Hills Like White Elephants: analyse af Hemingways novelle

“But I don’t care about me.” How is it that one comes to this point? This short fiction written by Ernest Hemingway in 1927 plays out at a train station in Spain where a seemingly loving couple are having an ongoing talk about the woman undergoing a small and simple surgery, however, there are not given any kind of specifications for the surgery. What kind of surgery is this and how does it drive a couple so far away from each other that they are only able to talk about it but have yet to converse? This is the theme Hemingway touches upon in “Hills Like White Elephants.” This short fiction is told through a third party narrator, who is able to see things play out throughout the story but has no access to the main character’s, Jig and the American, thoughts.

As early as in the first paragraph the reader is immediately introduced to the tense atmosphere between the couple. An atmosphere which will remain for the rest of the story. The story takes place in Spain around 1927. “The hills across the valley of the Ebro' were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun.”“It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid.” The fact that the setting of the story is placed at a train station between two places is to highlight that the relationship between the the American and Jig is at a crossroad. The two of them must decide where to go and whether they want to go together and continue their relationship.