Hemingway is known for his minimalist, sparse prose with few adjectives or adverbs. He includes only essential information, often omitting background details and dialogue tags. This creates ambiguity that allows readers to examine complexity through implication rather than direct statements. Hemingway uses short, simple sentences and common words to create a fast reading speed that conveys tension powerfully. His technique demonstrates the complexity of human interaction through subtlety in both what is said and what is left unsaid between characters.

1. Style
Done by
Maria Grechkovskaya
Anna Shenberg

2.  “All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for
the first time.”
 “All our words from loose using have lost their edge.”
 “For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can.
Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.”
 “I don't like to write like God. It is only because you never do it,
though, that the critics think you can't do it.”
 “It's none of their business that you have to learn how to write.
Let them think you were born that way.”

3. Iceberg Principle or Theory of Omission:
• Hemingway strippes everything but the bare essentials
from his stories and novels, leaving readers to sift through
the remaining dialogue and bits of narrative on their own.
• Hemingway firmly believed that perfect stories conveyed
far more through subtext than through the actual words
written on the page.
• The more a writer strips away, the more powerful the
“iceberg,” or story, becomes.
• Hemingway applies the “iceberg principle” to his stories:
only the tip of the story is visible on the page, while the
rest is left underwater—unsaid.

4. Whether it’s a world at war or the battles raging within human minds,
the situations in A Farewell to Arms are chaotic. By presenting a
very ordered surface for the reader, the reader is able to examine the
chaos and complexity with a fairly clear head:
Well, we were in it. Everyone was caught in it and the small rain
would not quiet it. "Good-night, Catherine," I said out loud. "I hope
you sleep well. If it’s too uncomfortable, darling, lie on the other
side," I said. "I’ll get you some cold water. In a little while it will
be morning and then it won’t be so bad. I’m sorry he makes you so
uncomfortable. Try and go to sleep, sweet."
I was asleep all the time, she said. You’ve been talking in your
sleep

5.  Hemingway is known for his economic prose – his
writing is minimalist and sparse, with few adverbs or
adjectives.
 He includes only essential information, often omitting
background information, transitions, and dialogue tags
such as “he said” or “she said.
 He often uses pronouns without clear antecedents, such as
using the word it without clarifying what it refers to.
 Hemingway uses fewer words and lets the effect of his
style speak for itself.
Hemingway’s Economy of Style

6. The Old Man and the Sea language is simple and natural, and has the
effect of directness, clarity and freshness. Hemingway always manages
to choose words concrete, specific, more commonly found, more Anglo-
Saxon, casual and conversational. He seldom uses adjectives and
abstract nouns, and avoids complicated syntax. His short sentences are
powerfully loaded with the tension, which he sees in life. In his task of
creating real people, Hemingway uses dialogue as an effective device.
“What do you have to eat?” the boy asked.
“No, I will eat at home; do you want me to make the fire?”
“No, I will make it later on, or I may eat the rice cold.”
Here we can see that such interpolations as “he said” have frequently
been omitted and the words are very colloquial. Thus the speech comes
to the reader as if he were listening. Hemingway has captured the
immediacy of dialogue skillfully and has made the economical speech
connotative.

7. Sentence Speed
One of Hemingway’s most recognizable stylistic traits is a fast sentence
speed. A writer’s sentence speed refers to how quickly his sentences can
be read, either aloud or silently.
How does Hemingway manage to speed up his sentences?
 choosing shorter words for simpler diction
 omitting commas
“Often Miss Stein would have no guests and she was always very
friendly and for a long time she was affectionate.”
A Moveable Feast (1964)
“I heard the rocket and I knew I could not get into the ring in time to
see the bulls come in, so I shoved through the crowd to the fence.”
The Sun Also Rises (1926).

8.  Hemingway’s technique is uncomplicated, with plain
grammar and easily accessible language.
 Hemingway is also considered a master of dialogue. The
conversations between his characters demonstrate not only
communication but also its limits.
 The way Hemingway’s characters speak is sometimes
more important than what they say, because what they
choose to say (or leave unsaid) illuminates sources of
inner conflict.
 Sometimes characters say only what they think another
character will want to hear. In short, Hemingway captures
the complexity of human interaction through subtlety and
implication as well as direct discourse.

9.  “My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in
the best and simplest way.”
 “There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily
and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then
blasting it out with charges.”
 “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a
typewriter and bleed.”
 “When writing a novel a writer should create living people;
people not characters. A character is a caricature.”