is the main conflict. While he presumes to be supportive of her decision, he is definitely pushing for her to have the abortion. She, on the other hand, agonizes over the decision in order to make the best choice. The man wants to continue their way of living. Symbolically, he wants to continue looking at hills as hills. But with this pregnancy, the woman begins to see things differently. She dares to wonder about a different kind of life. So, she starts seeing things differently. The hill looks like a white elephant. It is something unexpected and perhaps something she (and he) should think about with more consideration. 

One of the most basic conflicts present in the Hemingway short story is how two people balance the demands of their own needs with the realities of their relationship.  I think that Hemingway draws out a situation that is gender driven in that the man and the woman hold a difference of opinion about both the pregnancy and their own relationship.  Yet, there is a larger conflict present in terms of how a relationship can make demands on personal freedom.  Both characters struggle with the reality of the shared relationship, but also with the basic idea of how their own individual freedom is exacted by the constraints of their relationship.  Jig constantly finds her own voice is subjugated by the realities of their "happiness."  The idea of what will be best for their relationship must drive what happens to both of them.  The American keeps on saying to Jig that whatever "she" wants is fine.  Yet, in the end, the reality is that while their own freedom and independence is present, both understand their relationship is there and demands their attention.  The interesting thing is that Jig seems resigned to the fact that the relationship will swallow her own freedom and she accepts this at the end, while studying the hills ahead of her.

Among the conflicts and themes present in the story "Hills Like White Elephants" are the problem of an unwanted pregnancy, the relationship between men and women, and the aimlessness and emptiness of expatriate life.

The central conflict in the story stems from the fact that the woman, called Jig, is pregnant. Her partner, who is unnamed, wants her to get an abortion, and although he insists that she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to, it is clear that he himself wants her to get rid of their unborn child. The man tells Jig repeatedly that "it's really an awfully simple operation," and that if she will consent to have it, "everything will be fine." He also says that he doesn't want anybody but her; he doesn't want "anyone else" - meaning a baby. The woman, however, is not so sure that having an abortion will make things better for them. She understands that things will never be the way they were, arguing that "once they take it away, you never get it back."

A second conflict and important theme in the story is the relationship between men and women. The woman is clearly subordinate to the man in the situation described; the man speaks to her rudely, and disregards much of what she says. The reader gets the sense that the woman is considering having an abortion she does not want just to please the man and to avoid losing him. She says to him pathetically, "if I do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me."

A third theme in the story is one that recurs in many of Hemingway's works - the aimless, empty life of American expatriates in Europe in the years between the two world wars. The two main characters in the story are expats in Ebro who are waiting for a train, and as they share drinks and argue, the woman says, "That's all we do, isn't it - look at things and try new drinks."

Perhaps one of the most important elements of conflict which has not been suggested by the answer above is the way in which the title suggests a larger conflict. It seems that there is a conflict between the imagination and the ability to see in metaphors and the inability to use the imagination, as expressed in Jig's ability to see the hills that surround them as if they were "white elephants." This of course is linked to the question of the abortion.

Jig's reference to her metaphor results in a squabble between the two lovers, which ends in Jig deliberately choosing to dismantle her vision in an attempt to regain his love and affection. Note what Jig says:

"They don't really look like white elephants. I just mean the colouring of their skin through the trees."

Thus we can see in this comment the way that her abortion is foreshadowed. Just as the imagination is conquered by a dull, practical view of the world, so her body will have the abortion that her lover wants her to have.

I think that there can be several examples of conflict found on both internal and external levels.  I think that Jig represents conflict on both levels.  The first and most evident is that she is struggling with this issue of the abortion.  Jig is an individual who must fight through her own internal doubts about "the procedure" as well as the American's beliefs about it.  Through this, Jig is also enduing conflict about whether or not the American truly loves her.  This also forms a conflict because it causes her to feel further agony about whether or not she has been foolish in believing his love for her.  At the same time, Jig is battling through a larger conflict of what to do.  There is little transcendental force present that will relieve her from the pain of choice, and this conflict is another one that she has to endure.  The brutal element of ambiguity and doubt are critical elements in Jig's state of being in the world, causing conflict both within herself and her place in the world.  In some respects, she is also finding herself conflicted with the issue of time.  She wishes to revert time and wonders if her choice in having the abortion will allow her relationship and her life to go back to a previous state.  She asks this to the American in wishing to have "things... like they were."  In this statement, Jig is embroiled with a conflict over time, seeking to bring the past back in the face of an uncertain future and unforgiving present. For his part, the American's primary conflict is whether or not he can convince Jig to pursue "the procedure."   He wishes to live his own life, but endures the conflict that inevitably arises when individual pursuits come into direct conflict with the needs of another.