Hills like white elephant
"Hills Like White Elephants": The Jilting of Jig
Hashmi, Nilofer.
The Hemingway Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Fall 2003, pp. 72-83 (Article)
Published by University of Idaho Department of English
DOI: 10.1353/hem.2004.0009
For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hem/summary/v023/23.1hashmi.html Access Provided by Chulalongkorn University at 11/21/11 7:26AM GMT
“hills like white elephants”:
T h e j i lt i n g of j i g
nilofer hashmi
Georgia Southern University
critics grappling with Ernest Hemingway’s hauntingly enigmatic
“Hills Like White Elephants” have failed to reach a consensus about the ending of the story.1 Almost all agree, however, that regardless of what actually transpires, the existing relationship between the American and the girl will deteriorate, or terminate. Three different scenarios have been seriously considered: the girl will have the abortion (albeit reluctantly) and stay with the man; the girl will have the abortion and leave the man; or, the girl will not have the abortion, having won the man over to her point of view. However, there is strong support in the narrative for a fourth outcome that fits in with the dark overall prognosis presented in other scholarly interpretations: the girl will indeed have the abortion, expecting in this way to stay on with the man, but after the operation has been performed, he will abandon her. Various verbal and non-verbal indications found in the story support this interpretation of the narrative, as does the very symbolism of the title itself.
Among the different, strongly argued readings of the story’s ending suggested by various scholars is the projection, alluded to above, that the girl will have the abortion but will then leave the American. This outcome is visualized by Howard Hannum:
She has decided to have the abortion but not in order to resume her life with the American. And this is not so much a question of her having the
Hashmi, Nilofer.
The Hemingway Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Fall 2003, pp. 72-83 (Article)
Published by University of Idaho Department of English
DOI: 10.1353/hem.2004.0009
For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hem/summary/v023/23.1hashmi.html Access Provided by Chulalongkorn University at 11/21/11 7:26AM GMT
“hills like white elephants”:
T h e j i lt i n g of j i g
nilofer hashmi
Georgia Southern University
critics grappling with Ernest Hemingway’s hauntingly enigmatic
“Hills Like White Elephants” have failed to reach a consensus about the ending of the story.1 Almost all agree, however, that regardless of what actually transpires, the existing relationship between the American and the girl will deteriorate, or terminate. Three different scenarios have been seriously considered: the girl will have the abortion (albeit reluctantly) and stay with the man; the girl will have the abortion and leave the man; or, the girl will not have the abortion, having won the man over to her point of view. However, there is strong support in the narrative for a fourth outcome that fits in with the dark overall prognosis presented in other scholarly interpretations: the girl will indeed have the abortion, expecting in this way to stay on with the man, but after the operation has been performed, he will abandon her. Various verbal and non-verbal indications found in the story support this interpretation of the narrative, as does the very symbolism of the title itself.
Among the different, strongly argued readings of the story’s ending suggested by various scholars is the projection, alluded to above, that the girl will have the abortion but will then leave the American. This outcome is visualized by Howard Hannum:
She has decided to have the abortion but not in order to resume her life with the American. And this is not so much a question of her having the