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【Abstract】 Hemingway is a giant literary figure in American literature and his famous “Iceberg Principle” has great influence on literary creation afterwards. As a main representative of the Lost Generation， he produced great works reflecting the disillusionment that left by the war. The sun also rises is a great one among them and the iceberg principle was successfully applied in the novel. This paper attempts to select a scene of the story to analyze the application of the principle in it， looking for the other seven-eighths.
【Key Words】 Hemingway， iceberg principle， war
【中图分类号】G64.20 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2013）24-0-01
1 Introduction
Ernest Hemingway is unquestionably a name that means a lot to both American literature as well as the whole world. His adventurous experiences and the predominant theme—disillusionment rendered him a typical representative of the lost generation. He created a sort of simple telegram style for writing， which is habitually called “Iceberg Principle”. Based on his own writing experience， Hemingway put up the theory in the novel Death in the Afternoon. In his opinion， if a writer is quite sure about what he wants to tell， there is no necessity for him to write down all. （Wang 1995）. This paper is to select one scene of the work and analyze it based on iceberg principle， explaining how the reason interpreting the seven-eighths part under the sea level. In fact， the reason for the scene lies in the wound cause by the cruel war.
2 Reason—the Seven-Eighths
A distinguished critic Malcolm Cowley conceived of Hemingway’s writing method as “subtractive method”. According to his analysis， the one-eighths part is consisted of the acts， sensual perceptions and the words of the characters， so what is the seven-eighths part supposed to stand for？ Firstly， it is the reason or cause that impels people to act in some way or say something. Hemingway seized the accurate words and behavior of people and showed them perfectly in his works so that readers can strongly feel the emotion and afterwards see through them in pursuit of the reasons. That is why Hemingway seldom used adjectives or adverbs. Also， he rarely explained or made comment in his works. The author is an external observer whose responsibility is to record faithfully. In addition， it is also the reason for the author’s choice， the reason for him to choose something to be shown in his works instead of others. Every writer produces works with aims， trying to say something based on his own feelings and thoughts. The aim is the theme of a work. As his first long novel that brought Hemingway real fame， The Sun also Rises clearly interpreted the “iceberg principle”. Superficially， the story recounted a group of English and American expatriates who are indulged in drinking， sex and bullfights. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The reason of their lifestyle or their attitudes towards life has close respect to the influence of the First World War， a catastrophe of human history that took away both millions of lives and a system concerned with value and morality. In the novel， we could notice the bitterness and emptiness of these people. 3 The Essence of the War—a Appalling Butchery
A large part of the novel is concerned with a sort of entertainment——bullfight. The protagonist， Jake Barnes set a trip for himself and his friend to Spain where amazing bullfight was to be shown. It is overt that the killing and wounding are indispensable element of the activity. It is not important whether the picador defeated the bull or not. The defiance and killing are stimulating enough to feed the spectators. But the abundant descriptions of the whole process of the bullfights， all the subtle details of nearly every move or gesture are only the tip of the iceberg. We are supposed to sense the reason. Actually， the essential part of bullfight is much like the war—slaughter. The crucial difference just lies in the participants. In a war， they are people while in a bullfight， they are bulls and people. But it does not influence the core point； we could still build up a tight relation between the two seemingly irrelevant issues based on slaughter. Before the bullfight， Jake and his friends once went into a corral where he saw the steers were attacked by the bulls. It is a vivid picture of an assault of the bulls. But this is the one-eighth part that is above the water. In the novel， Jake and Brett had been in the front in the war. So they had clearest picture of the war： piles of corpses， blooding wound and kinds of arms. Although Hemingway did not mention this in the novel， we could learn it according to a simple fact that they had been in the war. In spite of the fact that Jake and Brett hoped to get rid of the whole memory about the war， they could still notice the shadow of the war almost everywhere. They attempted to evade the terrifying past by enjoying a bullfight whereas the bullfighting just reminded them of the past. That is the reason for the author to show the picture.
4 The Result of the War—Wound
Fortunately， the war had an end. But it had a complicated and profound result. Besides thousands and millions of lives that had been taken away by it， the war left the survivors with deep wound that is hard to heal both physically and mentally. Jake were made impotent in the war and the wound prevented him from marrying his beloved woman—Brett. They love each other but such wound is a gap between them. And the key point is the mental wound. They could not distinguish the right form the wrong any longer after authentic scene of the war and they even could not find meaning in life any more， for the war had deprived them of a world with order， a world owning traditional and clear values and morality that could discipline people. Therefore they became mental drifters. In the description of the bullfight， we could see the fact that after the steer was wounded it got far away from the herd. Maybe it is because of worrying about being hurt again or maybe it is because of the lacking of confidence to return to the normal state after being wounded. Brett forthright fell in love with the outstanding picador， Romero when she met him and equally， Romero loved this woman. But finally Brett determined to leave him owing to her knowing that “Some people have God.”（（Hemingway 1986： 134）. As is known to all， religion plays a very substantial role in western society and God has a great meaning for western people. God represents faith， firm and persistent faith. But the war destroyed all faith， including the faith in God for some people. But there are still people having God， continue to live the life with codes， such as Romero. The steer that has been gored is a symbol of a person that has been wounded by the war and Brett is just one of them. For Brett， the war caused the death of her fiancée and what is more important； it made her lose the faith in love itself. Brett does not want to bring bad influence on him and dare not learn to be with a person who is different with her group， a group of loners.
5 Conclusion
The scene that is analyzed above is just a small part of the entire novel. But it is sufficient to manifest the famous “iceberg principle”. The part above the water is objective and accurate record of reality while the most part that is under the sea level is the reason for the upper part and also the reason for the author to state the upper part. The tie that binds the two parts together is the method of symbol. The author Hemingway drew on his own war experience and successfully illustrated his understanding of the war and his observation of the influence left on people by the war.
Bibliography
[1]Donaldson， Scott. New Essays on A Farewell to Arms. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1987.
[2]Hemingway， Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York： Simon and Schuster. 1926. Publishing Company， 1986.
[3]William， Van O’Connor. Seven Modern American Novelists. University of Minnesota， 1975.
[4]董衡巽. 美国现代小说家论. 中国社会科学出版社， 1988.
[5]王誉公. 美国小说家述评. 山东大学出版社， 1995.
【Key Words】 Hemingway， iceberg principle， war
【中图分类号】G64.20 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2013）24-0-01
1 Introduction
Ernest Hemingway is unquestionably a name that means a lot to both American literature as well as the whole world. His adventurous experiences and the predominant theme—disillusionment rendered him a typical representative of the lost generation. He created a sort of simple telegram style for writing， which is habitually called “Iceberg Principle”. Based on his own writing experience， Hemingway put up the theory in the novel Death in the Afternoon. In his opinion， if a writer is quite sure about what he wants to tell， there is no necessity for him to write down all. （Wang 1995）. This paper is to select one scene of the work and analyze it based on iceberg principle， explaining how the reason interpreting the seven-eighths part under the sea level. In fact， the reason for the scene lies in the wound cause by the cruel war.
2 Reason—the Seven-Eighths
A distinguished critic Malcolm Cowley conceived of Hemingway’s writing method as “subtractive method”. According to his analysis， the one-eighths part is consisted of the acts， sensual perceptions and the words of the characters， so what is the seven-eighths part supposed to stand for？ Firstly， it is the reason or cause that impels people to act in some way or say something. Hemingway seized the accurate words and behavior of people and showed them perfectly in his works so that readers can strongly feel the emotion and afterwards see through them in pursuit of the reasons. That is why Hemingway seldom used adjectives or adverbs. Also， he rarely explained or made comment in his works. The author is an external observer whose responsibility is to record faithfully. In addition， it is also the reason for the author’s choice， the reason for him to choose something to be shown in his works instead of others. Every writer produces works with aims， trying to say something based on his own feelings and thoughts. The aim is the theme of a work. As his first long novel that brought Hemingway real fame， The Sun also Rises clearly interpreted the “iceberg principle”. Superficially， the story recounted a group of English and American expatriates who are indulged in drinking， sex and bullfights. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The reason of their lifestyle or their attitudes towards life has close respect to the influence of the First World War， a catastrophe of human history that took away both millions of lives and a system concerned with value and morality. In the novel， we could notice the bitterness and emptiness of these people. 3 The Essence of the War—a Appalling Butchery
A large part of the novel is concerned with a sort of entertainment——bullfight. The protagonist， Jake Barnes set a trip for himself and his friend to Spain where amazing bullfight was to be shown. It is overt that the killing and wounding are indispensable element of the activity. It is not important whether the picador defeated the bull or not. The defiance and killing are stimulating enough to feed the spectators. But the abundant descriptions of the whole process of the bullfights， all the subtle details of nearly every move or gesture are only the tip of the iceberg. We are supposed to sense the reason. Actually， the essential part of bullfight is much like the war—slaughter. The crucial difference just lies in the participants. In a war， they are people while in a bullfight， they are bulls and people. But it does not influence the core point； we could still build up a tight relation between the two seemingly irrelevant issues based on slaughter. Before the bullfight， Jake and his friends once went into a corral where he saw the steers were attacked by the bulls. It is a vivid picture of an assault of the bulls. But this is the one-eighth part that is above the water. In the novel， Jake and Brett had been in the front in the war. So they had clearest picture of the war： piles of corpses， blooding wound and kinds of arms. Although Hemingway did not mention this in the novel， we could learn it according to a simple fact that they had been in the war. In spite of the fact that Jake and Brett hoped to get rid of the whole memory about the war， they could still notice the shadow of the war almost everywhere. They attempted to evade the terrifying past by enjoying a bullfight whereas the bullfighting just reminded them of the past. That is the reason for the author to show the picture.
4 The Result of the War—Wound
Fortunately， the war had an end. But it had a complicated and profound result. Besides thousands and millions of lives that had been taken away by it， the war left the survivors with deep wound that is hard to heal both physically and mentally. Jake were made impotent in the war and the wound prevented him from marrying his beloved woman—Brett. They love each other but such wound is a gap between them. And the key point is the mental wound. They could not distinguish the right form the wrong any longer after authentic scene of the war and they even could not find meaning in life any more， for the war had deprived them of a world with order， a world owning traditional and clear values and morality that could discipline people. Therefore they became mental drifters. In the description of the bullfight， we could see the fact that after the steer was wounded it got far away from the herd. Maybe it is because of worrying about being hurt again or maybe it is because of the lacking of confidence to return to the normal state after being wounded. Brett forthright fell in love with the outstanding picador， Romero when she met him and equally， Romero loved this woman. But finally Brett determined to leave him owing to her knowing that “Some people have God.”（（Hemingway 1986： 134）. As is known to all， religion plays a very substantial role in western society and God has a great meaning for western people. God represents faith， firm and persistent faith. But the war destroyed all faith， including the faith in God for some people. But there are still people having God， continue to live the life with codes， such as Romero. The steer that has been gored is a symbol of a person that has been wounded by the war and Brett is just one of them. For Brett， the war caused the death of her fiancée and what is more important； it made her lose the faith in love itself. Brett does not want to bring bad influence on him and dare not learn to be with a person who is different with her group， a group of loners.
5 Conclusion
The scene that is analyzed above is just a small part of the entire novel. But it is sufficient to manifest the famous “iceberg principle”. The part above the water is objective and accurate record of reality while the most part that is under the sea level is the reason for the upper part and also the reason for the author to state the upper part. The tie that binds the two parts together is the method of symbol. The author Hemingway drew on his own war experience and successfully illustrated his understanding of the war and his observation of the influence left on people by the war.
Bibliography
[1]Donaldson， Scott. New Essays on A Farewell to Arms. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1987.
[2]Hemingway， Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York： Simon and Schuster. 1926. Publishing Company， 1986.
[3]William， Van O’Connor. Seven Modern American Novelists. University of Minnesota， 1975.
[4]董衡巽. 美国现代小说家论. 中国社会科学出版社， 1988.
[5]王誉公. 美国小说家述评. 山东大学出版社， 1995.