Elephant in the Room

In Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" he utilizes setting, conflict, and dialogue to allow us to understand and feel despite the short length of his story. Hemingway creates the setting for us by explaining the scenery of Spain. He explains the bar, the bead that separate the public from the bar tender, the train station outside the bar and of course, the hills like white elephants. The setting allows us to sense that the characters are traveling and in an unknown land. The conflict is what makes the piece intriguing because we understand, through the other elements of story telling, that there is a conflict between the two characters. It is evident by the strained conversation. The conflict is not explicitly expressed but we understand that the American man wants the girl (who we assume is his girlfriend or female partner of some form) to get an operation. There is person to person conflict between the two of them as well as a person to self conflict as the female is debating the consequences of said operation. This is where the dialogue is key. There is little described as far as feelings and thoughts go in Hemingway's piece. The dialogue is the main action for this scene between boyfriend and girlfriend. The fact that he chose dialogue for this specific piece is interesting because the couple never truly resolves their conflict. It alludes to the fact that there is an elephant in the room and neither wants to fully address nor resolve it. Which, in essence, is what happens. Despite the fact that the elephant is brought up, they never resolve it. The girlfriend consents to have the operation (an abortion) but only through word. We understand that she has only consented on basis of making her boyfriend happy. This only exacerbates the "elephant in the room" tie.