Hills Like White Elephants Summary & Analysis

Hemingway immediately emphasizes the oppressive nature of the setting, and the couple escapes into the only shade available for temporary relief through alcohol. Significantly, their conversation begins with a discussion of what to drink, suggesting how central alcohol has become to their avoidance of real communication. The fact that the man speaks Spanish and must translate the waitress’s words to the girl further highlights the uneven power dynamic in the couple’s relationship, and is also another way Hemingway emphasizes the limits of language, a major theme of the story.

The relationship between the man and the girl is characterized by silence, small talk, and outbursts of irritation, along with drink after drink. This tension suggests that the two are desperately trying to avoid talking about the unnamed “white elephant” between them. The many descriptions of the landscape as both barren and fertile already hint at the idea of pregnancy, and the emphasis on the harshness of the sunlight suggests a glaring truth the couple is trying to avoid by staying in the “shade”—and by not communicating. Hemingway is typically sparse with his language and doesn’t give away any real plot points in this story, so it’s important to examine his descriptions of the setting, as these are in many ways more revealing than the actual dialogue between the characters.

The man’s controlling position of authority in relation to the girl dominates this scene, even as the action remains innocuous. Besides choosing to remain silent, there are very few decisions or comments the girl can make without the man’s direction or agreement.

The man and girl are unable to approach any issue, however small, without their anger spilling out, yet they continue to try to maintain an appearance of normalcy, leisure, and “freedom.” However, the girl is skeptical of this performance of happiness, hinting at the serious problems in their relationship they refuse to openly discuss.

The operation goes unnamed throughout the story, but it is clearly a euphemism for an abortion. At the time abortions were illegal and often very dangerous, adding to the coded nature of their conversation.

The man’s insistence that the abortion is the simplest and most reasonable thing to do is at direct odds with the girl’s feelings about her pregnancy. While the man sees an abortion as a chance to return to their former easygoing, pleasure-seeking relationship, the girl’s sarcasm indicates that she is doubtful and resistant. But the man is unrelenting in his persuasive efforts to coerce her into getting the operation—and to make her feel that it’s what she wants. His domination of the girl is more subtle but also more sinister than simple bullying—he doesn’t just want her to do what he wants, he wants her to want what he wants.

This moment reveals the crucially different ways in which the man and girl view her pregnancy. To the man the pregnancy is something they can leave behind them, like a piece of extra baggage in their many travels. But for the girl, the pregnancy holds the promise of a beautiful new type of life together, one that he cannot or refuses to see. Once again Hemingway’s descriptions of the landscape (now seen from the girl’s point of view, as she sees beauty and fertility where there was only barrenness before) are powerful signifiers of the characters’ thoughts and emotions—more powerful, seemingly, than the characters’ words themselves.

The man continues to try to control the girl, down to where she walks and what she feels and wants. It is not enough for him that she get the operation, which she agrees to, but she must also want to get the operation and return to their life of “freedom” and leisure. The girl probes the man’s feelings about the pregnancy to see whether he can imagine having a family with her. But as always their views are at odds, and the man’s seemingly romantic claim to not want anyone but her is the opposite of what she wants to hear. He is asking her to abort their child, but manipulatively phrasing his request as something romantic and selfless.

The girl has reached her breaking point, smothered into silence and agreement by the man’s controlling nature and endless talking. Here her feelings are closest to the surface and there is the sense that there will be an emotional explosion, and then perhaps even some real communication and confrontation of the truth. Instead the waitress reappears, and once more the couple’s conversation is postponed in favor of maintaining appearances.

As the man walks, we feel the oppressiveness of the pregnancy from his perspective, a worry he carries with him like heavy luggage. His frustration is palpable, yet when he rejoins the girl, both once again feign normalcy, refusing to communicate honestly in favor of further avoidance and concealment. Hemingway ends his brief but powerful story on this tense and ambiguous note—the couple is preparing to board a train (a traditional symbol of choice, a “crossroads,” and some sort of transition or “middle ground” state), but they seem to have accomplished nothing by this conversation, and their impending journey will lead them nowhere new. They continue to avoid the harsh “light” of their real feelings and instead hide behind the “shade” of niceties and double-speak, drowning their emotions in alcohol and mindless travel. It’s suggested that the couple’s relationship won’t last much longer, even though they continue to keep up the pretense that everything is “fine.”