A small tiny word that I noticed being used frequently is, “it.” When referring to the child that is inside Jig or the operation, both say “it.” For example, “Doesn't it mean anything to you?” or “It's really not anything.” Dictionary.com defines “it” saying, “ [it’s] used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context.” The phrase in the definition that stands out to me is “used to represent an inanimate thing”. Jig and her significant other never say what “it” is. They never mention a child, animal or object. Therefore, “it” is an allusion to the child that she is carrying and the abortion that the American is trying to convince her to have.
By referring to an unborn child and an operation as large of an abortion as “it”, it downplays the significance of the human and the operation. In a way, it shows that an abortion is not different from any other operation and that the unborn child is no different than an animal. There is no worth. After reading and coming to this conclusion, I was able to re-read, “Traveling through the Dark” in a different light. The driver knew that the doe was carrying a fawn and that he/she was alive but he did not try to save it. He aborted the baby fawn. They were following the saying, “out of sight, out of mind.”
The context in which this was written is when feminism was on the rise and the push for gender equality. Especially when it came to birth control and the right to control if we should have kids. Hemingway was writing this story in a time period where civil rights were being argued, debated, and fought over. Women were done with feeling oppressed by males and wanted to have full reign over their own lives. Such as taking birth control, voting, and what Hemingway wrote about: abortion. Although Jig decided to keep the baby, I think the substance of the story is about her doing what she wants to do or what the American wants her to do. Eventually, she ends up doing what she wants to do which is keep and raise the child. Also, throughout the story, metaphors are used when Jig talks about the hills, other side of the hills, and the curtain. But I believe the plot is significant when talking about the usage of “it.”
Since abortion and women’s rights was such a controversial subject, the usage of “it” allows the reader to draw their own conclusions as to what he could be writing about. The ambiguity makes the reader think below the surface as to what the text is saying. I believe by using “it”, women of that time period were able to relate to the situation. Abortion was something not talked about and the story is a good representation of how women and men acted during the 1920s. I believe if Hemingway had said baby or abortion, it would have taken away from the story. Then it would have been another fictional story and wouldn’t have stood out or made the impact that it did. Literature is about going deeper, further and beyond what is seen and by only saying “it”, Hemingway accomplishes that. "This story was not only intended for the pleasures of reading, but also though provocation" (Gardner).
Gardner, Brian. "Hills Like White Elephants--Literary Analysis." machete.
WordPress, 2007. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.
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