It is a hot day in Spain. Two people sit at a railway station, drinking beer and staring at the dry, white hills of the Ebro Valley. That’s basically the whole setup. If you’re looking for a Hills Like Elephants summary, you can find the plot in about ten seconds, but the actual story? That’s hidden under the table, buried in the subtext, and tucked away in the things the characters are too terrified to actually name.
Ernest Hemingway wrote this in 1927. Almost a century later, it’s still the gold standard for "the iceberg theory." If you aren't familiar, Hemingway believed that 7/8ths of a story should be underwater. You only see the tip. In this specific story, the "tip" is a couple arguing about a trip to Madrid. The "underwater" part is a life-altering medical decision that could end their relationship or their freedom.
The Bare Bones Hills Like Elephants Summary
The story follows an American man and a girl named Jig. They are waiting for the express train from Barcelona to Madrid. It is blindingly hot. To pass the time, they drink Dos Caecis and try to make small talk. Jig looks at the distant hills and remarks that they look like white elephants. The man, seemingly annoyed by her imagination, brushes it off.
This isn't just a travelogue. They start talking about a "procedure." The man calls it "an awfully simple operation." He tells her it isn't really an operation at all. He claims he's seen people do it and they were fine afterward. He keeps saying he doesn't want her to do it if she doesn't want to, but his repetitive pressure suggests the exact opposite. He wants things to go back to the way they were—traveling, staying in hotels, and looking at baggage.
Jig is skeptical. She realizes that even if she goes through with the abortion—which is never explicitly named, though it's clearly the topic—their relationship is likely already dead. She asks him to "please please please please please please please stop talking." The train arrives. They pick up their bags. She smiles and says she feels "fine."
She isn't fine.
Why the "White Elephant" Metaphor Actually Matters
Most people think a white elephant is just a dusty gift you exchange at an office Christmas party. In the 1920s, the term carried a heavier weight. Historically, a white elephant was a gift from the King of Siam that was technically "valuable" but ruinously expensive to keep. It was a burden.
Jig sees the hills and thinks of something beautiful and rare. The American man sees the hills and sees a problem. To him, the pregnancy is the white elephant—a burden he never asked for and doesn't want to maintain.
Hemingway is brilliant here because he uses the landscape to show the divide in their minds. On one side of the station, the land is parched and dry (symbolizing infertility or the end of their spark). On the other side, there are fields of grain and trees (symbolizing life and the potential of the child). They are literally standing on the tracks between two different futures.
The Character Dynamics: Who Is the Villain?
It’s easy to peg the American man as the bad guy. He’s manipulative. He uses "gaslighting" techniques before the word was even a thing. He tells Jig he loves her, then immediately follows it with a "but" regarding the operation. He wants his life to remain a series of labels on a suitcase.
✨ Don't miss: What Really Happened With How Did Carlos From Descendants Die
But look at Jig. She’s often portrayed as a victim, yet she’s the only one with any poetic vision. She’s the one who realizes that "once they take it away, you never get it back." She understands the finality of the choice. The man thinks he can hit a "reset" button on their lives. Jig knows that life doesn't have a reset button.
Key psychological markers in their dialogue:
- The Man's Repetition: He says "I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to" at least five times. This is classic "pseudo-choice" manipulation.
- Jig's Sarcasm: When she says, "Then what will we do afterward?" and he says "We’ll be fine," she knows he’s lying.
- The Language Barrier: Jig doesn't speak Spanish. She has to ask the man what the waitress is saying. She is literally and figuratively dependent on him in this foreign land, which makes his pressure even more stifling.
Why Do We Still Study This?
Honestly, because it's the perfect example of how much you can say by saying absolutely nothing. Hemingway doesn't tell you how they feel. He doesn't describe their facial expressions with flowery adverbs. He just gives you the dialogue and the setting.
You’ve probably been in an argument like this. Not necessarily about an abortion, but an argument where you’re talking about "the weather" or "the drink" because the actual problem is too big to voice. That’s why this Hills Like Elephants summary feels so modern. It captures the specific anxiety of a relationship that has run out of road.
Common Misconceptions
- "They get the abortion." We don't actually know. The story ends before they board the train.
- "It's a story about choice." It's actually more a story about the loss of choice. By the time they are at that station, the choice has already poisoned their relationship regardless of what they do.
- "The man is a monster." He’s more of a coward. He’s terrified of responsibility and change. Hemingway isn't writing a melodrama; he's writing a tragedy of the "Lost Generation."
The Setting as a Silent Character
The Ebro River valley isn't just a backdrop. It’s a border. In literature, stations are "liminal spaces"—places where you are neither here nor there. The characters are in transition. They are literally at a crossroads.
The heat is oppressive. It creates a sense of irritability. Every sip of the warm beer feels like a delay tactic. Hemingway uses the "Anis del Toro" drink to show Jig’s desire for something new—it tastes like licorice—and her subsequent disappointment when she realizes it just tastes like everything else. "Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe."
👉 See also: Downton Abbey 3: Everything We Know About the Final Goodbye to the Crawleys
That line is a gut punch. It’s about the disillusionment of the entire post-WWI era.
How to Analyze the Ending
The ending is famously ambiguous. Jig says, "I feel fine. There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine."
If you believe she’s "fine," you’ve missed the point. In Hemingway’s world, when a character says they are fine, they are usually at their breaking point. She has shut down. She has realized that the man will never understand her perspective. Whether she has the procedure or not, the "we" she refers to is gone.
Actionable Insights for Reading Hemingway
If you’re analyzing this for a class or just trying to understand the hype, try these specific steps:
- Count the drinks. Notice how the rhythm of the conversation changes with every round. Alcohol is their only bridge.
- Track the "I" vs. "We." The man uses "we" to pressure her ("We'll be fine"). Jig starts to use "I" or "we" in a way that suggests she’s already grieving the loss of their unity.
- Ignore the tags. Read the dialogue out loud without the "he said/she said" parts. The tension becomes much more visceral when you hear the back-and-forth like a tennis match.
- Look at the baggage. The man carries the bags to the other side of the station. He sees the bags (their life together) as something he can just move around. Jig stays at the table.
Understanding a Hills Like Elephants summary requires looking at the gaps between the words. It is a story about the silence that follows a dead conversation. It teaches us that you can’t run away from a problem by taking a train to Madrid, because you’re bringing the problem—and your suitcases—with you.