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In "Hills Like White Elephants," how would you characterize Hemingway's writing style?

User Simon Tran
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Final answer:

Ernest Hemingway's writing style in 'Hills Like White Elephants' is minimalist and economical, characterized by terse sentences and the iceberg principle, implying depth beyond the sparse surface details.

Step-by-step explanation:

In "Hills Like White Elephants," Ernest Hemingway's writing style can be characterized as minimalist and economical.

Hemingway is known for his distinct minimalist style of terse sentences, which is reflective of his iceberg approach to writing,

suggesting that much like an iceberg, the majority of the story's substance lies beneath the surface—what is left unsaid holds more significance than what is explicitly stated.

His concise language and lack of detail were influenced by his prior experience as a journalist, and his ability to create richly implied narratives with few words made his writing both iconic and influential.

In works like The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and The Sea, Hemingway's skillful use of language shaped the modernist literary landscape by challenging readers to look beyond the surface text to understand the depth of his characters and themes.

His stories, including "Hills Like White Elephants," typically feature straightforward dialogue and surface-level descriptions that are punctuated by potent subtext and metaphor, requiring the reader to actively interpret the underlying emotions and conflicts.

User Ramzan Mahmood
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