Characteristics Of Ernest Hemingway's Iceberg Style

Ernest Hemingway has a unique style of writing that appears in all of his works of fiction. The characteristics of Hemingway’s writing appears as a journalistic and straight to the point type of style. He focuses on the most important facts and precise words for his works, leaving out a lot of detail that most authors use to “fluff” and help explain the story. Hemingway’s writing style, generally titled the “Iceberg Theory” gives readers only the most important context, usually seen in the form of dialogue. This writing style is appropriate because it seems Hemingway would rather his audiences focus on the characters in their present state and how the underlying themes affect their current actions and relationships with other characters. Ernest
This shows how the reader is gaining the same information about the couple as someone who could be sitting at the table right next to them watching this interaction play out. The Iceberg Theory is also represented well by this text because of what the the two characters are actually talking about, but never dare to say aloud. It becomes apparent that the couple is talking about the woman having an abortion. Looking at the conversation between the two, readers soon find out that the man wants the woman to have an abortion so they can be happy again, through the woman is not completely sold on the idea just yet. Using the Iceberg Theory while writing this story is appropriate especially because of the circumstances surrounding the
In this short story, the underlying theme that is never actually stated by Hemingway is the fact that Nick Adams is home from the war and has realized that everything is not how he remembered it and everything seems to have drastically changed. From surface view, or the tip of the iceberg, it seems that the story is simplistic and is about a man traveling through nature on his own. Looking deep down, the main point to take out of this story is how hard it is being in war and returning home. Hemingway not only employs the Iceberg Theory by never mentioning the word “war,” but also writes in his very simplistic style. Rather than using a lot of dialogue which is found in “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway instead describes all of Nick Adams actions while wandering around on his own. An example of this writing style is noted in one of the first paragraphs of the short