Short Fiction · Chapter
Hills Like White Elephants explained
An American man and a young woman, Jig, wait at a train station in Spain, drinking beer and anisette while they engage in a tense, coded conversation about a potential abortion.
What happens
An American man and a young woman, Jig, wait at a train station in Spain, drinking beer and anisette while they engage in a tense, coded conversation about a potential abortion. The man pressures her to have the operation, insisting it is simple and will restore their happiness, while Jig expresses doubt and sorrow, ultimately claiming she feels fine as the train approaches.
Themes in this chapter
Masculinity and Sexual Anxiety
The American man's insistence on the abortion and his need to control the situation reveal his anxiety about commitment and fatherhood.
The Search for Authenticity
Jig's longing for a genuine life and her resistance to the man's pressure highlight her search for authenticity amidst a superficial relationship.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“They look like white elephants.”
The hills resemble white elephants.
Jig uses this simile to express her unease and the unwanted burden of pregnancy.
“It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig.”
The man downplays the abortion as a minor procedure.
He attempts to minimize the emotional and physical weight of the decision.
“And we could have all this... And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.”
Jig laments that their choices are destroying the possibility of a full life together.
She sees the abortion as a loss of potential and a step toward emptiness.