Ernest Hemingway Hills Like White Elephant Analysis

Life is a very precious thing. The ability to give it is amazing, and the power to take it away is one of the hardest things to do. In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, he shows the difficult decision some families must make with their child, abortion, through the symbolism of the hills “looking like white elephants” and also the that woman drinking alcohol although she is pregnant. To understand the symbolism of the comparison of the hills and the white elephant, the reader has to understand what a white elephant is. A white elephant is something that no one wants, something that is expensive and hard to take care of, a burden. When the story opens up it portrays a man and a woman sitting at a table in spain drinking beers. Soon the woman says that the hills off in the distance look like white elephants. At this point in the story nothing has happened to make the reader think anything is going wrong. Soon
She was drinking alcohol the whole time at the station. This could be what was adding on to the stress the woman was feeling, not only was she a pregnant woman about to get an abortion, but she is almost limited to one choice by the fact she is drinking, the baby could die or be born with disabilities entirely from the fact the mother was drinking. Although this symbol doesn't stand out as much as the white elephant, this could be Hemingway’s way of showing that alcohol can destroy families if abused or done at the wrong time.
“Hills Like White Elephants” goes from a couple sitting drinking beers to a couple making one of the toughest decisions of their lives without ever mentioning the baby. The symbolism of the white elephant showed the tough decisions some families are forced to make, while the drinking showed subtly what alcohol can do to a family. Without these symbols the story would be incomplete and who have an entirely different