Why does Hemingway use the title "Hills Like White Elephants" in the short story, "Hills Like White Elephants"?

This
is an interesting question that has more than one answer. The best and most accurate way to
understand Hemingway's title is as a double symbol that also represents the
overarching theme of the story. First: The title
represents Jig's interior references to "hills like white elephants,"
thus pointing out the main meaning and overarching theme. In other
words, that Jig speaks of "white elephants" is a central motif and a central theme of
the story that is pointed to and emphasized by the title; thus "white elephants" is
the key titular phrase that unlocks the deepest meaning of the story.

Second:
"Hills like white elephants" is a double symbol: it
symbolizes two things, one of which also symbolizes the other thing. You might think of this
double-compound symbol as one umbrella with two people sharing it.

To begin
with, "white elephants" are a symbol for that which is
holy and sacred. White elephants are a rare kind of elephant, which are not
Albinos, that are held sacred in some countries, like India, and in some religions, like
Hinduism and Buddhism. Thus the "hills like white elephants" represent a natural
monument (hills) that is sacred and powerfully good.

To go one step further
into the second symbol, the "hills like white elephants"--now tagged symbolically as
sacred and good--symbolize Jig's pregnancy,
the natural monumental event that is also an obstacle to advancing along life's path, just as
hills can be obstacles on journeys. Now we have two closely related symbols underneath the
representative "umbrella" of the title.

Therefore, Hemingway uses
the title "" to point out the deepest meaning of the story; to symbolize the sacred
nature of propagating children; to symbolize the pregnancy that is being debated by the American
man and Jig.