Hemingway - Simple Can Be Brilliant

            Earnest Hemingway was a very well-known and highly praised American author who greatly influenced fiction literature in the twentieth century. Not only did Hemingway's writing entertain many readers during this time period; it also won him a Nobel Prize. One of his most famous novels, In Our Time, portrays how his writing was effective and how he was an export with the use of rhetoric. Hemingway's style and technique such as his simplicity with word choice and syntax, his use of honest and truthful details, and his application of the iceberg principle shows how he used language to successfully convey purpose. .
             Hemingway was not known for complicated or complex writing; instead, he was known for simple and colloquial writing that he used in an impressively effective way. This style of writing was probably a result of the many lessons that Hemingway learned while he was a news reporter. News reporters are taught to write just enough to cover all important information about a subject without getting off topic or sharing irrelevant details. This strategy can be seen in Hemingway's In Our Time by the way that he wrote to the point, but also purposefully. One particular way that he did this was using short sentences that make the writing easier for readers to understand. Another way that he achieved this strategy was being very particular and wise about word choice. Hemingway would take a simple word with a basic denotation and use it in a way that gave it a deep connotation. For example, in the story "The End of Something," Hemingway uses the moon, a common word with a simple denotation, to add depth to the story. The moon actually plays a role of a symbol that represents virginity and innocence. The story states, "They sat on the blanket without touching each other and watched the moon rise" (Hemingway 34). This sentence is simple and to the point, yet it reveals so much. Instead of finding a complex way to describe how Nick and Marjorie are losing affection for each other, Hemingway uses a very basic concept--the moon--to reveal the conflict.