Jigsaw Pieces and the Elephant in the Room

     "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway is about a girl's decision to get an abortion. The audience knows the man's view on it as the story goes on, he wants her to get it so they can be free from the burden of a baby. The girl, Jig, wants the baby and feels like she will be handed the world if she goes through with having it.

    The setting of the short story reveals a lot about the woman's point of view of having an abortion. The girl keeps looking out to the hills of Ebro, which are white and long, indicating a beautiful pure life awaiting her across the horizon if she has her baby. She looks out to the hills throughout the story, showing that she is longing to go out there and have a more fulfilling life. She looks out to the hills and says, "we can have all this... And we could have everything." However, they're underneath the shade and far away from the hills. After she says they could have everything she says, "and everyday we make it more impossible." The man is tugging her away from having the life she wants. He prefers the shade and hopping from place to place. Instead of looking outwards, he looks at his drinks and the tags on their suitcases with all the hotels they've slept in. When he starts to persuade her to go through with the abortion, instead of looking out to something beautiful and white, she looks at the brown, dry countryside. She sees a life that is barren, without a child, but she chooses to have the abortion at the end anyway. 

    There's a lot that is left unsaid in the story, but their seemingly meaningless interactions hold a lot of weight. They're stuck at a crossroads, and the train's arrival indicates that she doesn't have a lot of time to make her decision. Before the train comes, she says, "Then come back and we'll finish the beer." Though this might seem unimportant, she is indicating that she is going to go through with what he wants and is not having the baby. She wants to have a life together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and with her name being "Jig" it makes sense. 

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