"Hills"

Jennifer Mitchell
2/15/04

Love and Deceit

Relationships are built on trust and love, grow with commitment, and are filled with excitement and hope for the future. They rarely start with the expressed intention of ending. The test of a true committed relationship is what happens when the unexpected occurs. Does it deepen or does it crumble? In a true, committed relationship, the couple works together, looks at options, and then makes decisions about the best solution to their problem or decides on a new path they will travel. That true commitment is not evident in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” the story about Jig and her American lover. When there is an unplanned pregnancy, the American tries to convince Jig to have an abortion. Even though they are having a conversation about the issue, I don’t see love in it, from the American, at least. The conversation is filled with his attempt at manipulation, persuasion and uncaring statements. Why did there seem to be no other option for the American? What was the real reason he did not want a baby in his life?

The story begins at a train station in Spain where the couple is waiting for a train traveling from Barcelona to Madrid. The American and the girl are having a conversation and drinks at a table outside the station. Why didn’t they both go inside? Later in the story the American goes inside for a drink, leaving the girl outside. Perhaps this is a symbol of Jig’s exclusion by being a mistress, not allowed into part a of the American’s life. Beaded curtains cover the bar opening and separate the couple from the rest of the people inside but also symbolize a barrier between them.

Jig is probably not an American since only the man is referred to as such, and she must be much younger because she is referred to as a girl, not a woman. Her immaturity is also evident in their conversation because the girl’s conversation is almost childlike. In talking about a drink that is new to her, she says, “Could we try it?” and “Is it good with water?” When they are talking about the abortion she says, “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?” “But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it.” Sounds like she’s trying for parental approval.

He certainly appears to be in control in the relationship. He speaks the language, orders their drinks and is constantly trying to persuade her to do what he wants her to do. He also seems to lack imagination. After Jig says that the white hills look like white elephants, the American says, “I’ve never seen one” and continued to drink his beer.

My ideas about the shallowness and manipulative nature of the American were reinforced by Barbour when he saw, “…the resulting image of the man as ‘shallow.’ Also, Gilmour suggests that “since the bamboo is hollow, perhaps it suggests the hollowness of the American’s desire.” In addition, Lanier sees him as “coldly indifferent.”

During most of the conversation the American is trying to convince Jig to have an abortion while her mind seems to wander into the distance. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills." and “The girl looked across at the hills. 'They’re lovely hills,' she said.” The white hills could symbolize her innocence, now lost and beyond her reach. The land on one side of the station is described as barren and brown but is contrasted with the other side, which is described as a lush field with trees and a river running through it. This could symbolize the contrast between her current fertility carrying a child and her barrenness without the child, or perhaps the contrast of her life with and without her lover.

But why must she have the abortion? In the 1920’s abortion was an uncommon thing and quite dangerous, not an avenue of convenience like it is in the 21^st century. However, in trying to persuade her, he kept saying to her that it would be simple. “They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural.” “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig.” This seems uncaring because he must know the physical danger, not to mention to potential emotional toll. This is not a behavior from one who is in love with the girl. Did he intend for the relationship to be permanent or just until he became tired of it? There must have been some reason why, in the American’s perspective, this was the only option available.

Perhaps his perspective is that of a married man. If he were not married, there should be other options to consider, yet none are mentioned in their dialogue. Even with an unplanned baby, they could certainly go forward with their lives, whether together or alone. I don’t think the real reason was so shallow as to keep things as they were between them, even though he tries to convince her by saying, “We'll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.” He was probably a business traveler or maybe he was in the military, and that allowed his relationship with the girl to remain a secret.

They have suitcases with “labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.” This leads us to believe that they are well traveled, and the fact that only the hotels where they spent nights were mentioned rather than cities where they vacationed tells me their relationship is mostly physical. This is also evident in the fact that they don’t seem to really know each other very well because they don’t have anything meaningful to talk about. “That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks?” The fact that she’s drinking while being pregnant says she wants to hold on to one of the few things they still have in common. Seems like she feels the travel and their routine is meaningless; perhaps the child waiting to be born has given her a new perspective.

The beads hanging in the doorway were “hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies.” Did the American consider the baby and/or the girl to be a nuisance? The girl keeps looking at the beads, and when they blow in the wind it is just a reminder that what she longs for is being kept just out of her reach. At one point in the story she holds two of them in her hand and they seem to give her strength because she begins to more directly question the American about their future after the abortion. “And you think then we’ll be all right and be happy.” “If I do it, you won’t every worry?” The two beads could symbolize either her and the American or her and the baby, but she did not hold three of them, symbolizing them as a family. At that point she seems to have made a decision when she says, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me” and “I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.”

Then she gets up and moves over to the other side of the station. Then “The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.” I believe the shadow of the moving cloud symbolized the clearing of her mind and the departing of the clouds of doubt. I can hear her saying to herself, no, I’m not going to do this thing. While looking at the “field of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro” she says to the American, “we could have all this” and “we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.” When he replies that “we can have everything”, she says “No, we can’t. It isn’t ours any more.” She realizes that their future will not be like the past. She also realizes she can’t have both him and the baby. She has finally made up her mind as to what she is going to do. At this point she uses sarcasm about his concern for her in saying “yes, you know it’s perfectly simple.” At this point she doesn’t want to hear anything else he has to say, perhaps so she won’t again waver in her difficult decision. “Would you please stop talking?” and when he didn’t she said “I’ll scream.”

After reading the “Critics and Other Commentators” the ideas that influenced my opinions include one from Renner who said, “Jig’s smiling brightly at the end, in addition to the scenic clues, [indicate] that she is not consenting to an abortion.” Also, Organ suggests “that the beads are like those that babies often play with, so Jig’s touching the strands signals her desire to have the baby.” In addition, Maynard suggests that “revealing his selfishness actually destroys whatever love Jig has for her American. The crucial instance for establishing two as a symbol of separation is Jig’s grasping of the two bead strands on the curtain, perhaps she is realizing that they will never be the same as they were when they were just the two of them.” These statements, along with my own wishful thinking, convince me that Jig will keep the baby and say goodbye to the American.

She smiles when the lady says the train will arrive in five minutes because she won’t have to wait much longer to get out of the uncomfortable conversation. She replies to him, “There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” Her decision is final.

The American moved the luggage to the other side of the tracks and went into the bar alone to have a drink. He remarked that the people inside were “waiting reasonably for the train,” implying that she was being unreasonable. He realizes now that she will not be having an abortion. He gets another drink, perhaps to think about what he will do about her decision. The arrival of the train means his life, including the life he has kept secret from his family, will forever change.

My final question is, who is the loser in this story? There are always consequences to our actions, and the American’s life of reckless love and deceit is over.

--posted by permission of the author in February, 2004


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