Why does Hemingway make the hills look like white elephants? How does this symbolism relate to his overall message in the story?

It is the girl who first
says that the hills in the distance appear to look like white elephants. After they order
drinks, the couple begins to discuss something, without directly referring to it, but it seems
as though they are discussing the possibility of her getting an abortion. The man, Jig, says to
her "We'll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before." He says, "It's the only
thing that's made us unhappy." He encourages her not to be afraid and says that he doesn't
want her to do it if she doesn't want to. She seems most concerned that things will be
"like they were and [he'll] love [her]." Neither the man nor the woman seems
particularly forthcoming; they hardly even seem intimate.

A "white
elephant" has become a common term for an unwanted gift that is hard to get rid of. It is
really anto a legend referring to the King of Siam (now Thailand), who would give rare white
elephants as gifts to people who he did not actually like. On the surface, it seems like a
really cool gift, but it was expensive to maintain an elephant. The gift recipient could not get
rid of the elephant because it would offend the king, and so they would be financially ruined by
the exorbitant cost of the animal's upkeep. In this story, then, the baby that the couple is
considering aborting is the white elephant. The girl interprets the hills as looking like white
elephants because their symbolismbeing a costly and unwanted gift that doesn't feel like a gift
but an obligationmatches the way she and the man seem to feel about their
baby.