Hills Like White Elephants

Hemingway packs a lot into this short, short story. Whenever I read stories like this one, I am reminded again why they are the writers, and I am not. Every word carries so much weight and meaning, nothing is being carelessly thrown around here. Which is, of course, why Hemingway is the master of the short story. So let's take a look at what's going on in this story. In so few words, Hemingway is able to explore a truly complex relationship and situation in this short story. Every time I read this story, I focus on Hemingway's use of 'girl'. She's a girl, while he's an American man. That obviously portrays the balance of power between the two in this relationship: he's a man, and she's a girl. I would argue, however, that the content being discussed by these two definitely shows who is the powerful one and who isn't. Maybe she was a girl before, but at this train station, at these cross roads, I would argue that she becomes a woman. She recognizes that 'cutting it out', or 'letting the air in', is going to cost her. Whatever decision she makes, she's losing something that she'll never get back. Either she has the abortion and loses the child, or she keeps the child and loses the man. While we never really know what decision she makes, I would argue that by the end of the story, she's not a girl, she's a woman.