Soldier's Home

Hemingway is one of the most celebrated minimalist writers and is known for coining the “Iceberg Theory,” which is a literary technique that prioritizes simple, declarative sentences and omission. The reader is presented with short, intense sentences focusing on observable facts and must then infer what is beneath the tip of the iceberg in terms of people’s inner lives. By presenting observable events and avoiding explication of his characters’ inner lives, Hemingway allows the reader to think critically about human subjectivity and participate in the act of literary creation.

A clear example is at the beginning of “Soldier’s Home,” when Hemingway describes Harold’s daily routine. He writes,

He was sleeping late in bed, getting up to walk down to the library to get a book, eating lunch at home, reading on the front porch until he became bored and then walking down through the town to spend the hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room. He loved to play pool (112).

The reader can infer that Harold is lost and aimless since returning from the war. Hemingway never says it, but the reader sees it in what is absent: Harold doesn’t work, doesn’t socialize, doesn’t have focused motivations, and doesn’t act with purpose.