Hemingway's Iceberg

Hemingway’s Iceberg In the works of Ernest Hemingway, prose style is as important to the work as the content. Hemingway’s style includes the use of short, choppy sentences that are descriptive and have underlying meanings that are integral to the work. Hemingway uses this technique, the iceberg, to portray meaning and depth to a character without directly stating what the reader should be thinking. The iceberg technique allows readers to use their intelligence to figure out Hemingway’s underlying meanings. According to Hemingway, the iceberg is one-eighth above water and seven eighths below, which means that he is keeping seven eighths of his meaning unwritten for the reader to decipher from the one eighth that he is writing. Hemingway’s writing style is effective because it involves the reader in the work by forcing the reader to dig beneath the layer of description and find the depth of the writing. Hemingway’s creativity and intelligence is shown through his knowledge of the human condition and his ability to write about people in a realistic way through the iceberg style. Hemingway incorporates this writin

"Oh, Jake," Brett said, "we could have had such a damned good time together. They discuss the operation, although it is never called abortion, and they discuss their future together being hindered by the baby"tms needs. The short, choppy sentence stands out and draws the reader"tms attention to it as a poorly written sentence when in actuality, that is the most important sentence of the passage. The iceberg is extremely important in understanding the work of Hemingway and the genius of his writing. Hemingway understands the human condition and writes realistically about life and emotional pain. Hemingway uses his iceberg to hide the meaning until it is deciphered thereby making the work more complete and fulfilling as a result. Perhaps the most effective use of the iceberg is in "Hills Like White Elephants. The discussion between the man and the woman is trivial on the surface but the woman"tms suffering is noticeable through her dialogue and descriptions. In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway uses the iceberg to disguise Jake"tms impotence due to a war wound. At the end of the novel, Jake and Brett have a dialogue in which the iceberg becomes more apparent. g style of the iceberg in the majority of his works in different situations and in regard to different kinds of characters, making it a versatile and effective technique. Hemingway"tms iceberg makes his work intriguing and sophisticated because his work requires intelligence and insight by the reader to understand the full power of his writing.