# The girl — Short Fiction character guide

> The girl in Short Fiction by Ernest Hemingway.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** herself

**First appearance:** 0058-hills-like-white-elephants

## Snapshot

A young woman in a Swiss railway café, pregnant and unmarried, whose quiet dignity unsettles two American skiers passing through on their way back to school.

## Who they are

She waits tables in a mountain inn, sings German opera under her breath, and wears an apron that swells with a pregnancy no ring explains. Nick and George read her touchiness as pride and speculate about her life, but her real weight is in what she withholds—a whole future being decided somewhere offstage. Her presence turns a casual wine stop into a meditation on consequence, the very thing Nick's friend George can't stop circling.

## In the story

### [Mr. and Mrs. Elliot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/mr-and-mrs-elliot)

Mrs. Elliot's older female friend from the tea shop, who joins them in Touraine. She types Elliot's manuscripts, calls Cornelia 'Honey,' and shares a bed with her.

### [Cat in the Rain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/cat-in-the-rain)

The American wife who longs for the cat and expresses dissatisfaction with her appearance and life.

### [Out of Season](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/out-of-season)

The young gentleman's wife, called 'Tiny,' who is cold, sullen, and critical of her husband's indecision.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/v)

The elderly waitress at Brown's Beanery; tells Scripps a long, strange story about losing her mother in Paris.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/xiv)

The squaw who enters the beanery naked except for moccasins, carrying a papoose, and is ejected.

### [Hills Like White Elephants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/hills-like-white-elephants)

Referred to as Jig, she is the pregnant woman in a tense negotiation with the American man about an abortion.

### [A Canary for One](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/a-canary-for-one)

The narrator's wife, who engages in conversation with the American lady about Vevey and the daughter's lost love.

### [Today Is Friday](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/today-is-friday)

Mentioned as the crucified man's female companion who stayed by him.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/characters/the_girl
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/characters