Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" is a lot different from the other stories we have read. For one, the majority of this story is told through dialogue. We also never learn the characters' names, where they are going, and especially what the "it" is they are going to do. In the very first paragraph the narrator describes the characters as "the American and the girl" (552). Clearly the girl is not American, but I wonder about her age since she is referred to as a girl. She is referred to as "the girl" throughout the entire story while the American she is with is referred to as "the man." So now we know not only is there a difference in cultural background between the two, but there is also a difference in age. I like to think the girl is younger in age because she is very imaginative. She is constantly staring off and the landscape and says the mountains and hills "looked like white elephants" (553). The man is obviously a lot more serious because he cannot see it nor can he describe what a white elephant would even look like. He is not nearly as imaginative as the girl he is with. At first I thought maybe this was a couple and the "it" they were doing was running away together. Now I think maybe this is a father and a daughter. Maybe the daughter lived in another country with her mom and he is now taking her. I do not think finding this out is a necessity, however. The dialogue between the two, regardless of their relationship, is more important than their actual relationship.