In Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway (p. 172) provides us with a simple story with two characters, a nameless American man and a pregnant woman discussing an ôawfully simple operationö over beers and Anis del Toro at a train station somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid. The American wants the woman to have an abortion, but she does not wish to do so. HemingwayÆs machismo and masculine tendency to see weakness as feminine is a significant part of the story. Like the title, the relationship between the man and the woman has become a ôwhite elephant,ö for this is no way this relationship can be successfully resolved if she has the abortion.
The breakup of the relationship between the woman and her lover is shown literally and symbolically. Like a ôwhite elephant,ö if the abortion occurs, their relationship is useless. The man urges the woman to have the abortion, assuring her she will still retain his affection. She questions if that is what will happen if she has the abortion, ôBut if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and youÆll like it?ö (Hemingway, p. 173). Their relationship consists of drinking alcohol and seeing things.
We see that HemingwayÆs code and personal lifestyle are illustrated in the distance between the man and woman in the story. She is privy to insights and emotions the man does not know. In this manner, Hemingway is portraying the distance between them and the difference over the operation as male and female. A woman has feelings for things like ôloveö but a man remains distanced emotionally. The man does not consider any maternal feelings or feelings of love with respect to the operation. As Link (p. 68) maintains, the repetition and variation of the line ôÆI donÆt want you to do it if you donÆt really want to,Æö shows the manÆs persistence and power.ö He views the operation as simple and practical. She views it as a means t...