What is the irony of the story "Hills Like White Elephants"?

I think anotherin the
story has to do with the fact that these two individuals, Jig (the girl) and her lover, only
known as "The American," have clearly been physically intimate with each other, and
yet they seem unable to name the thing they are discussing or even to discuss it in what feels
like a frank, open, emotionally-intimate way. Then, the fact that we don't know the man's name
and he only refers to the woman by a presumed nickname makes them seem all the more alien to us
and to each other. The man says, of the abortion, "'I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's
really not anything. It's just to let the air in.'" He keeps trying to reassure her about
the operation itself, while she continues to ask about if it will make them happy. He focuses on
the tangible aspects of their problemreassuring her that he'll be there, that it won't hurt, and
so onwhile she focuses on the intangible: their happiness and their love for each other, and how
those might be affected....