Hills Like White Elephants: Jig Essay, Research Paper

Hills Like White Elephants: Jig

Everyday people make decisions that affect their future lives. Do

people make the right decisions? What makes a decision a right one? What may

be right to some, may be wrong to others. There are no right or wrong

decisions but those that people choose and believe to be right varying from

each individual. In Hemingway’s realistic story, Hills Like White Elephants,

Jig attempts to make a crucial change in her life by making the right decision,

but is unable to because of her weak characteristic flaws. Jig is indecisive

about her decision. Even though she realizes the possibilities, she has

difficulties letting go of old habits, has a low self-esteem that leads to her

being submissive, and puts up a frail fight by hiding her feelings behind her

sarcastic comments.

Jig faces an immense decision that will change her future. She must

choose between the old and the new lifestyle. It is hard for her to let go of

old habits that consists of taking no responsibility and the sole intention of

seeking pleasure. She must go from a young worriedless rebel to a stable adult

taking responsibility. It’s a hard process since there are three steps to

changing: realization, doing the deed, and committing to the change. She

definitely realizes she needs to change, but only goes that far. She does walk

to the end of the station and looks upon the fertile side of the valley and

comments “and we could have all this,” but she continues drinking when she

knows well that she carries a child in her womb. She even says the alcohol

tastes like licorice, that everything tastes the same, and she’s getting tired

of her same old life. Surely, she must know the possible damage she can cause

the baby to have, but does it stop her from drinking? No, this only indicates

that she is still not ready to change completely. Even though she wants to

change, something, perhaps her old ways, is holding her back from doing so.

Maybe this explains why she drinks during her pregnancy.

Jig has many characteristics that define her as being a weak character.

Due to her submissive quality, she gives in to her lover regardless her own

feelings. One of the reasons why she feels the need to make him happy lies in

her fear of losing him. “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be

like they were and you’ll love me?” Apparently, Jig is willing to sacrifice her

own will for his, if it means making him happy. She struggles on a decision

between her mind and her heart. Her mind is telling her to keep the baby, but

her heart is telling her the opposite-to go through the operation. It is a

decision between her love for him and willingness to make him happy versus her

self- interest to make the right decision. Obviously, it is her low self-

esteem that gears her towards giving in to him. “If I do it you won’t ever

worry…then I’ll do it because I don’t care about me.” This quotes clearly

shows how she is passive and submissive. Her weak flaw lies in the fact that

she doesn’t consider her feelings in her decision makings. She pocesses

qualities that make her a feeble character incapable of changing and making

decisions that make her an unreliable and unwillful character.

Another weak flaw is seen through her inability to speak out against her

lover. It’s as if she tries to avoid any quarrels from occurring. She uses

sarcastic means to hide her true feelings about the issue. This is her only

way of showing disagreements towards him. Either she is afraid to speak out

her real emotions or she is being too tolerant and considerate towards him.

When he tells Jig that he’s known people who have gone through with it before,

she comments, “So have I…and afterwards they were all so happy.” On the

surface she agrees with him that everything will be the same afterwards, but,

underneath she really knows that the abortion will bring them everything but

happiness. Her sarcastic usage hides her feeling so well that it seems as if

she doesn’t even try to tell him she doesn’t want to go through with it. At

the end, Jig tries one last time to imply to her lover that she disagrees with

him by saying, “I feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” Her

sarcastic remark is not a strong way of going about trying to convince him that

deep inside something is really bothering her. It can sometimes be confusing

for she tells him one thing but means the other. His power over her is so

great that she feels intimidated to oppose him directly. Instead, she indicates

her opposition towards him indirectly through her sarcastic comments.

In conclusion, Hemingway’s character Jig in Hills Like White Elephants

was unable to change her life through her decision due to her frail

characteristics. Some reasons that lead up to her failure were: the hardships

of letting go of the old lifestyle, the power Jig’s lover has over her due to

her low self-esteem and submissive being, and the weakness behind hiding true

emotions by using sarcastic means. Jig walked back towards the station into

the shades of the sterile side of the valley. A dark cloud covered her head

and she knew what was going to become of herself after the “simple” operation.

In the end, everyone must choose and follow their own paths, whether their

decisions were right or wrong, each direction leads to the beginning of a new

journey.