When a woman becomes pregnant, she and her partner make a serious decision whether to give birth to the unborn child or abort it. However, sometimes every couple may have a different view regarding childbirth or abortion because every male and female has their own way of thinking. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” author Ernest Hemingway tells the story of an American man and his girlfriend, Jig, who have a disagreement in the train station over whether to keep the unborn child or have an abortion. However, the author uses the binary opposition between life and death to portray the contentious discussion a couple encounters regarding abortion. As a symbol of the binary opposition between life and death, it represents the expressions, feelings and description of the couple's nature. The story of "Hills Like White Elephants" can be analyzed in the form of a structuralist perspective using the system of binary oppositions. Robert DiYanni states in “Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama” that “structuralist critics find all kinds of opposition in literature, from small-scale elements, such as letters and syllables; through symbols, such as light and darkness; to movements or directions (up and down)... places (internal and external)... to elements of plot and character, such as changes of feelings and reversals of fortune” (1583). Furthermore, Isaiah Smithson's definition of structuralist criticism supports Robert DiYanni's claim. He defines it as “A method of analyzing phenomena, as in anthropology, linguistics, psychology, or literature, characterized primarily by contrasting the elementary structures of phenomena in a system of binary oppositions” (Smithson 145). Also, you can use Richard Webster's definition......middle of paper......abortion. Secondly, Ernest Hemingway illustrates the other side of the train station to represent life. “On the other side there were fields of wheat and trees along the banks of the Ebro” (402). Literally, fields of corn and trees represent fertility and fruitfulness because a field without crops represents infertility. However, symbolically, the fertile land symbolizes Jig's current state of pregnancy, life in Jig's womb. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills like white elephants”. Literature is close to narrative, poetry and drama. Ed. By Yanni, Robert. 2nd ed. New York. McGrew Hill. 2008.400-03. Print.Smithson, Isaiah. "Structuralism as a method of literary criticism". University English. vol. 37, no. 2. National Council of Teachers of English. 1975. 145-59. Web.Webster, Richard. Structuralist theology. Texas. Suffolk Papers. 2002. Network.