Relationsive Communication In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

In "Hills like White Elephants", Hemingway exposes the complexities of a relationship between an American man and a girl. In order to do this, he clarifies unspoken opinions of the main characters through the symbols of the white elephants, beaded curtains and the landscape; showing that a compromise can never be achieved. As with every relationship, couples need to communicate effectively to be happy. Hemingway uses the symbols to not only give us a better understanding of the story but also to carry out the theme of communication vs talking in his story.
Before being able to understand and decide whether the couple was communicating or merely talking, the reader first has to understand what effective communication is. According to the Collins Dictionary, communication is “successfully conveying or sharing ideas and feelings” (107). For communication to be successful the receiver has to interpret the message sent as the sender intended it. Throughout the story, Hemingway uses the symbols mentioned above to refer to the obvious, causing effective communication between the characters to be difficult.
White elephant is not only a part of the title of the story but it is also the main symbol in the story. The girl began by saying “they look like white elephants” (Charters 368) and immediately it is a reminder of the cliché “an elephant is in the room”. In hearing that comment the reader is forced to think that she does not want the unborn child and that it is an inconvenience as no one would want an elephant since it is really big and can be an inconvenience. Though it seemed casual she was actually acknowledging the elephant in the room which was the pregnancy. By doing this she opened the line for a conversation on the matter. As t...

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...ently to connect the symbol to what is actually happening, she is stuck in the middle of the two sceneries, just like she is stuck and confused about what to do. She wants to keep the child but she seems to be so dependent on the man that she wants him too and finds it hard to decide.
Though they seemed to be communicating effectively throughout the entire story at first they were not. This is obvious because the man kept missing hints of her wanting to keep the child and by the time he actually realized what she wanted, he decided to try and force his opinion on her causing her frustration and confusion and eventually leads to her asking him to stop talking (Charters 369). By the end of the story they both realize that they want different things and though she will not accept it, it is now obvious that they will separate whether she has the abortion or not.