Discussion Topic
The reasons for the characters' and narrator's avoidance of explicitly discussing significant topics in "Hills Like White Elephants"
Summary:
The characters and narrator in "Hills Like White Elephants" avoid explicitly discussing significant topics to reflect the tension and miscommunication in their relationship. The story's minimalist dialogue and subtext emphasize the unspoken emotional and psychological complexities, highlighting their struggle to confront the underlying issue directly.
Why are the characters in "Hills Like White Elephants" going to Madrid and avoiding discussing it?
The man and woman in the story are going to Madrid in order for her to have an abortion. This becomes apparent in the dialogue because the man keeps trying to reassure her that it will be a very simple operation. He says: "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." At this point there can be no doubt that the trip is for procuring an abortion.
They refrain from speaking about it in explicit terms for a number of reasons:
1. She is trying to avoid even thinking about it. She doesn't want to talk about it at all. Towards the end of the story she asks him, "Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?"
2. They have already discussed the matter thoroughly before coming this far on their...
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journey, and he doesn't want to start all over again.
3. He is really ignorant about the procedure and is pretending to know more than he does. He may have nothing more than an address. He is nervous and anxious because, even though he doesn't have to undergo the abortion, he has to get the woman to Madrid, find a hotel room, find the abortionist, make financial arrangements, take care of the woman while she recuperates, and many other things. He will have to learn many things when they reach the big city of Madrid.
4. They can't talk about the purpose of their trip too openly in public because they are breaking the law and they have to be cautious, especially since they are in a foreign country.
5. No doubt they both feel guilty and ashamed.
Why do characters and the narrator avoid explicitly discussing the operation in "Hills Like White Elephants"?
The characters refrain explicit discussion of the operation, aside from the man's brief discussion of it, mainly because it is an ongoing discussion, one the details of which they are both well versed.
"It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig," the man said. "It’s not really an operation at all."
The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.
"I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.’
The girl did not say anything.
"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."
It is not the first time the discussion has been aired, and it is probable from Jig's comments ("Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?") that she has said it is a conversation she is not interested in pursuing, which is part of the difficulty: She seems finsihed with the conversation, but the man hasn't given up his optimism that he might yet persuade her ("But I don’t want anybody but you.").
The narrator, penned by the autor but different and distinct from the author, doesn't speak of it because the narratorial intent is to, first, set the scene at the railway station, with fertile land on one hand and barren land on the other, and then, second, give the reader entrance into Jig and the man's private conversation; to let the reader eavesdrop so to speak on their conversation; to let you hear just like you would if you were sitting at the table next to the couple.
Sitting at a table next to them, everything you heard in person would be cryptic and unexplained. You'd have to infer from what you saw and heard what the true meaning of the conversation and the true state of the relationship was. The distant objective narrator in"Hills Like White Elephants" provides a portal to the reader to be the eavesdropping occupant of the table next to the couple, thus allowing the reader the same confusion, suspense, curiosity, and intrigue you'd have in person.