Christina Herrle

Dr. Bloom

ENG 1133-32

19 May 2004 

A Journey Into Reality

      Hemingway once said he modeled his writing style after the principle of the iceberg: “There is seven-eights of it under water for every part that shows.  Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg.  It is the part that doesn’t show” (339).  Hemingway’s simplicity of writing and ability to embrace a central theme and evoke emotion reflects the idea of adding only necessary details. Simplicity in style makes Hemingway’s pieces adventurous, for one must discover for themselves the hidden themes and ideas.  In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” the plot and central conflict seem ambiguous and hidden, although achieve partial clarity through symbols and dialogue.  Ezra Pound taught Hemingway to write emphasizing the idea that “the natural object is always the adequate symbol,” which is true to “Hills Like White Elephants” (339).  Although Hemingway is known for his use of dialogue to develop a plot, his natural objects are found to be prevalent in elaborate scenery. The setting of “Hills Like White Elephants” exposes the story’s theme, the impact of abortion on the characters, by using changing locations to symbolize the process involved in making a moral decision.

      The first sentence of “Hills Like White Elephants” immediately reveals the direction of the story as well as the central conflict:  “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white.  On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (340).  After reading the story, it is evident that these first sentences are not only descriptive of the couple’s physical location, but also their psychological position in life as they are forced to make a decision and are stuck at a crossroad.  The train station can be seen as a crossroad the couples have arrived at during the problem solving process.  The girl blankly stares off at the scenery around her which shows that figuratively she is lost. “The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station.  Across on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro.  Far away, beyond the river, were mountains” (342).  Clearly Hemingway gives two contrasts in scenery, one side of the train tracks is barren and dry land and the other is fertile and healthy.  The contrast in land is extremely symbolic of the girl’s moral dilemma considering whether to keep the baby and be fertile and healthy or to abort the baby and be barren and empty. 

      Further, the girl’s gaze and attention towards the two landscapes are telling of her wavering mood and stance during her decision making process and her partner’s aversion towards the pregnancy.  The hills are symbolic of one of the girl’s possible futures, and she notices the hills just as she acknowledges the idea of abortion.  “The girl was looking off at the line of hills.  They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry” (340).  The girl’s first view of her scenery is symbolic of her mental state as having a serious dilemma on her mind.  Right now the future of a possible abortion looks white as if it would make her more pure, but currently she is tainted and dirty much like the color brown, because she is pregnant.  Further into the dialogue, the name the girl associates with the hills in the distance is symbolic of her view of her unwanted pregnancy and her attention once again towards this landscape reveals more about her fluctuation between the outcomes her moral decision.  The girl brings up the topic of the hills to her partner in a suggestive manner using them as symbols of his position in the situation.  “They look like white elephants,’ she said.  “I’ve never seen one,’ the man drank his beer. “No you wouldn’t have.’  ‘I might have,’ the man said” (340).  The dialogue shows that the girl sees her unborn baby as a “white elephant,” or unwanted surprise. She further suggests that the man has never had to deal with an unwanted surprise or pregnancy and therefore he doesn’t understand her.  At this point the girl views the pregnancy as something she does not want.  A shift in her mood is evident through the symbolic scenery once again as the girl later looks at her surroundings. She once again uses the hills to reveal a shift in her attitude towards the abortion, and by admiring the hills, shows that the pregnancy is more desirable. “They’re lovely hills,” she said. ‘They don’t really look like white elephants.  I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees” (341).  The symbolic “white elephant” hills now seem to show that the girl feels the pregnancy isn’t an unwanted surprise anymore but rather it just appeared that way from when she says that it’s just what the color seemed to look like through the trees.  Her feelings towards the appearance of the hills show the shift in her emotions from being afraid and against having the baby to being content with her condition.

      The curtains within the story are also symbolic of the couple’s situation.  Hemingway places the couple in seclusion and introduces the presence of a curtain in order to show their location physically as well as mentally.  Their relation with the curtain shows the couple is trying to hide from the decision to come.  “Close against the side of the station there was a warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door bar, to keep the flies out” (340).  Hemmingway only adds the information that is necessary to develop plot and therefore these curtains can undeniably be symbolic and portray a door to which one side is reality and one side is the absence.  The quote shows that the couple is trying to escape reality momentarily by walking behind the curtain and leaving the outside environment.  The curtain is then mentioned twice more during the dialogue between the couple as the waitress is walking in and out of it while bringing them more drinks.  The curtain and the waitress’s movement in and out of it is symbolic of the couple’s inability to reach a decision yet and their distance from making a final choice.  The waitress, who travels numerous times through the curtain, is setting the couple back further from reality as she brings them more drinks, getting them more intoxicated and taking them further away from the reality where they can make a clear decision.  The couple’s connection with reality is once again symbolized by the use of the curtain, “the warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table” (341).  The association of the curtain with reality is once again supported as this quote is used directly after the girl’s quote regarding being content with the scenery and thus the pregnancy.  It shows that much like the curtain being blown in closer to the girl, reality is finally being pushed in her face.  Lastly, in the end of the story the girl shows change, “the girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out, and took a hold of two of the strings of beads” (341).  This passage is strong and shows that the girl is ready to accept and grip reality, again symbolized by the curtain. 

      Hemingway challenges a reader to explore all aspects and possibilities of reality by leaving plots, which in actuality are rich with truths embedded in symbolism and dialogue, seemingly vague.  The scenery of “Hills Like White Elephants” develops plot and direction within the story rather than directly telling the situation and central conflict.  Different aspects of the setting are characteristic of different aspects of the characters’ mindsets and positions within the plot.  Through the complexity found within ambiguity, Hemingway is able to stress the difficulty of a decision regarding abortion and show the impact it can have on the mental and physical state of a person.