This collection exemplifies Hemingway’s influential “iceberg theory,” a minimalist literary technique that became a hallmark of American Modernism. Hemingway believed that much of a story’s meaning should lie beneath the surface, with only a fraction revealed explicitly to the reader. In his 1932 treatise on bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon, he explained that “If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them” (16). This theory of omission places Hemingway alongside other Modernist writers like T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, who rejected the elaborate exposition of 19th-century literature in favor of fragmentation, suggestion, and subtext. Emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Modernism reflected widespread social and cultural change, including rapid industrialization, urbanization, and the aftermath of World War I. Many Modernist writers experimented with form and perspective, encouraging readers to interpret meaning through fragmented narratives, limited perspectives, and implied meanings. These techniques reflected a growing skepticism toward traditional forms of authority and certainty, leaving interpretation more open-ended and requiring greater engagement from readers.

Hemingway applied these ideas through concise prose, limited narration, and carefully selected details that invite readers to draw their own conclusions. His style often omits direct explanations of characters’ thoughts and emotions, relying instead on dialogue, action, and carefully observed details. This approach became one of the defining features of Hemingway’s fiction and influenced generations of later writers. The technique appears in “Hills Like White Elephants,” a story about a couple discussing an abortion without ever using the word. The story illustrates this approach through its reliance on implication and indirect communication.