Taboo In Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

Taboo; explained as ‘A social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.’ Ernest Hemingway the author of “Hills Like White Elephants” speaks throughly about a taboo subject in which generally in most places around the globe is less spoken about let alone discussed in a public setting. The setting of the story is set to be most likely in the early 1920’s. The short story begins with a couple, Jig and an unnamed man who are sitting down at a train station overlooking the Ebro River somewhere between Madrid, Spain and Barcelona, Spain which is proven here in the story “The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the

He states ‘I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.’ and ‘I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural.’ Hemingway choose specific words in order to make the man sound like he is trying his best to convince Jig. Words such as “air”, “natural”, “perfectly” and “just” bring a sense of calmness to the discussion and to Jig herself. I think Hemingway did this purposely because he is trying to make the discussion between the two characters sound more of a debate. A debate in which the man isn’t fully trying to take force of the situation maybe with violence but in a more peaceful way of by using calm words and talking with a tone that shows he cares for Jig. It almost seems as if Jig doesn’t know what she wants from this discussion. She seems to be hesitant on wether or not to go through with the operation. This debate that Hemingway is trying to portray in the discussion between the two characters could very well be proof of the male dominance in society in the early 1900’s. Throughout the story the man seems to be in control of the conversation; reassuring Jig that it will be fine, that he will be with her and that the operation itself is very basic and simple that she can do it with ease. At the same time Jig seems to be the one that has less control of the situation even though it is her body and the child of course is within her. This causes Jig to question if she should listen to the man or not. She states ‘And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?’ which proves her hesitation and lack of power within the situation. It’s almost as if the man himself is trying to convince a child to not do something in order for him to