doesn’t acknowledge the white elephant at all. This shows how the woman no longer has an opinion or option in the eyes of the man. The man forces the woman into an abortion while she tries to talk to him about her uncertainty, but he pushes off her concerns because he feels as if his opinion and decision carry more weight. The way he does this by shutting down everything she attempts to say, shows that his opinions hold validity in his eyes while hers do not. Ultimately this decision remains the woman’s regardless of how the man makes her feel, like she holds no opinion in the matter. During this time period, lack of power by a woman was a common theme and women from this culture felt like men had all of the power in the society while they simply had no say or choice in matters.

This theme is further supported through the emotional conversation between the couple when the man comments, “It really is an awfully simple operation, Jig” (Hemingway 528). This unfortunately downplays the seriousness of this life changing decision. The readers only know her from the nickname “Jig” that the man gave her, by only giving the readers information about the girl through the eyes of the man. This instance shows the power the man held and how the society was a man’s world and she had no relevance and remained dependent on the man.  Another statement, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to” (Hemingway 529), shows the man trying to act like he wants what she does although everything else has pointed to him trying to sway her in his direction and not really giving her an option about this serious decision. Women in this time felt pressure to do only as the men say and it is forbidden to act out against that. 

After the man ignores the conversation and pushes her decision into the direction he wants, she says “They don’t really look like white elephants anymore” (Hemingway 528). This statement shows how the man overpowers her with the decision of getting an abortion and her refusal to talk anymore. The way the man uses his words and the way he speaks to her, manipulates her feelings and opinions. The readers can sense the many emotions hidden under the surface, through dialogue and lack of communication between the couple. Towards the end of the short story, the girl asks her partner, “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” (Hemingway 530). The author specifically uses the word please seven times to expand on this point and the man still doesn’t stop and listen. She considers his feelings but he doesn’t consider hers, which has increased the tension between the couple. The man pushes the girl towards his views and doesn’t acknowledge her opinion on this decision; this is a true indication of how men in the 1920’s viewed and treated women.

The societal contexts of this time period directly relate to gender roles portrayed through elements of word choice and symbolism found within the short story. By employing demanding word choice and direct tone, as well as having a strong presence of symbolism, the author shows the readers the insignificant role women played in the 1920’s. The emotional conversation between the man and woman shows just how prevalent the gender roles and assumptions were during this time period. Their lack of communication and its effect on the audience furthers this point about how man was viewed more important than woman. Gender roles in this era were shown regardless of the instance, small or large, like in the example of going through the motions of a couple discussing an abortion.  The societal taboo of abortion directly links to the immediate and obvious gender distinctions further supported by the language used in the couple’s conversation and topic’s overall tone. 
