Textual evidence suggests that Jig and her boyfriend decided not to get an abortion. However, one could make the case for the opposite — that’s the beauty of Hemingway. In fact, the traditional view is that Jig decides to have one. Stanley Renner, another critic, proposes the opposite, that she did not get an abortion. It all depends on how you read the details, and whether or not you attribute sarcasm to some of Jig’s lines. For instance — why does Jig smile in the end — is it because her boyfriend has changed his mind, or is she being sarcastic again?

I tend to believe there is more evidence suggesting the couple decided not to get a an abortion (see my note above in a previous entry for textual evidence).

Regarding the drinking — it’s the 1920s, Europe, and the dangers of drinking while pregnant are not yet known. However, the dangers of absinthe and pregnancy would be known at the time.

Interesting side note: Hemingway dedicated this story to a woman that became his next wife (Pauline Pfeiffer). She was Catholic. The text, completed during their honeymoon in 1927, epitomized Hemingway’s talent in crafting rich “bare essentials” stories and was likely meant as a wedding gift. After the travails Hemingway had experienced in getting Pauline to marry him in the first place, the ending with an abortion at the end would be strange if the story was meant as a gift to Pauline. Autobiographical details however, should not be used to base your interpretation. There’s plenty more fascinating details to the biographical Pauline-Hemingway story, but it might take you away from what’s most important — the writing itself. Stick to a close reading of the story text and you’ll be fine.

Holger

1) Jig is NOT Spanish, as someone corrected earlier. Several translation moments occur where the American is helping Jig understand. He may be a little older or more travelled.

2) Right on about the two landscapes — fertile green side vs. barren desert side, i.e. life vs. abortion

3) The train they initially wait for is going TOWARDS Madrid and AWAY from Barcelona. The text states they are coming FROM the Barcelona train/side. The abortion would presumably happen in Madrid, the heart and capital of Spain. An abortion, as well as absinthe, at the time would have been illegal in the U.S.

4) Jig may not have gotten the abortion because:
a. Her lover not only seems to put the luggage on the OTHER side, the fertile side, but he also does not see the train. This is significant because everyone else can see the Madrid train that is five minutes away — but Jig’s lover looks up for the train and sees nothing — meaning he is looking towards the other side, towards the side that awaits the train going back to Barcelona (no-abortion-train).
b. Jig smiles after her lover moves their bags. Although her smile is ambiguous since she also smiles at the barrista, she has just previously been very upset with her boyfriend — shutting him up in fact (“Please, please please. . . stop talking . . . I’ll scream”). She thus had no reason to smile now at him unless something in him had changed. He even asks after he moves the bags, something to the effect of “Are you happy?”
c. With Hemingway’s double-play on the word “it” and “everything” as the lovers are speaking, Jig makes it clear that to her, this baby is “the world.” Her sarcasm creates a double meaning in the following statement about people who have gotten abortions [paraphrased, going by memory, don't have the text with me], “And afterwards they were all so happy.” Read sarcastically, as Jig’s tone has been thus far, this statement means exactly the opposite of what it is saying. Read with an emphasis on “so” as in “so-o-o-o-o” or in a sing-song/sarcastic mode, the statement shows Jig does not believe abortion really makes everyone happy.

5) Although “the world” for the male lover involves travelling and no babies, he has admitted he loves her and doesn’t want Jig to go ahead with the abortion if she feels upset about it. This can be interpreted as manipulation, if he senses she’ll give in, or it can be interpreted as genuine, especially if you go with the theory that he changes tracks, literally and figuratively, about the abortion.

6) The drinking issue: it’s Spain, there’s warm Meditarraneon weather. It’s hot. It’s the 1920′s. Our ideas of what it means to be “drunk” in our time are a little different from Hemingway’s in portraying characters in a European setting. (One of Hemingway’s favorite drinks btw,was absinthe, currently legal only in the Florida Keys). Nevertheless, good points brought up about a certain monotony/tension in the relationship — a monotony Jig indirectly links to their drinking patterns.

Bye,
Lit Prof.

Genia V. Stevens Beloit College ’00