The Theme of Abortion in Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway is a famous American novelist and an amazing short story writer. The 20th century fiction was firmly affected by his writing style, which was called as iceberg theory: the actuality floats above the water while the connotation occurs below the surface. The majority of Hemingway’s works are about the love, war, and loss. Hills like white elephants is one of the short story, which reflects his writing style obviously. The story concentrates on a conversation of a couple drinking in a bar at a train station in Spain while they are waiting for the train to Madrid. Despite the absence of the word ‘abortion’ in the story, it is undoubtedly that they are discussing the abortion of an unexpected pregnancy thanks to powerful setting development and symbolism carried out throughout the story. At the end of the story, Hemingway intentionally does not expose a clear resolution, but leave the readers to draw a conclusion by themselves. The main debatable point is: “Will they have an abortion or keep the baby?” I strongly believe they will determine to keep the baby because the girl exceedingly desires to keep the baby and it is her who mainly makes big influences on the final decision.

Throughout the conversation, it gradually indicates that she will keep the baby regardless of whatever reasons the man provides. In the beginning, she said the mountains look like white elephants. According to Thailand belief, the white elephant is a spiritual symbol, and it is given to each other as an honor gift. Besides this meaning, the gift is almost useless but expensive to maintain. Therefore, it is implied as an unwanted gift or a burden, which is the unexpected baby. However, she quickly changes her mind by saying “They’re lovely hills. They don’t really look like white elephants”. Obviously, there is a significantly positive change in her mind about the baby. Additionally, she emphasizes her nervousness about their future after the abortion. After drinking the Anis Del Toro, she describes everything is like absinthe. The appeal and effects of absinthe is interpreted to the relationship of a couple, which is attractive at the beginning, but painful at the end. The girl anticipates a dark future if she has an abortion, which the baby would be lost and the relationship with her lover would be ended. With that in mind, she keeps questioning the man whether they are happy or whether the man still loves her after the deliberate termination of her pregnancy. She also tries to point out her negative feelings about the abortion with an aim to push the man to her position of accepting the baby. Furthermore, she affirms her foreseeing about a negative future after her abortion by repeatedly denying all brightening outcomes given by the man such as they can have everything, they can have the whole world, they can go anywhere. At this stage, the girl has established a powerful belief in her determination. It is clear to her if the abortion is performed, she and the man would be never happy like before; therefore, she will end up losing not only the baby but also the lover. The thought keeps her in a precisely concrete position, which the baby has to be given into the life. Lastly, her last sentence in the story makes us believe that she already makes her choice. She said “I feel fine. There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” She feels comfortable because she determines to follow what she wants to do. Keep the baby. According to the girl’s emotional development throughout the conversation with the man, it is undeniable to say that she will not agree to eliminate the baby for whatever rational explanation provided by the man.

The girl is always the one who makes huge influences on the final decision about everything during the dialogue. First of all, she makes a decision on choosing beer at the beginning. Then she quickly changes to the Anis del Toro when she saw the painted words on the bead curtain. The man just simply follows her. When the man asks her to change another drink, she refuses and the American man just follows her again. These small things indicate that the girl is playing an important role in the decision-making during their conversation. Moreover, that the man loves and cares about her feelings so much is a key factor to affect to the final decision. In the whole communication, the man repeatedly assures the girl that he does not want her to have the abortion if she does not want to. In the middle of the conversation, he tries to make her less worried about abortion by saying “if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple”. At this moment, his main purpose is still to convince her to agree with the abortion. However, after arguing with her for a while, he is concerned about her feeling more than the “awfully simple operation”. “I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to. I’m perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you”. His mind is changing gradually based on the girl’s emotional direction. The worse she is feeling, the less pressure he is giving. The climax of the story is when the girl’s feeling is so bad that she does not want to listen to the man anymore. “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”, said she. The seven-times-repeated word “please” expresses the limit of her endurance, which is considered as the ultimate warning that she has been hearing enough and now it is time for her to make the conclusion. After this moment, the man realizes that he failed to convince her to abort the baby. Therefore; at the end of the story, he simply asks about her feeling without pushing her any more. It is clearly said that he will go after the girl’s decision, which is to keep the baby. There are many arguments across the conversation; however, it is eventually the girl who takes domination on whether having abortion or not.

Although the decision regarding to the abortion is never clearly stated in the story, I believe they will keep the baby because the man will follow the girl’s desire. Throughout the story, the girl becomes more strong-minded on her final decision making while the man becomes more sympathetic toward her feeling. There are several disputations on two possible interpretations of the story. However, afte considering the sympathy side with the girl’s value and feelings, her intense disgust against the abortion, and the male’s attitude toward the painful feeling of the girl, the final resolution I mention above is the most rational one to its conflict.