Motifs
The couple repeatedly returns to ordering these, using them to avoid, numb, or delay the conflict between them.
What is alcohol / ordering drinks?
Hemingway was this child out of six in his family.
What is the second of six children?
Although the word is never used, this is the procedure the American is trying to convince Jig to have.
What is an abortion?
The Spanish river valley where the story takes place.
What is the Ebro?
Repeated reminders about its arrival time and brief stop create urgency and make the couple’s decision feel forced by time.
What is the train?
A recurring problem in Hemingway's marriages and romantic relationships.
What is infidelity?
This character appears increasingly uncertain about the operation and more emotionally connected to the possibility of having the child.
Who is Jig?
The year Hills Like White Elephants was first published.
What is 1927?
This object repeatedly separates the characters and the spaces around them, symbolizing emotional distance and indirect communication.
What is the bead curtain / barriers?
What is a newspaper reporter?
When Jig repeatedly looks toward the hills and fertile landscape instead of at the American, we can infer that she is considering this possibility.
What is keeping the baby / continuing the pregnancy?
The dry, barren side of the valley suggests this possible future for Jig and the American.
What is an empty, sterile, or childless future?
The setting is divided into two contrasting versions—one barren and one fertile—suggesting two possible futures.
What are the two sides of the valley?
The style of writing Hemingway is best known for
What is the Iceberg Style of Writing?
A moment we interpreted as a possible shift in Jig's power or resolve occurs when she does this.
What is when she grabs the two beads from the curtain?
The side of the valley containing fields, trees, and the river symbolizes this possibility.
What is fertility, life, or a future with the child?
This image represents something that may be valuable but is also unwanted, inconvenient, or burdensome.
What is the white elephant?
How Hemingway died
What is suicide (shot himself in the face)?
Hemingway never tells readers exactly what Jig ultimately decides. This forces readers to do this using dialogue, motifs, and setting.
What is infer / draw a conclusion from textual evidence?
The couple waits at a railway junction between two sets of tracks. Symbolically, this setting places them at one of these.
What is a crossroads / major decision point?