An Analysis Of Ernest Hemingway s Hills Like White...

The â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway and published in August 1927 for a literary magazine. The short story was later published as a collections of short stories called â€Å"Men Without Women†. Ernest Hemingway had strict concept of masculinity and femininity. This is evident in the personalities, demeanor and portrayal of the two main characters, the American man and his girlfriend â€Å"Jig†. The portrayal of the male character as well travelled, well-educated, and always in control of himself. Whereas â€Å"Jigs† is portrayed as a helpless, confused, indecisive and not as well-educated. Hemingway’s portrayals of their relationship shows the male character is the dominant in the relations and the couple lack†¦show more content†¦The American dismisses her remarks by saying he had never seen one. The couple begin to argue over the taste of their drinks. The American reprimands â€Å"Jig† over their arguments and tells her they should enjoy themselves. â€Å"Jig† retracts her comparison of the hills looking like white elephant. After ordering more drinks, the American tells â€Å"Jig† that he wants her to have an operation. He becomes agitated and down plays the operation by insisting that it is not even an operation. â€Å"Jig†, being completely dependent on the American, questions what will happen to them after the operation. â€Å"Jig† wants to know if he will love her and if they will be happy after the operation. The American, avoiding conflict and willingness to say anything, tells â€Å"Jig† all of their problems will go away and they will go back to normal. He tells â€Å"Jig† they he won’t force her to have the operation but it’s the best thing for the couple. â€Å"Jig† agrees to the operation as long as the American will still love her and they will live happily afterwards. The American then tells her that he does love her and he goes back to being more interested in his drink. Being indecisive, â€Å"Jig† says she doesn’t care what happens to her. The American tells her she shouldn’t have the operation since she feels that way about herself. â€Å"Jig† and the American begin to argue again. The bartender brings them more beer and tells them their train will be there soon but â€Å"Jig†