Hills Like White Elephants Feminist Analysis

Misleading Image of the Girl in “Hills Like White Elephants” In Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” the male character serves as an obvious antagonist, shown by his unsympathetic behavior towards his lover who contemplates having an abortion. The girl is faced with two choices – to protect their relationship by having an abortion, or keep her baby, but have the man leave her. Though the operation is physically done to her body, the girl does not have much power in the decision making because the man dominates their relationship. As a result, the girl represents the stereotypical image of women, lacking independence and strong-will. However, after the story is taken into historical context of the time period it was
When he introduces them as “the American and the girl,” he shows the unequal balance of power within their relationship (Hemingway 1). Whereas the man is given an identity as an American, the girl completely lacks any source of identification because she is just referred to as the girl in the beginning of the story. Ironically, the readers are only able to find out her name, Jig, through the man’s dialogue, but never through the author’s characterization. In doing so, Hemingway puts the girl in a lower status than the man because the American, not even the author, is the one who gives her an identity. Not long after she is introduced, the girl looks at the bead curtain and asks, “What does it say?” (Hemingway 1). This reveals that she is in a foreign country, unable to understand its language. Consequently, she must rely upon the man to take control of all communication. Her physical dependence on the man parallels her emotional attachment to the man, which leads her to allow the man to manipulate her in their discussion about having an abortion. Her failure to communicate reflects her struggles in her relationship because the man attempts to overpower in every aspect of their
The story is written in a third person limited perspective, and thus the reader is forced to assume everything about the characters only through their dialogue. As the girl further shows passive behavior towards throughout her decision making “because [she doesn’t] care about [herself],” the readers once again lose sympathy for her (Hemingway 2). She reveals that she is deciding to have an abortion just for the man, not for herself or the baby. Though it is clear that the man is manipulative, the girl just gives in, which reflects her lack of independence. Consequently, she hands over the final decision to the man, although the operation is done on her physical body. Yet again, after being aware of the historical background, the girl’s behavior is expected because women were subject to serve men in the 1920s. When the man starts to manipulate her into having an abortion, the girl asks, “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?” Although she is faced with a very important decision, she bases her choices around her feelings. Despite the possibility that she may lose her child, she devalues the life of the baby because she wants man to love her, which has clearly failed throughout the story. She even resorts to immature behavior when she tells the man that “[she’ll] scream” (Hemingway 3) after she is unable to handle the