“Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story in which Ernest Hemingway places an American and his female counterpart at a train station in Spain. The couple discusses a dilemma that is never directly referenced in the text. Although the two do not come out and say what they are struggling with the reader knows what they are referring to, aborting their unborn child. Hemingway integrates alcohol into the story about abortion numerous times even though at the time this story was published, 1927, alcohol was not at all associated with pregnancy. In fact, alcohol and pregnancy were not linked until the discovery of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in 1973 by Kenneth L. Jones and David W. Smith. During the time Hemingway wrote this short story nobody had even heard of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This story shows how oblivious the world was of the effects of alcohol on not yet born children.

In “Hills Like White Elephants” the man and woman continue their discussion on what they should do about their situation and while doing so they make small talk about alcoholic drinks and even drink a few themselves. Hemingway includes this into the story as if it is completely normal for a woman that is expecting to be drinking alcohol. In Janet Golden’s article, “’A Tempest in a Cocktail Glass’”: Mothers, Alcohol, and Television, 1977-1996,” she describes an incident that happened in the spring of 1991. This incident was very similar to the situation in Hemingway’s story: “The NBC evening news carried a one-minute story about a bartender and a waitress at the Red Robin restaurant in Seattle, both of whom were fired for trying not to serve a drink to a pregnant woman” (Golden). In this incident the bartender and waitress did their best not to serve the pregnant woman and were fired because of their knowledge that alcohol could possibly cause birth defects. 

For a pregnant woman during the time this story was published, drinking was completely normal and the future mothers who did do it were not treated any differently. It took some time but not long after the discovery of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome the public perception of drinking pregnant women changed drastically. Golden says, “after 1987, however, women who drank during pregnancy were depicted as members of minority groups and as a danger to society” (Golden). I agree with Golden’s statement because though in taking alcohol may not be illegal for pregnant woman, those that do are greatly looked down upon in our society today. Drinking while being with child is thought to be like mistreating a human being because a large majority of people consider unborn children as living breathing people and drinking alcohol while being pregnant is putting them in danger.

In 1988 federal legislation was passed mandating that all alcoholic beverages bear this warning: “According to the Surgeon General, Women Should Not Drink Alcoholic Beverages during Pregnancy Because of the Risk of Birth Defects.” Though Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was discovered in 1973, large numbers of people were still in the dark about the repercussions of drinking alcohol while being pregnant. The government felt the need to properly warn consumers of the possible effects. Golden states that there were many other ways the government tried to warn woman: “official government announcements, congressional hearings, public service announcements, and local laws requiring the posting of warning signs in establishments selling alcohol” (Golden). With the emergence of a crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s, the public started to pay more attention to the protection of fetuses. The abuse of substances for women expecting became a huge deal. If there had been such warnings out and in effect during the time “Hills Like White Elephants” was written, Jig could have known the risk of her actions and would not have drank at all.

As a result of the growing knowledge of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the coverage of women’s drinking by the media increased drastically in that era. Golden said, “women were abusing alcohol at a growing rate…all women were vulnerable and that alcoholism was not simply an expression of poverty, mental illness, isolation, or stress” (Golden). Though Jig does not seem poor or mentally ill or any of those expressions, she is expressing her indecisiveness on just what to do about her and the American’s problem. Alcohol is often used as a crutch for people who do not know what to do in a current situation. 

In the story Jig says, “I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it—look at things and try new drinks?” The woman is admitting that they drink a lot of alcohol, because of that it is very possible that her child, if she decides to keep it, could be born with the defects related to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Even though knowledge of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was not known for another 50 years, Hemingway uses the line above to show Jig’s frustration and how tired she is of drinking. It seems that Hemingway was possibly onto something and knew that drinking alcohol was not good at all for woman who were expecting. 

Without even possibly knowing it, Hemingway showed in “Hills Like White Elephants” just how much the people of that time had to learn about alcohol and the effects of it on unborn children. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a very real and scary repercussion of pregnant women deciding to drink. If Jig decided to have the baby it could, just like many other children of that time, have birth defects that stick with them for the rest of their life.
