In the story, Hemingway refers to the Ebro River and to the bare, sterile-looking mountains on one side of the train station and to the fertile plains on the other side of the train station. The hills of Spain, to the girl, are like white elephants in their bareness and round, protruding shape. Also notable is that "white elephant" is a term used to refer to something that requires much care and yielding little profit; an object no longer of any value to its owner but of value to others; and something of little or no value. Throughout this dialogue, the girl's crumbling realization that she is not truly loved is a strong undercurrent that creates tension and suppressed fear.
"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" takes place in Spain as well. It centers around two waiters and an elderly man who patronizes the café late at night before closing time. He is a drunk who has just tried to kill himself. One of the waiters is older and understands the elderly man's loneliness and how important the café is to the old man's mental health.
Hemingway explores older men's loneliness by using the older waiter as a sounding board for the elderly man's defense. Although the elderly man is without a companion or anyone waiting at home for him, he indulges his lapses from reality in a dignified and refined manner, expressed in his choosing of a clean, well-lighted place in the late hours of the night. The importance of the clean, well-lighted place where one can sit is integral to maintaining dignity and formality amidst loneliness, despair and desperation.