illustration of train tracks with low hills in the background and one of the hills has the outline of an elephant within it

Hills Like White Elephants

by Ernest Hemingway

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Hills Like White Elephants Questions and Answers

What is so important about the setting in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

What does the name Jig mean in "Hills Like White Elephants" and why does he call her that?

What is the relationship between the two characters in the story "Hills Like White Elephants"? What is the point of contention between them?

Why is Jig given a name but not the American in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

From what point of view is "Hills Like White Elephants" told?

What is the irony in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

What is the end of "Hills Like White Elephants"?

Why does Hemingway use the title "Hills Like White Elephants" in the short story "Hills Like White Elephants"?

What is a good thesis statement for Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants"?

Are there any metaphors in the story "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway? 

What does a white elephant symbolize in the story?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," what is the tone of communication between the two main characters?

What do the 3 different landscapes in “Hills Like White Elephants” symbolize?

What is the main conflict in the story "Hills Like White Elephants"?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," does the sympathy of the author lie more with one character than with the other? The point of view is objective in "Hills like White Elephants."

How does Hemingway indicate tone in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

What is the symbolism of the anise / licorice / absinthe ?

What do we know about the man and the girl's past life, and what has happened to the quality of their relationship?

How can the presence or absence of character names in "What We Talk About" and "Hills Like White Elephants" be used in an essay?

What is the "awfully simple operation"? Why is it not named? What different attitudes are taken toward it by the man and girl? Why?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," the American orders two big beers. The price is "four reales." How much would that have been in American money at the 1920s exchange rate?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," what is the purpose of the trip the two travelers are taking?

The number two is used many times in "Hills Like White Elephants." What is the significance of this repetition?  

In Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," why is the operation not named in the story?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," did the woman go for an abortion?

Rewrite the ending to "Hills like White Elephants."

How is the American man manipulative and selfish in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

How do the descriptions of the landscape relate to the conversation between the two travelers? What about the discussion of drink orders?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," why is the man called "the American"?

Describe the setting of "Hills Like White Elephants" and try to explain its function.

What is the couple arguing about in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"?

How does Hemingway's principle of revealing as little as possible operate in this story?

If you were a marriage counselor, what advice would you give to the couple in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," does the American man love Jig?

Are Jig and the American in "Hills Like White Elephants" married or just lovers? What evidence supports this?

In Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants," what is the couple's probable final decision?

In "Hills Like White Elephants", why does the girl say everything tastes like licorice, and why does this annoy her companion?

What is the significance of the man's drinking an Anis by himself before rejoining the girl at the end of the story?

In the story Hills Like White Elephants what kind of resolution does the story offer?

What was Hemingway's purpose in writing the story "Hills Like White Elephants?" (For an author's purpose essay.)  Perhaps a universal message/theme the author is trying to get across?

In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants" where is the Climax (turning point or most intense moment of the story)?

Why does the girl say, "That's all we do, isn't it--look at things and try new things?"

What solution can be suggested for the problem in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

How does the Spanish railroad crossing setting relate to the theme?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," how sincere is the man in his insistence that he would not have the girl undergo the operation if she does not want to?

Why do you think it is about an abortion?

In "Hills Like White Elephants," why does the American stop at the station barroom to have another Anis?

What does Jig decide to do at the end of "Hills Like White Elephants"?

What is the relationship between the man and the girl in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

What characteristics does Hemingway use to describe the land on each side of the tracks?