In Another Country

“In Another Country” is about war and marriage yet includes no overt descriptions of either one. Hemingway often used the device of purposeful omission to leave out things he believed the reader had enough information about to fill in for themselves. This technique has also been referred to as “the iceberg theory.” When he uses purposeful omission, he describes only the tip of the iceberg—people’s observable words and actions. Readers must use their emotional intelligence and imagination to picture the remainder of the iceberg below the surface (the characters’ true thoughts, feelings, and motivations).

For example, the opening sentence of the story reads, “In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more” (267). This passage communicates “the tip of the iceberg,” and the reader’s imagination can fill in the deeper meaning. This condensation adds intensity to the story since the reader knows there is a great deal that remains unsaid just under the surface.

The reader may also have to do some homework to get the full meaning. For example, Hemingway omits translating the Italian words Arditi, fratellanza, and abnegzione. The reader must go elsewhere to discover that the Arditi were a unit of daring commando troops, and that the two other words are equivalent to “brotherhood” and “selflessness” in English.