"Hills"

Roberta Herndon

September 19, 2004

English 112

Choosing Life in Spain

How meaningful is the life of an unborn child to the woman who is carrying it? Is it important enough that, in choosing life for that child, she would risk losing her lover; the father of the child she is carrying? “Once they take it away, you never get it back.” How true that is of the life of an unborn child but also of a relationship now marred by the very pregnancy in question.

In Ernest Hemingway’s, “Hills Like White Elephants,” we are presented with two characters, Jig (referred to as “the girl”) and the American, who are conversing at a train station in Spain. After reading a sufficient amount of the story, one can deduce that the two are discussing an abortion and have opposing views about the subject. No matter which direction they go in, there is sure to be heartache and loss. Jig, however, has made up her mind to have this baby that she so desperately desires, even if she pays for it by losing him. She is in full awareness that either way they go, they will never be “like (they) were before.”

“Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out the flies.” This first introduction to the bead curtain seems rather unimportant to the overall setting of the story. The importance of the curtain is evident, however, in the description of and interaction with it. Further along in the story, Jig notices that there is something painted on the curtain. Not being able to read the Spanish that it was written in, she asks the American what it says. “Anis del Toro. It’s a drink,” he responds. The word toro is Spanish for bull, a well-recognized symbol of fertility. As Stanley Kozikowski commented in the Explicator, Jig associates with the bull, seeding, and the consequent birthing. More important than the logo on the curtain is her question directly after the American’s response; “Could we try it?” At first glance this may just seem like Jig wanting to try a new drink but, when coupled with the symbolism, it is her imaginative way of asking him if they could continue their newfound fertile life.

After the American told Jig that the pregnancy was the only thing that had made them unhappy, “the girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads.” It is interesting that she grabs not one, or maybe three, but only two. Dennis Organ notes that the beads are like those that babies often play with and that it shows her desire to have the baby. The number of strands is indicative of her and the baby being together in the end, not her and the American. It is also curious that the curtain’s purpose is to “keep the flies out” and the abortion is described as “letting the air in.” When one thinks about opening doors or windows to let air in, possibly in the summertime, one could reason that flies would get in as well. The curtain is seen as a barrier for the flies and protection from letting the “air” in; ultimately signaling Jigs intention to protect her unborn child.

As stated earlier, the story begins in a “station…between two lines of rails in the sun.” The mentioning of two lines is a definite sign that the situation at hand has only two outcomes, both going in totally opposite directions. The reader can also begin to understand the gravity of the situation, and Jig’s intentions, when they take time into consideration. The narrator says that the “express” will come in forty minutes, stay for only two and, later in the story, the waitress states that the train will arrive in five minutes. The increments of time used in association with the train (40,5, and 2 minutes) can also be related to a pregnancy. There are 40 weeks in a full-term pregnancy and 5 minutes between contractions in the final stage of labor, when a woman should go to the hospital or call her midwife. Then, after the imminent labor and subsequent delivery, there are 2 people instead of only one. The mentioning of specific numerical amounts of time points to an outcome of a full term pregnancy instead of an abortion. At the very least, five minutes reminds the reader that time is on Jigs side in this conflict, as is noted by Joseph R. Urgo of Vanderbilt.

Acclaimed critic Lionel Trilling, using the bar scene at the end, associates the American with reason and says that Jig is the one who is being unreasonable. Being in disagreement with that statement, the mentioning of the others in the bar as “all waiting reasonably” alludes to the American’s ever-growing sense of discomfort and confusion. He wants her to terminate the pregnancy so that they can, hypothetically speaking, regain the happiness they once had traveling abroad in their carefree lifestyle. He even looks reminiscently at their bags and all of the labels from hotels where they had spent the night. He shows a “lack of growth” and a desire for “eternal youth,” as written in “Gender-Lined Miscommunication in ‘Hills Like White Elephants’,” by Pamela Smiley. The wish for eternal youth is undoubtedly unreasonable, as everyone (in the bar) is sure to comprehend that one cannot stay an adolescent indefinitely.

When the American returns from the bar, Jig is smiling at him. He asks her, “Do you feel better?,” and she responds, “I feel fine. There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” Joseph DeFalco states that Jig’s ending smiles indicate her acceptance of her former role (sexual playmate) and is her recovery from her emotionality. He goes on to say that if she’s fine now, she knows that she wasn’t earlier. The conjecture that Jig is surrendering to being the unreasonable one is a blatant disregard to her sarcasm and the implication that there is obviously something wrong with him. If she is reiterating that she feels fine, she must know that he doesn’t.

Jig is not a submissive lover says Howard L. Hannum. In many points throughout their conversation it seems as if she is co-dependant and servile but it is her sarcasm that is used as a manipulation tool. It is safe to say that the conversation we are overhearing in this story is not the first of it’s kind between these two. That being said, Jig has had time to weigh life with a child against life after an abortion. She knows that she would have a lifetime of psychological and, possibly, physical effects from the procedure. The American, seeing the abortion as no big deal, tries to reassure her by telling her not to be scared. “I know we will (be happy). You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it.” Jig responds by saying, “So have I and they were all so happy.” She knows that she has the ultimate decision making power in this conflict, since he can’t force her to have the abortion. His struggle to attenuate the situation has been futile and she is clearly seeing his selfishness.

The American goes on to say that he believes “it’s the best thing to do” but he doesn’t want her to do it if she doesn’t “really want to.” Jig implores, “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?” It was made clear earlier in the conversation that Jig is unhappy with the way that things have been between them. She is unfulfilled by their nomadic life and makes it apparent by saying, “That’s all we do, isn’t it—look at things and try new drinks?” Taking that into consideration, why would she want things to return to the way they were before?

The hills in the story and the description of the opposite sides of the train station are directly related to the outcome that Jig is desperately seeking. She describes the hills by saying that, “they look like white elephants.” The term white elephant, referring to a gift someone gives you that you didn’t necessarily want, can easily be associated with an unwanted pregnancy. Being a mother of two children who were unplanned, it is simple for me to understand that, while they were not something I wanted at the time, they are a precious gift. Later in the story she refers to the hills and her earlier comment about how they looked like white elephants. “They’re lovely hills. They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.” As any reader should know, it is impossible for hills to have skin. Her metaphor suggests, as Sherlyn Abdoo mentions, a pregnant woman lying down. This further points to Jigs desire to be that woman and to continue this pregnancy.

It should also be noted that the other side of the train station has “fields of grain and trees along the banks (of the river).” This is obviously the more fertile side of the station and when Jig looks out onto the landscape she says, “…We could have all this and we could have everything and everyday we make it more impossible.” She likens the fertility of the grain and the trees to her own current state of being with-child. At the end, the American “picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks.” He moved their luggage over to the fertile side, showing that he is willing to go along with her desires, even if only momentarily. Hannum suggests as do I, that, in the ending, “her smile…simply does not fit with surrender.”

In closing, I believe that Jig will have this child and that her view of the American has been irreparably damaged by his selfishness. She knows what she wants and what is good for her. As Donald Hardy suggests, the American “will not or cannot give the woman what she wants” and he isn’t a lover in any sense that would do Jig any good. She has seen that he is entirely too self-serving to do right by her or their child and his stop to drink alone in the bar foreshadows his being alone in the near future (Hannum). She had to make a decision and she chose life.

This essay was posted with permission of student Roberta Herndon of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in October, 2004.


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