Hemingway's short story "" focuses
on the dialogue between a man and a woman while they are waiting for a train. The dialogue at
first appears to be innocuous small talk while the couple passes time waiting. However, their
discussion soon turns to a more troublesome topic, revealing tension between the man and the
woman that centers around a condition about which they clearly do not want to speak directly --
the woman's pregnancy.
The initial dialogue between the man and the woman
merely involves what they want to drink. While their conversation appears to be light and
amiable, the woman makes an offhand remark about the hills they can see from their table looking
like white elephants. His reaction to this remark reveals an underlying tension between them.
This tension is further revealed when they discuss trying a type of drink the woman has never
before tried. Although both the man and the woman claim they are trying to have a "fine
time," the growing tension between them belies that stated goal.
About
halfway through the story, the man broaches the source of the tension between them:
"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, 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 perfectly natural."
After this exchange, the woman seeks assurance from the man that they will be happy
after she has the procedure. She is not sure of this, so the man attempts to convince her.
However, as the conversation continues, it becomes clear that the man is looking forward to a
time when he and the woman can again be as they were before; he has no wish to share her with
anyone, even their child. The woman, conversely, seems to be looking toward a future in which
they have the child, and she is dismayed that it seems as if the child does not mean anything to
the man.
The story ends with the woman clearly telling the man that there is
nothing wrong with her. From this, the reader may conclude that the woman has come to realize
that her pregnancy is not a condition to be rectified, as the man seems to believe, but
something more. We do not know how the man and the woman will resolve the differences between
them, or even if resolution is possible, but we know that each seems to have come to a
conclusion about how they wish to proceed.
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