Hill's like White Elephants Symbol

There are two sides to the train station between Madrid and Barcelona. One shows vast and dry fields. The other is painted with a long river and blooming green trees. In the station sits a young couple vibrating with adventure. They are only referred to as Jig and the American. Unfortunately, they are plagued with the decision as to whether have an abortion or keep their baby. The two sides of the train station symbolizes the life Jig could have with her baby, the life she could have with the American , and her struggle between the two. Her struggle is understanding in the fact that she is in love and at a place in her life where she doesn't want things to change.

The lightness on one side of the train station symbolizes the life Jig yearns for. Jig is ready to settle down and start a family with the man she loves. "Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the bank of the Ebro." The field is lush with growing life. The grain symbolizes health that she would have if she chose to not get the abortion. "The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees." The river suggests that like life, it goes on. That life moves on whether she keeps the baby or not.

When Jig sits with the American, she looks out at the motionless desert. The American wants things to stay the way they are and to not change. "They sat down at the table and the girl looked across at the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table." She stares at the dry, brown, and empty valley and imagines her life without the little baby that she wants. "On this side there was no shade and no trees..." Jig was certain that her life would go on normally if she was to get the abortion. But she vast nothingness left it out in the open as to if it would be the end of Jig and the American.

Jig struggles with whether to keep things the way they are or change them by keeping the baby. She wants to stay with the American, but she wants to keep the baby. And in her situation, she cannot have the best of both worlds. "'We'll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before.' 'What makes you think so?' 'That's the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy.'" The American is telling her that they are unhappy and that getting rid of the baby will make their lives so much happier. "Doesn't it mean anything to you? We could get along." "It" being the baby. Jig gets so frustrated about the American not wanting the baby that she resorts to bargaining.

I vividly remember reading "Hills like White Elephants" in high school. I don't identify with Jig's specific situation. I do, however, understand that she is standing at a fork in the road. And she metaphorically has a devil on one shoulder and an angel on