Analysis Of Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants

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“Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story, written by Ernest Hemingway, about an American and his girlfriend, Jig. The couple is sitting outside a train station, waiting on the arrival of the next train to Madrid. The story primarily focuses on an operation the American is trying to convince Jig to have. As the story progresses, given the reader reads in between the lines, we learn that the operation being contemplated is an abortion. Although he says time and time again, “I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to,” the American is vehemently trying to convince Jig to go forth with the abortion. To look at this story through the lens of a psychological Freudian critic, one must analyze the unconscious motives of the characters. Taking an approach to finding deeper meaning within the text, we will also learn more about the psyche of Hemingway himself. By means of alcoholism, sex, and adventure, personal pleasure is what keeps the American, and presumably Jig, somewhat happy in “Hills Like White Elephants.” Alcoholism …show more content…
He says, “We could have everything… We could have the whole world… We could go anywhere.” To each of his statements, Jig replies, “No we can’t.” Sigmund Freud believed the id to be, “the pleasure principle… it’s function, to gratify our instincts for pleasure” (204). The American is driven by pleasure: he is an alcoholic, a satyromaniac, and seems to be very abusive. As it is with many Americans, the pleasure of the American in Hemingway’s story comes from freedom, and he sees the baby as something that would block that freedom. Freud believed that the id worked, “without regard for social conventions, legal ethics, or moral restraint” (205). For this reason, the id can be very destructive, even leading to self-destruction. If the American in “Hills Like White Elephants” were to go unrestrained, his id would lead to loss of
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