What does the idea of "labels from all the hotels where they had spent nights" reflect about the couple?

The
labels on the luggage "from all the hotels where they had spent nights" suggests to me
that this couple has been together for a long time and that they are either married or have been
representing themselves as married. I am more and more inclined to believe that they are
actually married. The labels actually advertise the fact that they have been living together in
hotels, which was a lot more sensitive issue in the 1920s than it is today. Some hotels would
actually refuse to rent rooms to unmarried couples. Most European hotels required guests to show
their passports and even leave the passports with the desk clerk for a short time while he
presumably checked the local police.

The relationship between the man and
the "girl" is not casual or temporary. They are carrying a lot of luggage, another
indication they have been together a long time. The American tells Jig no less than five or six
times that she can have the baby if she really wants to, but there is no mention of marriage by
either of them. This also makes me assume they are married already, because Jig certainly
wouldn't want to have a baby out of wedlock. If they were not married, the American would say,
at least once, "We'll get married and you can have the baby."

Another reason for thinking they are married is that Hemingway often wrote stories that
were autobiographical. In the late 1920's he was married to his first wife Hadley and they had a
baby they called Bumby. Hemingway was trying to be a freelance writer and was having very little
success. They were living in Europe partly because it was much cheaper than the U.S., and Spain
was probably the cheapest place of all. It seems entirely possible that when Hadley became
pregnant, Hemingway tried unsuccessfully to talk her into having an abortion.

Hemingway said that he often wrote stories to "get rid of things," and he may
have written "" to try to get rid of his guilt feelings about Hadley, from whom he was
divorced at about the same time "Hills Like White Elephants" was
published.