In what ways is the dialogue at the very end of Ernest Hemingway's story "Hills Like White Elephants" ironic?

is a major
feature of s extremely brief short story titled , and the ending of the story is especially
ironic. In this tale, an American male, identified only as the American, tries to persuade a
reluctant young woman, with whom he has been having a sexual relationship, to have an abortion.
As the story develops, tensions between these two characters grow and deepen. Examples of the
storys many ironies include the following:

• Perhaps one of the most
  ironic moments in the entire story occurs when the American says about an abortion,

Its really an awfully simple operation, Jig, the man
said. Its not really an operation at all.

. . . They just let the air in
and then its all perfectly natural.

Jig, of course,
obviously considers an abortion anything but simple; she knows that an abortion can indeed be
seen as a kind of operation; and she clearly does not consider an abortion perfectly
natural.

• The American tells Jig that if she has the abortion,
  Well be fine afterwards. Just like we were before. Obviously Jig does not think that their
  previous relationship has been fine.  Nor does she think, contrary to the Americans next
  statement, that the prospect of having an abortion is the only thing that bothers us or that
  it is the only thing thats made us unhappy. If the American believes any of this (and there is
  good reason to think that he really doesnt), he is deceiving himself as much as he may, perhaps,
  be trying to deceive Jig.
• Another especially ironic moment occurs when the
  American, still pressing Jig to have the abortion, says,

Youve got to realize . . . that I dont want you to do
it if you dont want to. Im perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to
you.

Obviously he is not perfectly
willing to go through with having the baby, and just as obviously the abortion
does mean something to Jig.

By the end of the story, it
is not entirely clear exactly what decision has been made, although apparently Jig has agreed to
board a waiting train that will take them to the place where the American expects her to have
the abortion.  In the storys very final lines, this exchange occurs:

Do you feel better? he asked.

I feel fine,
she said. Theres nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.

Jigs final comment seems ironic for a number of different reasons, including the
following:

• Almost certainly she does not
  feel fine. Instead, she seems merely to be telling the American what she knows he wants to
  hear.
• Almost certainly Jig does not feel as if there is nothing wrong
  with her.
• Perhaps Jigs second sentence is intended (by her or by the
  narrator, or both) to suggest all the various ways in which there does seem
  to be something wrong with the American.
• Jigs very last assertion €“ I
  feel fine €“ seems especially ironic since the story has shown all the different ways in which
  she does not feel fine.
• It seems especially ironic
  that the very last word of this story is fine, when the entire story has dealt with tension,
  discomfort, and pain.

Ironically, the word fine comes from a
Latin word meaning end, but there is no guarantee that even now the disagreement between the
American and Jig has truly come to an end. The tense conversation might easily resume once they
board the train.