The Development of Jig in “Hills Like White Elephants”

In Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants, Jig undergoes a transformation modify her to reliableize and decl atomic number 18 her own feelings. At the storys beginning Jig is passive, unaw be of her own feelings, and in the habit of looking to the Ameri locoweed direction. She concisely comes to realize her own desires and struggles to assert herself for the first time. The story is structured around the two billets of the valley, the division symbolizing the opposition between the Americans determine and Jigs. The two sides of the valley of the Ebro represent two ways of living, one a sterile perpetuation of the aimless hedonism the bring together adopt been engage, the early(a) a participation in life in its full natural sense (Renner, 32). On one side are the values associated with abortion, and on the other are the values associated with having the child. In this setting, then, Hemingway works out the storys conflict, which revolves around the development of his fe manly character (28).The dialogue between Jig and the American astir(predicate) hills and drinks is in actuality an articulated but decisive struggle over whether they continue to live the sterile, self-indulgent, decadent life preferred by the American or elect to have the child that Jig is carrying and settle down to a conventional but, in Jigs view, rewarding, fruitful, and peaceful life (Holladay, 1).The American argues adamantly for the abortion season Jig, being accustomed to doing what he wants, has not yet developed the mechanism to know what she wants, much less to articulate it. Thus she cannot forthrightly contest her fellow travellers urging, but neither, because of what is at stake in this case, can she stifle her own feelings (Renner, 29). Up until this point the American has been the leader of the couples kin, managing their life together in a manner consistent with his own desires.At the beginning of the story, the couple is sitting at a table on one side of the stati on, facing out toward the hills on the same side of the valley, the side associated with the barrenness and sterility both of the implications of going through with an abortion and of the current state of the couples relationship (Renner, 30). Jig looks at the hills on this side of the station, noting that they look like white elephants.A white elephant, in a North American pagan context, is not only a rare and sacred creature, but also a metaphor for an expensive and burdensome propertythe burden at bit in this story is the unborn child (Link, 67). The American responds that he has never seen a white elephant. No, you wouldnt have, Jig replies. To Jig, the unborn child she carries is eminently, painfully real to the American it is a concept, an abstraction, and too expensive to keep (Wyche, 59). Jig goes on to say, Thats all we do, isnt it look at things and try new drinks? This instruction articulates an increasing awareness of the emptiness of the couples lifestyle to date (6 0). Jig stands up and walks to the other end of the station, effectively distancing herself from the influence of her male fellow traveller and enabling herself, evidently for the first time, to realize what is in her own mind (Renner, 32). She is now able to see the other side of the valley, the fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro, and the river, which are representative of the values associated with having the child.Jig rejoins the American at the table, once again facing the the hills on the dry side of the valley. She tries to convince the American that her pregnancy could be pregnant for them, and that they could get along even with a child. The American resumes his double talk, assuring her that he will go along with what she wants while stubbornly pressuring her to do what he wants (Renner, 33). Pushed to her breaking point, Jig finally explodes with real feeling. Even though she still does not state in direct terms her feeling that there can be more to l ife than their aimless hedonism, she. vidently for the first timeasserts herself openly against the American (33). Would you satisfy please please please please please please stop talking? Jig no longer wants to hear what the American has to say, demonstrating her increasing awarenessof the mans self-centered and insecure motivation for pursuing the abortion (Rankin, 235). She is resisting both what he wants for their relationship and the hypocrisy of his efforts to persuade her (Renner, 33), as she realizes it is the unencumbered sexual playhouse that the American is selfishly trying to reserve. The American takes carries their bags to the other side of the station, and upon his return asks Jig if she feels better. I feel fine, she responds. Theres nothing wrong with me. I feel fine. The absolute straightforwardness of the last line, a line that incidentally coincides with Jigs own dramatic epiphany (Rankin, 234) may well imply her realization that there is something wrong with her companion (Renner, 40).By the conclusion of the story, the relationship between Jig and the American has been effectively destroyed (Wyche, 70). However, we see the result of her development toward self-realization the reluctant and still somewhat resentful capitulation of her male companion (Renner, 28). Once the stereotypical passive female, not even knowing her own mind, Jig finds herself no longer able to drift along in mindless accompaniment (37) and breaks free from her conditioned deference to assert her own feelings to the American.