This is a story about a traveling couple who
are at a train station in Spain.
They are on their way to Madrid and stop to
get a couple of drinks at the bar.
The woman notes how beautiful the hills in
the distance are, how they are like the color
of white elephants.
The man doesn't seem to be interested and
continues to drink.
The couple is on their way to get a procedure
done and the man constantly asks the woman
if she is okay with it.
She assures him that she'll do it if he wants
her to.
After a few more drinks, the woman gets upset
at the man and tells him to stop talking about
it.
The man carries their luggage to the train
stop and when he returns to the bar, the woman
has accepted that this procedure must be done.
The procedure in question is an abortion.
That's obvious.
There are several hints and subtle references
to that in the story.
However, the focus of the story is the character
change of the woman.
At first she is hesitant about this, but is
later accepting of it.
Through subtle hints in the story, we know
that the man and woman are not married.
Their relationship is ambiguously defined,
as they seem to travel together quite a bit.
The man is identified as an American and the
woman is identified as a girl, leaving her
identity-less.
So why are the hills like white elephants?
The reference refers to a baby.
The woman notes how beautiful the hills are,
while the man hardly even notices.
Their attitudes toward the hills reflect their
attitude toward the unborn child.
The woman sees the positive, while the man
sees the negative.
Because abortion isn't the taboo subject it
once was, a lot of the power is lost in this
story, which is both alarming and sad.
