In "Hills Like White Elephants," does the author sympathize more with one character?
The narrator conveys more sympathy for Jig, the woman, than for the man. Jig wants to give birth to the "elephant" in the room, which is her unborn child. She has made this clear to her partner but he just doesn't want to hear it. He comes across as bullying, selfish, and insincere in the way he insists he wants whatever she wants, but then persists in pushing for an abortion.
The genius of the story lies in the way Hemingway uses dialogue alone to communicate this. The narrator never intrudes to tell us what the man is like, but lets his words reveal his character. He simply won't take no for an answer. He hangs on to the myth that everything will go back to the way it was before if Jig simply gives into his will.
Jig responds to his insincerity with sarcasm. When he tells her that...
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the only thing hurting their relationship is the pregnancy, the dialogue goes as follows:
"And you think then we'll be all right and be happy."
"I know we will. You don't have to be afraid. I've known lots of people that have done it."
"So have I," said the girl. "And afterward they were all so happy."
The man that goes back to insisting:
if you don't want to you don't have to. I wouldn't have you do it if you didn't want to. But I know it's perfectly simple.
It is hard not to sympathize with Jig as she deals with a man who can't see beyond his own desires.
You have touched on one of the excellent elements of this short story. It is clear that Hemmingway, in choosing to tell the story, remains very distant from the dialogue and action. This story has a large amount of dialogue with very little input from the omniscient narrator - it is as if he is choosing to deliberately distance himself, not commenting or judging. It is clearly left up to the reader to make any judgements as we eavesdrop in on this conversation and piece together what is happening.
However, having said this, I think the reader feels more sympathy for the girl than for the man. Note the insistence with which he keeps on making her consider the abortion, and in the end, note how she responds:
"Would you please please please please please please please please stop talking?"
It is clear that she feels pushed into a corner and has to decide between keeping the relationship or keeping her child. Reading between the lines reveals the pressure that the man is placing her under and the impossible position the girl is in.
In "Hills Like White Elephants," which character is more reasonable?
This is an excellent question. What is remarkable about this great short story is the way that so much is reported through the characters' dialogue alone - there is very little authorial intervention, and when the omniscient narrator does speak, it is only to report things that happen - we do not receive information what the characters are really thinking and what is going on inside of them. Thus we have to be careful readers and, like a detective, piece together what is happening.
It is clear that overtly at least the man appears to be very reasonable in his tone and diction:
"It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig," the man said. "It's not really an operation at all."
"I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in."
However, in spite of this dialogue, note the way that Jig, the girl, responds. She is silent and looks elsewhere, trying to ignore what he is saying. As you read the rest of the story it is clear with the insistence that the man keeps on bringing this up that it is he who is being completely unreasonable. He basically emotionally manipulates Jig into getting an abortion and forces her into a position where she has to chose between him and her unborn baby. This is why Jig threatens to scream and asks him to shut up towards the end of the story.
Reasonable therefore is not an adjective I would apply to the man - he demonstrates typical male supremacy in the way he gets what he wants and ignores the feelings of Jig.