49 pages • 1 hour read
Ernest HemingwayHills Like White Elephants
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1927A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Crossroads and Existential Crisis
As with many members of the Lost Generation, Jig and the American are going through an existential crisis, questioning both the meaning of life and whether there is in fact any meaning at all—meaning, that is, beyond self-indulgence and cosmopolitan leisure.
The American seems to have accepted there is no such meaning, or at least, he has adopted this philosophy as a way to live. He is fully immersed in their transient, purposeless existence, and his only interest is maintaining the ease and safety of not seeking anything deeper. Though the narrative does little to confirm this disposition directly, the character exposes his shallowness when he says the pregnancy is “the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy” (72). In other words, he resolves his existential crisis by denying that there is a crisis; his unreflective, oversimplistic attitude bespeaks a belief there is nothing more to happiness than ease and pleasure. His words also imply the relationship itself requires no work and that only external obstacles merit attention.
Jig, the protagonist, is not so sure. She sees the possibility of meaning in her life and their relationship when she looks across to the grain fields, which are rich with purpose and possibility. Even though Jig says things like “I don’t care about me” (74), she clearly feels there is purpose to be had in life. Further, she is interested in exploring the possibilities of existence, saying, “And we could have all this” (74). Despite her conflicted ambivalence, she understands that there could be another way, whereas the man seems unable (or unwilling) to see it.
In the end, the man has made up his mind that the key to happiness is to stay on the surface of things and avoid complications. Jig is willing to entertain his philosophy, though she is aware there may be a purpose to life and a richness in that purpose if she has the courage to accept it. Because she understands this, there is an especially tragic element in the possibility that she might succumb to the man’s pressure and relinquish agency. In this story, Hemingway acknowledges both the possibility of a meaningful life and the difficulty of pursuing one.
Differing Perspectives on Loss
Every choice in life, and every path chosen, sacrifices other choices and other paths. Jig, the protagonist of “Hills Like White Elephants,” recognizes this fact, even if she never says so directly. The first hint of this recognition is when she gets up from the table to look out over the grain fields, river, and mountains of the other side of the valley: “‘And we could have all this,’ she said. ‘And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible’” (74). She sees that their past choices about their lifestyle and relationship have caused them to lose out on other things and that, with every decision, a change of direction becomes more difficult. She goes further, stating, “And once they take it away, you never get it back” (75). Ostensibly, this refers to the actual abortion, but in a larger sense, she is saying that she sees a point in their future at which their decisions, and path, become irreversible—that there will be no return, or no opportunity to change or to find something else.
The man approaches loss from the opposite direction. He believes that if they have a baby, their lives will change irrevocably—which is precisely why he deems this course of action unreasonable. Because he sees his life’s current ease and pleasure as the highest good, any change is undesirable. When Jig asks, “Doesn’t it mean anything to you?” (76), he responds, “Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else” (76). The irony is that he doesn’t want Jig; he wants the status quo, and he fears losing it. He therefore pressures her, even as he claims to love her, to undergo a dangerous, perhaps life-threatening operation, and he willfully downplays its seriousness. What is clear to Jig, he refuses to see: that even if she has the abortion, their life will never return to the way it was. This old life is, in fact, already lost. She states, “[O]nce they take it away, you never get it back” (75). When he responds with, “But they haven’t taken it away,” she says only, “We’ll wait and see” (75). She tries and fails to make the man see the loss of that other path, because he can only see the risk to what they have right now.
Detachment Versus Engagement
This theme runs concurrent to the existential crisis that the couple is facing. Whereas the existential crisis questions the meaning in their lives and actions, this theme examines the two ways that one can move through life. The man favors the ease and detachment of their current life, in which they become attached to nothing and continue to float on the surface of life. But Jig recognizes that it may be worth it to engage with life, to accept the risk and danger, and try to “get along,” even in the face of possible heartbreak. At least for a moment, she sees the pregnancy as an opportunity for engagement, to dig into the difficulty and messiness of life: She says, “We could get along” (76), a recognition that while it wouldn’t be easy, she believes they could manage it. Throughout the story, Jig struggles between detachment and engagement. While she is initially deferential to the man’s perspective and says, “I don’t care about me” (74), she then explores the idea of engaging with the world, saying, “And we could have all this” (74).
The shock and trauma of the first world war left indelible scars on those affected and, in some cases, made people unwilling to engage with life. With engagement comes the risk of further trauma and heartbreak, while detachment offers protection. This story explores the two sides of this issue through its characters: While the man stays secure in his detachment, Jig seems willing to explore the idea of engaging in life more deeply. While Jig’s ultimate decision on the matter is obscure, the man seems less likely to change his attitude than she is.
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