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In Ernest Hemingway’s famous story “Hills Like White Elephants,” a couple, “the American and the girl with him,” talk and drink while waiting for a train to Madrid (Hemingway 69). Most readers agree that the subject of their discussion is whether “the girl,” called Jig, should have an abortion. Most of the story is told through dialogue, and although the word abortion is never mentioned, most readers agree that the pregnancy is the source of the tension between them. However, there are other aspects of the story about which readers do not agree. For example, some critics believe that Hemingway’s portrayal of “the girl” is unfair or sexist. More specifically, some see in her the qualities of “the typically submissive Hemingway woman” (Nolan 19). However, a close reading of the story reveals the opposite to be true: “the girl” is not a one-dimensional stereotype but a complex, sympathetically drawn character.

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Most critics who see Hemingway’s portrayal of Jig as sexist base their interpretation on Hemingway’s reputation and not on the story itself. For example, feminist critic Katherine M. Rogers points out that because Hemingway himself “openly expressed fear of and hostility to women” (263), it “seems fair” to see his male characters “as representative of Hemingway himself” (248). However, although “the American” in this story may see Jig as just “a pleasant pastime,” it would be an oversimplification to confuse the character’s opinion of her with the writer’s as Rogers would encourage us to do (251). For example, one could argue (as many critics have done) that because the name “Jig” has sexual connotations, it reveals the author’s sexism (Renner 38). However, as critic Howard Hannum points out, she is referred to by this name only twice in the story, both times by the male character himself, not by the narrator (qtd. in Renner 38). Critic Stanley Renner agrees with Hannum, rejecting the idea that Hemingway’s choice to refer to the character as “the girl” is equally “belittling” (38). Renner argues that this use of the word girl is necessary to show how the character changes and matures in this story. In fact, he sees “her achievement of mature self-knowledge and assertion [as] the main line of development in the story” (39). All in all, the evidence suggests that “the girl,” not “the American,” is actually the story’s protagonist. Given this central focus on “the girl” and the complexity of her character, the accusations that Hemingway’s sexism has led him to create a stereotype do not seem justified.

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When students who are not familiar with Hemingway’s reputation as a misogynist read “Hills Like White Elephants,” they tend to sympathize more often with “the girl” than with “the American” (Bauer 126) and to see the female character’s thoughtfulness and depth. Although “the American” refers to the abortion as “‘really an awfully simple operation’” (Hemingway 72), downplaying its seriousness, “the girl” has a “more mature understanding” of what her decision might mean (Bauer 130). She recognizes that it is not so “simple,” and she is not naive enough to think that having the baby will save the relationship. In fact, she responds to his own naive comments with sarcasm. He claims that they will be “‘all right and happy’” if she goes through with the operation; he says he’s “‘known lots of people who have done it.’ ‘So have I,’ said the girl. ‘And afterward they were all so happy’” (Hemingway 73). Despite her sarcasm and her resistance to his suggestions, the man continues to insist that this problem will be easy to fix. Finally, the girl becomes irritated with him and, as readers can see by the dashes that end his lines midsentence, cuts him off, finishing his lines for him as he tries to tell her again how “perfectly simple” the operation is (Hemingway 76). Readers understand her pain and frustration when she finally says, “‘Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?’” (Hemingway 76).

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The argument that “the girl” is a flat, stereotypical character portrayed in sexist terms is hard to support. In fact, a stronger argument could be made that it is the man, “the American,” who is the stereotype. As critic Charles J. Nolan Jr. points out, “Hemingway highlights Jig’s maturity and superiority as he excoriates the selfishness and insensitivity of her companion” (19). Moreover, “the girl” is certainly the central character in this story — the one in conflict, the one who must make the final decision, and the one who grows over the course of the story. At times, she seems willing to listen to the man, even going so far as to say, “‘Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me’” (Hemingway 74). However, soon after, she responds defiantly to his comment, “‘You mustn’t feel that way’” with “‘I don’t feel any way’” (Hemingway 75). Thus, as Renner notes, Hemingway’s dialogue reveals “the self-centered motives of his male character” while at the same time dramatizing the female character’s complex inner struggle (38). By the end of the story, the shallow “American” still expects things to be all right between them. But when the man asks, “‘Do you feel better?’” Hemingway shows the girl’s quiet power — and her transformation — by giving her the final understated words of the story: “‘I feel fine…. There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine’” (Hemingway 77). Although we do not learn what her decision is, we can see that she is now in control: she has decided to shut down the conversation, and what the man has to say no longer matters.

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In “Hills Like White Elephants,” “the girl” proves herself to be neither “‘weak in character’” nor “‘weak as character’” as some have described Hemingway’s female characters (Bauer 126). Far from being weak in character, she constantly questions and pushes against the male character’s suggestions. And far from being weak as a character, she acts as the protagonist in this story, winning the reader’s sympathies. A stereotypically drawn female character would not be able to carry off either of these feats. Although Hemingway may demonstrate sexism in his other stories — and demonstrate it in his own life — readers who evaluate this story will discover a complex, conflicted, sympathetic female character.

Works Cited

Bauer, Margaret D. “Forget the Legend and Read the Work: Teaching Two Stories by Ernest Hemingway.” College Literature, vol. 30, no. 3, 2003, pp. 124–37. Academic Search Premier, www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-search-premier.

Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Men without Women. Charles Scribner’s, 1927, pp. 69–77.

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Nolan, Charles J., Jr. “Hemingway’s Women’s Movement.” Hemingway Review, vol. 4, no. 1, 1984, pp. 14–22. Academic Search Premier, www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-search-premier.

Renner, Stanley. “Moving to the Girl’s Side of ‘Hills Like White Elephants.’” Hemingway Review, vol. 15, no. 1, 1995, pp. 27–41. Academic Search Premier, www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-search-premier.

Rogers, Katherine M. The Troublesome Helpmate: A History of Misogyny in Literature. U of Washington P, 1996.