The document discusses Hemingway's "Iceberg Theory" of omission in literary works. It examines his short stories "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" and "Hills Like White Elephants" as examples. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" uses minimalism and omits details, forcing readers to infer meanings from a terse account. "Hills Like White Elephants" also omits the plot and uses setting and dialogue symbolism to imply an discussion of an abortion without explicitly stating it. Hemingway expected readers to understand through contextual clues and bring their own interpretations.

1. The Iceberg Theory: How Ernest Hemingway's Principle of Omission is Reflected in his Literary Works

5. Often unclear who is even speaking, leaving the reader to decide on their own(Samuelson 5)

7. “ the old man sat in the shadow of the leaves”(143)

8. “ the old man sitting in the shadow”(143)

9. "...the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he could feel the difference"(143)

13. Signifies his fear that there is nothing to justify living; thus everything to justify death

14. The old waiter fools himself, calling his uneasiness “insomnia”(146)

20. Comparison of the white hills to white elephants

21. “ fields of grain and trees... mountains... [and] a cloud [moving] across the field”(35) provides the final demonstration of the fertility of the area of the hills

23. They later “blow against the table”(34)

24. The girl “holds two of the strings of beads”(34) as a rosary is held

25. Then paradoxically, the man passes “through the bead curtain” near the end of the story

27. Needing independence, the man uses pronouns such as “I” and “you”

29. The girl unfairly requests absolutes such as “you won't ever worry”(34)

30. The dialogue ends with the action of the man rejecting the girls suggestion to “finish the beer”(36) together after the bags are moved

33. The man mysteriously walks through the “rosary” beads near the end of the story

35. The man stresses independence in his speech; stressing the importance of not being tied down with a baby and possible not even the girl

37. Did they return to Barcelona and “have everything”(35) as the main finally passing through the “rosary” beads implies

38. Did the man establish his independence from the girl as the solitary drink at the bar implies

39. “ Read anything I write for the pleasure of reading it. Whatever else you find will be the measure of what you brought to the reading”(Plimpton 18) -Ernest Hemingway

40. Works Cited “ A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Maria Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Web. 12 July 2010. Hemingway, Ernest. “A Clean, Well Lighted Place” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Id. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 143-146. Print. Hemingway, Ernest. Death in the Afternoon. New York: Scribner's, 1932. Print. Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants” Men Without Women. Middlesex, Penguin Books Ltd., 1972. 32-37. Print. Samuelson, Scott, “Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (1923-1938)” Rexburg: Ricks College English Department, 1992. Web. 12 July 2010.