The characters underlying feelings about the decision are unclear until certain symbols are implicated in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway; the location, the station and train, and the beverages develop the importance of the decision to the characters. The location is in the hills of Spain. Jig, the female character, keeps pointing out that the “hills look like white elephants”. The hills surrounding the station probably aren’t snowy, but she views the …showed first 75 words of 431 total…

…showed last 75 words of 431 total…hand means grievous. The word grievous stands for to cause or feel sorrow therefore the licorice taste could also be a symbol of the man's lack of feeling sorrow for the woman’s position. Hemmingway’s uses of symbols within the setting enhance the melodrama between the two characters. The location, the station and train, and the beverage all symbols used to develop the weight of the decision on each character using only sparse dialog.