Iceberg Theory

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The Iceberg Theory is a writing theory stated by American writer Ernest Hemingway, as follows:

“	If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action.	”
—Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon

In other words, a story can communicate by subtext; for instance, Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants never once mentions the word "abortion," though that is what the story's characters seem to be discussing. Often, especially in works that follow in Hemingway's footsteps, less is more.

This statement throws light on the symbolic implications of art. He makes use of physical action to provide an interpretation of the nature of man's existence. It can be convincingly proved that, "while representing human life through fictional forms, he has consistently set man against the background of his world and universe to examine the human situation from various points of view".^[1]