Analysis Of Hills Like White Elephant By Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway employed what he called "the iceberg theory" when he wrote "Hills like White Elephants" and other stories. When you picture an iceberg, what you are seeing is only a small fraction of what is above the water. Most of the iceberg is hidden underwater. What may look like a small island of ice, in reality, could be a floating city, and you would never know unless you looked beneath the surface. When applied to writing, the iceberg theory gives you a small taste of what is going on in the story. The reader needs to dig deeper to discover the hidden meaning behind the words. Mr. Hemingway's writing leaves a lot to the imagination as well. He gives you enough detail to understand the basic idea behind the story, but he leaves out …show more content…
The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing" (Schmoop Editorial Team). Mr. Hemmingway felt that when feeding readers information, less is more. He provides just enough detail and dialogue, so the reader has a basic understanding of what is going on. In "Hills like White Elephants", Mr. Hemmingway leaves a lot to the reader's judgment and …show more content…
The man seems to be attempting to convince the girl to have an operation that she seems hesitant to have. He says "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig. It's not really an operation at all" (Hemmingway, 230). The girl remains silent so he continues "I know you won't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in" (Hemmingway, 230). At this point in the story, one could ascertain that the man is talking about abortion. Mr. Hemmingway never comes out to say what the procedure is, but from the way the man is explaining it, abortion seems like a logical