In the storygHills Like White Elephants,?h Ernest Hemingway provides significant roles in setting to communicate his theme of fertility and abortion. In his very short story, he does not directly tell readers that the couple is waiting for a train to have an abortion, but describes the detail of landscape and environment in which the event takes place. His use of setting and description of it help us understand what the story is about.

             The description of the hills represents fertility. The story begins with the narration of the scenery that is seen from the place the characters are at. Looking at the line of the white hills in the sun, the girl illustrates it asgwhite elephants?h (324). The rise of hills resembles the swell of a womb; and a white elephant, which is an idiom of a useless or unwanted thing, represents the unwanted baby growing inside the girl. By likening the character to the scenery: white elephants, Hemingway conveys the girl?fs pregnancy.

             Hemingway meaningfully explains the location of the train station to hint us his theme. He describes,gthere was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rail?h (324). This expression indicates the character?fs current condition that the girl is stuck between two sides, and she is about to be barren. The couple is ing the warm shadow of building?h (324), separated byg a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads?h (324). The bamboo curtain separates the couple and their problem from all other people around; in other words, they are in a dark place, segregated from the world. It sounds lifeless, still they feel the warmth of nature from bamboos and sun. This expression symbolizes the warmth of another life that is about to be ceased. Thus, Hemingway?fs such descriptions suggest lacking life.

             The use of a train station supports the couple?fs serious situation, contributing the author?fs idea. The man and the girl are talking about an operation, and their decisions apparently seem to be met.