What happens in Chapter 1 of Hills Like White Elephants?
At a train station in Spain's Ebro valley, an American man and a young woman named Jig sit outside a bar in the dry heat, waiting for a train to Madrid. They order beers—Anis del Toro—and Jig gazes at the distant hills, noting they resemble white elephants. The man changes the subject, and their conversation quickly shifts to "the operation" he wants her to undergo: a procedure he claims is "perfectly simple" and "not really an operation at all." Jig hesitates, caught between agreeing and quietly resisting. She orders another round of drinks, takes a sip of the Anis, and remarks that it tastes like licorice—like everything she has ever wanted. The man continues to press, asserting he only wants her happiness and that they can return to how things used to be. Jig walks to the end of the station, glances at the lush green side of the valley, then comes back. With a politeness that stings, she asks him to please stop talking. The train is set to arrive in five minutes. He carries their bags to the other side of the tracks. She smiles at him. Nothing has been resolved.
Analysis
Hemingway's only story-length exercise in pure dramatic dialogue, "Hills Like White Elephants," showcases the iceberg theory brilliantly: the word "abortion" never appears, but the entire story revolves around it. This technique relies on radical omission—meaning accumulates beneath the mundane small talk, requiring the reader to engage in the interpretive work that the characters refuse to undertake for one another.
The hills themselves are central to the story's tension. Jig's simile—white elephants—carries dual meanings: it refers to an unwanted burden while also evoking something rare, even precious. That ambiguity remains unresolved, and Hemingway chooses not to settle it.
Spatial geography plays a symbolic role throughout the piece. The station is positioned between two landscapes: the dry, barren side where the couple drinks and the fertile, green-and-gold valley that Jig walks toward alone. Her movement toward the latter and her return represent, in miniature, the choice she is being pressured to forgo.
The story's most precise achievement lies in its tonal control. The American's language is consistently reasonable—"perfectly simple," "not really an operation at all," "I just want you to be all right"—and this reasonableness itself serves as a form of coercion. Jig's responses transition from wry irony to a near despair before settling into a calm demeanor that feels more unsettling than any outburst. The final smile serves as the story's most devastating punctuation mark: a form of accommodation that blurs the line with defeat.
Key quotes from Chapter 1
“They look like white elephants.”
Jig's opening observation about the hills, which gives the story its title and introduces the motif of the unwanted and the unspoken.
“It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig. It's not really an operation at all.”
The American's most explicit — and most evasive — attempt to minimise the procedure, revealing the story's central conflict through what he refuses to name.
“I feel fine. There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.”
Jig's closing line before the man returns with the bags, its repetition signalling not reassurance but a kind of hollow, willed composure.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 1
- white elephants
- Something that is expensive or troublesome to maintain and difficult to get rid of, yet has little practical use; here used as a metaphor for something unwanted that nobody wants to openly discuss.
- anis
- An anise-flavored alcoholic drink, common in Spain and southern Europe, typically served with water which turns it cloudy.
- Anis del Toro
- A specific brand of Spanish anise-flavored liqueur; the name literally means 'anise of the bull.'
- beaded curtain
- A doorway or window covering made of strings of beads hanging vertically, common in Mediterranean bars and cafés as a way to keep out flies while allowing passage.
- absinthe
- A strong, bitter anise-flavored spirit; here referenced as the taste that Anis del Toro resembles, evoking a potent, licorice-like flavor.
- operation
- A surgical procedure; in this story it is a euphemism the man uses to refer to an abortion, which neither character names directly.
- awfully simple
- Extremely easy and straightforward; the man uses this phrase to downplay the seriousness of the procedure he is urging the woman to undergo.
- perfectly natural
- Completely normal and unremarkable; used by the man to minimize the significance of the operation and reassure the woman there is nothing to worry about.
- reasonable
- Sensible and logical; the man repeatedly uses this word to pressure the woman into agreeing with his point of view and accepting his proposed course of action.
- fine
- Used ironically and repeatedly in the dialogue to mean that everything will be acceptable or satisfactory, though the word masks deep tension and unresolved conflict between the two characters.
- curtain
- Here specifically the beaded curtain of the bar, which the woman looks at and touches; it functions as a boundary between the interior world of the couple's conflict and the outside world.
- Legítimo
- A Spanish word meaning 'genuine' or 'authentic,' appearing on the bead strings of the curtain, indicating the bar's advertisement of its products as the real thing.
- junction
- A place where railway lines meet or branch off; the story is set at a train station that is a junction, meaning trains from different directions stop there.
- express
- A fast train that makes few stops; here it refers to the train the couple is waiting for, which will carry them toward the city where the operation is to take place.
- portières
- Heavy curtains hung across a doorway in place of a door; here used to describe the curtain-like coverings at the bar entrance.
- warm
- Used to describe the temperature of the drinks and the setting, but also carries an ironic tone as the emotional atmosphere between the couple is anything but warm or comfortable.