The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is The American (the Man)?
The American — referred to only as "the man" — is one of two characters at the centre of Hemingway's compressed drama set on a hot train platform in the Ebro valley. He is a well-travelled expatriate, comfortable ordering drinks in Spanish and navigating European rail junctions, signaling a certain worldliness and social ease. Yet for all his surface sophistication, he is defined not by what he says but by what he refuses to acknowledge. He architects the story's central pressure: persuading his companion Jig to undergo "the operation" — an abortion — while performing the role of the reasonable, supportive partner. His name is never given, a detail that is itself significant; he functions almost as a type, the detached modern man who mistakes verbal control for genuine communication.
02·Arc & motivation
What is The American (the Man)'s arc and motivation?
The American enters the story with a fixed agenda and never truly departs from it. His motivation is the preservation of his current lifestyle — the freedom to travel, drink, and remain uncommitted — and the operation is the instrument that would protect it. He frames his desire in the language of care: "It's really an awfully simple operation…it's not really an operation at all," he repeats, the circular insistence revealing how much he needs Jig's consent to feel justified rather than culpable. His arc is static. He carries the bags to the far platform, a brief physical removal that could be read as a moment of reflection, but he returns having changed nothing internally. His closing question — "Do you feel better?" — confirms that his measure of the conversation's success is Jig's compliance, not her actual emotional state. He ends the story exactly where he began: wanting agreement, performing concern.
03·Key moments
What are The American (the Man)'s key moments?
The opening drink order establishes his instrumental relationship with language. He chooses Anis del Toro without consulting Jig and translates for her, a small act that positions him as mediator between her and the world. When Jig says the hills look like white elephants — her oblique acknowledgement of what they are not discussing — his flat response ("I've never seen one") shuts down the metaphor and her attempt at emotional depth. The exchange over the beaded curtain's Anis del Toro label ("Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for") shows Jig reaching toward meaning he cannot or will not meet. His most revealing speech comes mid-story, when he insists he will "be perfectly happy" with whatever she decides, immediately followed by continued pressure — a textbook instance of coercive reassurance that Hemingway renders with surgical economy. The bag-carrying interlude is the story's only moment of genuine physical action; he pauses, looks at the other travellers, and notes they are "all waiting reasonably." The word "reasonably" serves as his self-flattering self-portrait. He returns to find Jig smiling, but nothing is resolved, and his final line preserves the ambiguity deliberately.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are The American (the Man)'s most important relationships?
With Jig: The relationship's power imbalance drives the story. The American speaks roughly twice as much as Jig, and his every line functions as a steering mechanism. He claims emotional generosity — "I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to" — yet the condition embedded in "really" implies her hesitation is not quite real, not quite valid. Jig's growing resistance, culminating in her quiet "Would you please please please please please please please stop talking," directly challenges him, and he absorbs it without genuine acknowledgment, pivoting instead to the polite fiction that he was merely responding to her questions.
With the Waitress: His dealings with the waitress are brisk and functional — ordering drinks, asking her to relay a request. These interactions reveal, by contrast, how calculated his behaviour with Jig is. With strangers, he is simply polite; with Jig, he is relentlessly purposeful. The waitress also briefly introduces Spanish, the ambient language he uses as a marker of social competence and control.
05·Connected characters
How is The American (the Man) connected to the other characters?
Jig (the Girl)
Full commentary
The American's romantic partner and the target of his sustained persuasion throughout the story. Their entire conversation circles around his desire for her to have the operation, and the power imbalance between them—his verbal dominance versus her growing, quietly expressed resistance—is the story's central tension. His relationship with Jig reveals his emotional manipulation: he claims he will support whatever she decides, yet every line he speaks steers her toward one choice.
The Waitress (the Barmaid)
Full commentary
The American interacts with the Waitress as a functional intermediary, ordering drinks through her and, crucially, asking her to relay a request for more Anis del Toro. She represents the outside world intruding briefly on the couple's fraught private negotiation. The American's polite, transactional dealings with her contrast with the charged, coercive dynamic he maintains with Jig, highlighting how composed and 'normal' he appears to strangers.
Study06–07
06·Questions
Questions readers ask about The American (the Man)
Who is the American in "Hills Like White Elephants"?
The American — referred to only as "the man" — is the male protagonist of Hemingway's story, a well-travelled expatriate who spends the entire narrative trying to persuade his companion Jig to undergo an abortion. He is never given a name, a deliberate choice that frames him as a type rather than an individual: the detached modern man who mistakes verbal control for genuine communication.
What does the American want Jig to do, and why?
The American wants Jig to have an abortion so that he can preserve his current lifestyle — the freedom to travel, drink, and remain uncommitted. His motivation is entirely self-serving, even though he frames it in the language of care and reasonableness. He needs her consent not out of concern for her wellbeing but to feel justified rather than culpable in pushing her toward the decision.
How does the American manipulate Jig during their conversation?
He uses repetition, conditional framing, and coercive reassurance to steer Jig toward agreement. He insists the procedure is "perfectly simple" and "perfectly natural," and claims he will "be perfectly happy" with whatever she decides — then immediately continues pressuring her. When Jig pleads for him to stop talking, he pivots to the polite fiction that he was only responding to her questions, absorbing her resistance without genuine acknowledgment.
What is the American's most revealing line in the story?
His most revealing line is his circular insistence: "It's really an awfully simple operation…it's not really an operation at all." The repetition and self-contradiction expose how desperately he needs to minimise the procedure in order to secure Jig's compliance. Rather than offering genuine comfort, the line functions as a rhetorical loop designed to dissolve her doubts by denying the weight of what he is asking.
What does the American's closing question — "Do you feel better?" — reveal about his character?
The closing question confirms that his measure of the conversation's success is Jig's compliance, not her actual emotional state. He returns from carrying the bags to find her appearing composed, but no real resolution has occurred. "Do you feel better?" is less an expression of care than a check for agreement, showing that he ends the story exactly where he began: wanting her consent and performing concern.
How does the American's relationship with the Waitress contrast with his treatment of Jig?
With the Waitress, the American is brisk and politely transactional — ordering drinks and asking her to relay a request without any ulterior agenda. With Jig, every line he speaks functions as a steering mechanism toward one outcome. The contrast shows how composed and "normal" he appears to strangers, underscoring that his coercive behaviour with Jig is calculated rather than simply his natural manner.
Does the American change or grow by the end of the story?
No — the American's arc is entirely static. He carries the bags to the far platform, a brief physical removal that might suggest reflection, but he returns having changed nothing internally. Hemingway uses this unchanging protagonist deliberately to critique a model of masculinity defined by emotional avoidance and the need for control, leaving the story's central conflict unresolved and the power imbalance intact.
Why does Hemingway never give the American a name?
By withholding his name and calling him only "the man" or "the American," Hemingway strips him of individual identity and elevates him to a universal type: the detached modern man who performs reasonableness while refusing emotional commitment. The anonymity invites readers to see his behaviour as a recognisable social pattern rather than a personal quirk, sharpening the story's implicit moral critique of his manipulation.
07·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles