Hills Like White Elephants

Hills Like White Elephants Summary | Detailed Summary

"Hills Like White Elephants" begins with a vivid description of the Spanish hills in the distance. They are long and white, with no trees for shade. A train station provides the only shadow on the horizon, and inside the station, there is a small bar, with a curtain made of bamboo beads to keep the flies out.

A couple is sitting at a table in the shade. They are waiting for the train that will come from Barcelona and take them to Madrid. It is hot, and the girl suggests a drink. They decide on beer, and the American man orders dos cervezas, two beers, through the beaded curtain.

The woman brings the beers out, and looks closely at them before going back into the bar. She sees the girl staring at the line of white hills, and the brown, dry country. The girl remarks that the hills look like white elephants, and the man retorts wryly that he has never seen one. "No, you wouldn't have," she replies.

The girl sees an ad painted on the beaded curtain, and asks what it says. The man tells her it is a drink, called Anis del Toro, Anise of the Bull. She suggests they try some, and the man calls to the woman through the beaded curtain again to order them.

They are mixed with water, and the girl observes that it tastes like liquorice. He replies mysteriously, "That's the way with everything." "Yes," the girl replies agreeably. " Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe." This cryptic speech apparently puts the man on edge, and he tells her to cut it out. The tension has been building, and seems to reach a peak here. She becomes defensive, and accuses him of starting a fight. He says that he just wants them to have a good time, and she replies that she was having a good time. After all, she reminds him, it was she that made the witty comment about the white mountains and it was her idea to try the new drink. He concedes this, and they order another round of drinks. The tone calms here and they make small talk for a few moments.

At this point, the man brings up the topic that is evidently on both of their minds. "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig," he says, calling her by her name, or nickname, for the first time. We assume that the operation he refers to is an abortion, and that the tension between them is because she is pregnant, and they are trying to decide whether they will keep the baby or not.

In an overly assuming way, he tells her that he is sure she would not mind it, and that it is a very simple operation. He refers to the procedure as letting the air in, and assures her that he will be with her at all times. She is unconvinced, and he reassures her that things will be as they were before, if she has the operation, since it is the only thing making them unhappy. She is still unconvinced, and he tells her that he has known many people who have undergone the operation. At this point, she becomes sarcastic, and responds, "So have I…and afterwards they were all so happy."

He backs off, telling her she does not have to go through with it if she does not want to. She asks him if it is what he really wants. He avoids the question, responding instead that it would be the best thing. She asks him if he will love her again if she does it, and he responds unconvincingly that he loves her now.

She finally agrees to the operation, but in a childish, petulant way, saying she will do it because she does not care about herself. She then gets up and moves away from him. She walks to the end of the station. She sees that on the other side of the station, opposite the white, barren hills, there are trees and fields of grain along the banks of the Ebro, the river. Beyond the fields and trees are mountains.

She says, as if to herself, "And we could have all this…And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible."

He does not hear her, and she repeats a part of what she said, that they could have everything. He agrees, and she then disagrees, that after all, perhaps they cannot have everything. He insists that they can go everywhere, and she once again disagrees, telling him sadly, "It isn't ours any more."

He senses that he is losing the battle in some way, and tells her to return to the shade. She anticipates his words cynically, and asks for another beer. She is suddenly more in command of the situation. He concedes that he is willing to "go through with it if it means anything" to her. She responds dryly, "Doesn't it mean anything to you?" highlighting his use of the word "anything."

She loses her patience with him now, and asks him please to stop talking, enunciating her request by repeating "please" seven times to get her point across.

He does stop talking for a moment, and looks instead at their luggage, which he notices has labels on them from many hotels where they had spent many nights. He says something else, and she promptly threatens to scream if he speaks again.

It is another moment of high tension, a moment that is diffused only slightly by the appearance of the woman from behind the beaded curtain, who brings beers and the announcement that the train would be arriving in 5 minutes. The girl asks what she said, and we learn through her question that although the man speaks Spanish, she neither speaks nor understands it.

He goes to take the bags across to the train tracks. He comes back via the barroom, where he stops to have another Anis at the bar and look at the other people waiting for the train. When he returns she is smiling at him, apparently calmer. He asks her if she feels better.

"I feel fine," she said. "There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine."