Ernest Hemingway uses alcoholism and tourism to the American’s advantage in “Hills Like White Elephants.” The story depicts a relationship stuck at a literal crossroads in Barcelona, as the couple indirectly discuss their future with a baby on the way. Hemingway uses the male, or the American, in a deceptive way throughout the passage to obtain what the American truly desires with the use of alcohol and tourism. Alcohol and tourism play a vital role in the decision making of Jig and the American male. These two components of the story are the underlying factors in the decision-making process. 

From the first page of the story, it is clearly stated the male is American and is currently at a crossroads in Spain, this shows his inclination to travel at the beginning of the story. He orders two beers but does so in Spanish after telling the woman it is “pretty hot” and insists they should drink. This is a prime example of the American already taking advantage of the woman through alcohol. Consuming beer at the rate the couple do in the story, they are sure to become tipsy or possibly even drunk, especially if their bodies are dehydrated from being out in the sun on a “pretty hot” day. The male ordering the beer in Spanish also implies that even though he may be American he travels for work or for leisure but is not ready nor content with settling down at this point in his life and wants the girl to get the abortion. Hemingway goes as far as making the American bilingual. The male, on the next page, calls “Listen” through the curtain and a woman comes out from the bar asking for four reales without questioning the couple at the table. There is another instance of this on page 530, when the woman from the bar explains the train will arrive at the station in five minutes. The girl with the American asks “What did she say?” and the male proceeds to translate. Once more, the American translates another time when the girl is looking at the bead curtain and states something is painted on it and asks the American to decipher it. Ironically, the words are Anis del Toro; an alcoholic beverage. The advantage of the male being bilingual illustrates just how much power he has over her in making the decision of keeping the baby or not and demonstrates how tourism allowed him to pick up new skills, such as learning a new language. 

A sense of tourism is found on page 530 when the male proceeds to look at their suitcases with all the labels and stickers from previous nights at different hotels. Beforehand, the couple were discussing the abortion and the American now feels threatened he won’t get to continue travelling and going out. The male shows an act of defiance, as he deliberately shrugs off her request to finish their beers after he moves his heavy suitcases to the other side of the station. The use of the word heavy illustrates just how much of their possessions they are carrying and shows they don’t have a true home and as the man wants they can’t settle down.  Instead, he has another Anis del Toro by himself at the bar to prove to himself that he is the one in charge of the situation. Yet again using alcohol to his advantage showing that he will leave her just as quickly as he did to have his own drink at the bar. It is quite humorous the American orders an Anis del Toro at the bar, as the English translation of the drink is “booze of the bull”. This is where alcoholism and tourism go hand in hand in “Hills Like White Elephants.” Bullfighting is a prominent source of tourism for Spain and attracts people all over the world to come watch this spectacle. Americans to travel to Spain to watch this famous sport is not uncommon. In the story, the couple is taking a train to the bullfighting capital of the world. Just as the male left the girl at the table outside the station, he will leave her in Madrid if she goes on with having the baby. Hemingway uses this final scene at the bar to illustrate what the American truly desires most; alcohol and touring parts of the world. One could argue that the male did not leave the girl outside of the station at the end of the story, as it goes on to say she smiled at him when he came through the bead curtain. If she smiled at him then she could not be upset or that wasn’t the male’s intentions, but in the scheme of things the girl is powerless without the male. Through his use of tourism and developing another language he has done all of the communicating with the outside world. The girl would be stranded in a foreign world and the American knows this. She needs him to survive. She is at his mercy. Hemingway was quick to tell the nationality of the male as he addressed the location of the story to put the reader under the impression the American was foreign but with all the incidents in the story he is far from foreign or out of touch with Spanish culture. It is the girl with the name of Jig, who is the true alien. 

Hemingway used the smallest details to portray the biggest problems between the couple. The use of the felt pad on page 527 and then again towards the bottom of page 530, but this time describes the felt pad as damp to show the amount of time lapsed and just how much the couple had to drink talking about a huge decision in their life. Once again portraying how the American used alcohol to his advantage in obtaining what he wanted. The use of alcohol and the American’s experience with touring the world proved to be the motives behind all of his actions in the story. It is all he knows, for on page 528 the girl says looking at things and trying new drinks is all the couple do. The male is reluctant to agree not willing to admit he has a problem. Also, on the same page the girl says that the Anis del Toro tastes like licorice, just as the absinthe the male had waited so long for. Licorice has a bittersweet taste to it and this proves to be true for the two people in the relationship. The girl is bitter towards the male due to their current way of life and constant travelling, as the male is enjoying himself as long as the girl agrees to get the abortion. This incident of the male using alcohol as an advantage is a deceptive ploy to be passive-aggressive in the conversation, using his words to soothe her and comfort her in getting the abortion.

Hemingway constantly throughout “Hills Like White Elephants” revisits alcohol and the traveling lifestyle of the couple. The two go hand in hand during the short story and set the stage for many topics of their discussion. Alcohol and traveling are also the ideas they differ greatly on. Jig wants to settle down and become complacent, while the American wats to keep traveling and seeing the world. Hemingway’s use of alcohol and travelling in “Hills Like White Elephants” are the main points of discussion and inevitably shape the outcome of the story. 