When a reader reads a short story they need to pay attention because even the smallest of details are important. This proves to be true due to analysis of the surroundings of the characters and how they react to them. In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” the main conflict is a man who is trying to convince his female companion to have an abortion but the girl is resistant to the whole idea.
Between the description of the couple’s surroundings, their dialogue, and how they react to the setting, Hemingway manages to clearly depict the complexity of the situation and the two different points of view of the couple who are the main focus in the story. It is important to understand how the scenery could be used to portray a split in ideas. In the beginning there is this distinction of “sides” as Ernest Hemingway writes “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” (Hemingway 129). It can be inferred that because there is one side that was mentioned then there must be an opposite side. The distinction of the two sides in the setting helps to prove the different points of view of the couple by showing in who takes notice of the sides, and who does not.
For example, the girl mentions the side where the hills “look like white elephants'” (Hemingway 130) and she takes notice of the “fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro” (Hemingway 132). The girl is the one who is noticing the more optimistic images in the setting and that suggests she has a more positive approach to the future than the American who has not taken notice of these images. This further pushes the idea of the couple having two different points of view on their . current situation.
Stanley Renner elaborates on the girl’s focus of the more beautiful images in this article titled “Moving to the girl’s side of ‘Hills Like White Elephants'” by stating that because the girl has chosen to pay attention to a side that has more fertile images and that she is focusing more strongly on what she wants and is also in that moment physically and mentally moving away from what the American wants her to do which is to get an abortion (Renner 30). The girl is finally able to voice her opinion on the matter in her own way.
She appears to really believe that they could make the best of the situation which is evident when she states “And we could have all this,'”‘ (Hemingway 132) in reference to the the side full of bountiful images. The girl has a more positive viewpoint on her pregnancy and she is trying to convince the American to see her side of the issue. Since there is a clear distinction between sides and the fact that the couple reacts to each other and their surroundings differently helps validate the claim that the setting can be used to mirror the couple’s interactions with each other.
There is also this sense of privacy and right and wrong and the ideals of the American are exemplified in the description of the outside and the inside of the building. As Hemingway has stated, the couple is “sat at a table in the shade, outside the building” (130) which means that they are staying away from all of the people who are inside the building which indicates the privacy of the conversation because they do not want to be overheard by other people. Also, the mention of “shade” indicates that the couple are hiding something from the others which is why they need the separation.
It is important to mention that the American is the one who wants to stay in the shade, not the girl. This is made clear when the girl was walking about the station and the man said “”Come on back in the shade,’ he said. “You mustn’t feel that way,” (Hemingway 132). This dialogue clearly presents that the American has a completely different view of the pregnancy than the girl and it is separating the two of them.
Continuing with the idea of separation, what keeps them apart from the people inside the building is “a curtain made of strings of bamboo beads… (Hemingway 130) which Hemingway ties nicely into what the American says about the abortion and how it is “to let the air in'” (131) as that is exactly what the beaded curtain does for the bar, and since the girl at that moment is focused on the beaded curtain, it makes sense for the American to use that analogy. By remaining in the shade and wanting to “let the air in” (Hemingway 131) the reader learns that th arns that the American knows that abortion is a topic that most people do not agree with and at he wants his relationship to be simple and easy which is why he is trying to convince the girl to get an abortion.
By studying how focused the American is on the bar and on staying in the shade, it can be assumed that the American has a completely different point of view on the topic of the abortion from the girl who has been focused on the positive landscape. Since this entire short story takes place at a train station, it is important to discuss what the train station and the setup of the train station could indicate about the couple. The couple are waiting “between two lines of rails in the sun.
Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building… (Hemingway 129) the two lines show that the trains that arrive at this station go in opposite directions which continue this idea of having different sides and as supported by the previous paragraph, the couple are already split between two sides because of the girls focus on the beauty and the more lush side and the Americans lack of focus on their surroundings. Also, Hemingway writes that “the American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building,” (Hemingway 130) by stating this, Hemingway has shown the nature of this conversation is too private for the public to hear.
They need to be in the “shade” (Hemingway 130) and away from people because of how private and potentially controversial the conversation is. Hemingway mentions through the dialogue that the couple is having the idea of an “operation” (131) and since the couple is unmarried and the girl seems fixed on the more lush side it can be assumed that the couple is having a conversation about having an abortion and that they are waiting for a train that will either take them to have the abortion or lead them away from that decision. When people go to take the train, they always have a destination in mind.
This idea is elaborated on by Deborah Tall who wrote “The Where of Writing: Hemingway’s Sense of Place. ” She states that the couple has reached this point of no return and that for most of the story neither of them know which train they will be taking but they know they will be taking one (Tall 342). The ending of the story is very ambiguous as Hemingway does not state whether or not the girl will get the abortion but the couple does in fact make a decision that they are going to stay together since the man “picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks” (Hemingway 133).
What is also interesting about the previous quote is that the American is taking the bags to the opposite side. Because the American had been very rooted in his seat in the shade for almost the entirety of the story it is significant that he would get up and move the bags to the other side. It can be inferred that the bags are being brought over to the girls side and because the girl “smiled at him” (Hemingway 133) in response, it further proves that the bags are being brought to her side because she seems very happy with the American’s decision.
Hemingway also mentions the bags are “heavy” (133) and because the American is the one carrying them it suggests that the American is the one feeling dragged down by the decision which is not how he would feel if the girl agreed to having the abortion. These details help to push the idea that the girl is not getting an abortion. By studying how the characters react to the complicated situation and by setting this story at a train station, Hemingway is forcing the couple to make a decision where neither of them know where their decision will take them.
Hemingway is a master at using the setting to help depict a conflict and in “Hills Like White Elephants” he manages to show the reader with little description placed in between dialogue the very different opinions of the girl and the American. In this writing, Hemingway has also subtly brought up the dynamics of a relationship during the time period. It is clear throughout the story that the American is the one who knows more and is in control of the situation while the girl plays the more submissive role.
Though Hemingway explores the change in the dynamics when they are confronted with a difficult decision that will change their relationship. The roles almost reverse in the sense that towards the end it’s the girl who is happy and in control while the American is conforming to her wishes. Hemingway is telling the readers that in a relationship, a person’s true feelings will show through when they are confronted with a tough decision and it is likely that their opinions will be different from each other’s.
These true feelings can lead to either a permanent split or a decision to stay together and work through the problems. The nature of the couple’s relationship will never be the same because they will have to make a decision and as Hemingway has implied, the dynamics of a relationship are always changing and that whichever train the couple take, they will take it together and it will change their relationship regardless if it is for the better or for the worse.