The term
"white elephant" is commonly used to describe a useless or burdensome possession. In
Asianit is said that white elephants were sacred, but because of their sanctity could not be
used to perform any manual labor. Thus, the elephant became useless to its possessor and quite
expensive to maintain. The term white elephant is still in use today as friends or office
workers gather and give and receive white elephant gifts, mainly just for the fun of it. Most
people have these useless gifts around the house somewhere.
In Hemingway's
short story, Jig refers to the hills in the distance as looking like white elephants in her
conversation with the man. In this case, the term is a veiled reference to the unborn child she
is carrying. It becomes a way for the idea of abortion to be introduced into the story. That the
girl believes the hills look "lovely" seems to indicate she wants to keep the child. A
little later she even says they don't resemble white elephants, further strengthening her
argument that they should keep the baby. The man seems to disregard this comment and continues
to argue for an abortion.
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