There are many reasons people give as to why they want an abortion.  These reasons range from it being mistake, they can’t afford a child, or, unfortunately, rape.  In Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, the reasoning for a couple wanting an abortion doesn’t seem to be a traditional reason.  They are getting an abortion so that they will be happy again.  By analyzing the tone Hemingway uses, the structure of the text, and the repetition the woman uses, it is clear that the woman does not want an abortion but she is willing to do anything to make them happy again.

The fact that the woman does not want an abortion is evident throughout the story through the use of tone.  Hemingway creates a tone of tension through the man and woman’s dialogue.  The tension starts when the couple is talking about the hills in the distance that look like white elephants.  There is a disagreement between the two as to whether or not the man has ever seen a white elephant is person.  Although it’s not a big argument, the fact that they are having even a small argument about something of such little importance proves that there is a certain amount of tension in their relationship.  This tension, as found out later in the short story, is most likely caused by the couple’s decision on whether or not to get an abortion.  If both the man and the woman wanted an abortion, maybe there wouldn’t have been a disagreement on something so meaningless.  However, since the woman seems to have started the disagreement, it reinforces the idea that she disagrees with getting abortion.  “Once she realizes the man isn’t happy about what she said, she immediately changes the subject.  Her eagerness to keep the man happy supports the idea that the woman will do whatever it takes to make them happy, even if it means going through with the abortion.

The woman’s eagerness is a crucial component of the structure of this short story.  Hemingway wrote this story in almost all dialogue.  It is a conversation between a man and a woman the whole time; one answering after the other.  In this case, the fact that the woman answers everything the man says so quickly shows that she doesn’t want an abortion because she isn't even giving it any thought.  She is giving her answers right away which means she already has her mind set on what she is going to say.  In other words, she already has her mind set that she doesn't want to have the abortion.  Whenever a topic of conversation leads to a disagreement or tension between the two, the woman is quick to change the subject or extinguish the disagreement.  Right after she realizes they are no longer happy, she will say something else in an attempt to make him happy again or just change the subject completely.  For example, when the couple is having a disagreement about the white elephants and the man says, “I might have.  Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn't prove anything.”  The women immediately senses the tension and changes the subject completely by talking about the bed curtain and asking, “They’ve painted something on it, what does it say?”  This proves the notion that the woman will do anything she can to keep the man happy.

Hemingway uses the woman’s dialogue to show that she doesn’t want the abortion in more ways than just structure.  He also uses repetition to show just how much she really doesn’t want to have the abortion.  After all this talk about getting the abortion, the woman decides that she has heard enough.  She asks, “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”  This quote shows that she does not want to talk about the abortion anymore and that she is agitated about it.  If she was fine with having the abortion and just didn't want to talk about it anymore, she would have most likely just said “please once.”  The fact that she said “please” seven times means she really didn’t want to talk about it anymore, and definitely didn’t want to have the abortion.  She could have also said “please” so many times in order to soften up her request a little bit.  Maybe she didn’t want to make the man angry so she said please seven times so it would seem more polite, rather than just asking him to stop talking.  This supports the idea that she will do whatever she has to to keep the man happy.

By looking at tone, structure, and repetition, we see that the woman is against getting an abortion, but will so that the man is happy.  The tone of tension Hemingway uses is seen through dialogue.  The argument about seeing white elephants sets the tone of tension in their relationship for the rest of the story.  Hemingway used the structure of immediate answers in dialogue in order to show that the woman has her mind set on not wanting the abortion, but she is quick to do whatever it takes to keep the man happy.  Hemingway also uses repetition through the woman to support the idea that she doesn’t want the abortion, but will go above and beyond to keep the man happy.  By analyzing certain aspects of the short story, it is clear that the woman does not want the abortion, but will most likely go though with getting it to keep the man happy.
