I have now read “Hills Like White Elephants” in two various English courses and I still have not completely figured out why Hemmingway has to write the way he does. Although it is an original and creative way of writing, I find myself becoming more confused while reading because of the way he writes, rather than appreciating the story behind his technique.

            I do like the way this story is written in dialog format because it is a change from a typical short story or other work of literature. It does make the reader think which is always a good thing, but at the same time it becomes confusing to follow along.

            I think that it becomes confusing because in this story, there is no introduction of characters or any hint of what the plot of the story is about.

            Something that really bothered me about the text is that the girl seemed to not care about herself. She seemed like a naïve young girl that would do anything to make her significant other love her at whatever cost necessary. I also didn’t like the fact that they were drinking while she was pregnant. I realize that this story took place in an earlier time period when this might have been looked over, but in today’s age, it is obvious that drinking while pregnant could cause harm to the child.

            After reading this story for the first time, I had no idea what was going on. I had absolutely no clue what the two characters were talking about, or how the hills looking like white elephants had any significance to the story. But after discussing it in my previous class, I saw the subtle hints that were included throughout the story.

            When I read the story for the second time, I was able to understand the conversation that was going on because I knew what they were talking about. I knew that the story was regarding abortion and the decision that the two characters were trying to make about what to do.