Setting is important to every story, but the setting used by Hemmingway in “Hills Like White Elephants” adds so much to the meaning of the story, providing an interesting read. His use of the setting to convey the idea of fertility and barrenness helps to generate an understanding of what the story is about, even though he never comes right out and says “It’s about abortion.” The language used at the beginning of the …showed first 75 words of 474 total…

…showed last 75 words of 474 total…that the girl is pregnant and thinking of getting an abortion. As she sits staring at the hills in the distance, she begins to question her decision to rid herself of the baby, whom the man thinks of as a white elephant, cumbersome, and unwanted. The setting helps the reader to understand the importance of time, and provides some phallic symbols to suggest the sexual undertones of the relationship between the girl and the man.