The Bamboo Bead Curtain
In class, we discussed "Hills Like White Elephants" by Earnest Hemingway. We discussed different elements of the story, including the symbolism of the hills and wording; however, we barely touched on the significance of the bamboo bead curtain. As a class, we decided that it is merely used to show how exotic the area was to the American couple. I agree with this, but I also believe that there is much more to Hemingway's use of the curtain.
The word "curtain" appears eight times throughout the short story. The number of times that the curtain is significant, as it is used more than the word "elephant," for which the story receives it's namesake. Hemingway could have left the doorway open, yet he specifically chose to use the bamboo bead curtain, as he refers to it repeatedly throughout the text.
When the curtain is first mentioned, it merely appears to give background details as part of the exposition. It's purpose is simply to "keep out flies." Personally, I am unsure as to what this means, but I am sure professional literary analysts would have some idea of what this symbolizes.
During the curtain's second appearance, the man is ordering beers by talking "into the curtain." This may represent the man's unwillingness to talk to the girl. Throughout the conversation, he orders more drinks in order to avoid the conversation at hand. She points this out when she says "That's all we do, isn't it -- look at things and try new drinks?" The man does not seem to care about what the girl says, as he treats her as inferior and only pretends to care about her opinion of the operation.
The next time that the curtain is used is when the girl notices the Anis del Toro advertisement. This gives the man a chance to segue into ordering more drinks. It is almost as if the curtain is a wall trapping the girl with the man.
The man then calls over the waitress by yelling "Listen" through the curtain. Like when he first orders drinks, calling through the curtain allows him to avoid the topic at hand.
The curtain is then shown to be blowing in the wind. This is shortly before the man describes the abortion as simply "let[ting] the air in." This once again emphasizes the problems that they have communicating, as the man resorts to using euphemisms in order to dance around the idea that the operation is serious.
Next, the girl takes a short departure from their conversation, as she "put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads." This shows she does not want to have anything to do with the man after he says that the pregnancy is the "only thing that's made [them] unhappy."
The next use of the curtains features the barmaid walking through them to serve the couple their drinks. This seems insignificant and only acts to close the plot hole where the couple has not yet received their drinks.
Finally, he the man returns through the curtains to see the girl smiling at him. This parting of the curtains by one of the main characters shows how the barrier has finally been broken, and the girl smiling shows that she is finally ready to reach a conclusion; however, the story is cut off at that point.
Overall, the curtain acts as a barrier that represents the increasing divide in the couples' relationship. Throughout the story, the couple is unable to overcome the barrier to discuss the elephant in the room. By the end, they are finally ready to resolve the conflict, but the principles of Modernism state that resolution is impossible, so the reader is left to wonder who got their way: the man or the girl.