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【Abstract】Based on “Iceberg Principle”, the paper briefly introduces the development of this theory in the area of literature, and also gives a brief introduction of Hemingway’s classic novel The Sun Also Rises. The paper studies take the 17th chapter of this novel as an example, analyzing the application of “Iceberg principle” in this chapter from the perspective of both the storyline and characterization and summarizes the effect that “Iceberg Principle” have in this chapter. It will be beneficial for the readers to understand of “Iceberg Principle” in a specific context, and to understand the thoughts and emotion of the novel from a much deeper level.
【Keywords】Iceberg Principle The Sun Also Rises Hemingway the other 7/8
The Sun Also Rises is the master work of Ernest Miller Hemingway, and also a quite classic novel in history. “Iceberg Principle” is also first applied to the area of literature by Hemingway, and he always try to write on this principle.This paper take the example of the 17th chapter in this novel to analyze the other 7/8 behind the words. There are 3 chapter in this paper. The first chapter is a literature review about “Iceberg Principle” and also The Sun Also Rises. The second chapter is also the main chapter, studying the application of “Iceberg Principle” from the perspective of storyline and characterization. The third chapter is a summary of the paper.
1.Literature review
1.1 Iceberg Principle
Iceberg Principle is first pur forward by the psychologist Sigmund Freud. He take the subconsciousness as iceberg, the 10% on the water surface is consciousness while the 90% under water are fore-consciousness and subconsciousness. Ernest Miller Hemingway introduced “Iceberg principle” to the area of literature, and created his unique writing style.Hemingway had twice explained the “iceberg principle” as his writing method. The first is in his work Death in the afternoon which is published in 1932, he said : "If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he dose not know them only makes hollow places in his writing”(海明威，193) The second time came when he was interviewed by journalist George Plimpton in1958“I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg.There is seven - eighths of it under water for every part that shows.Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengths your iceberg1It is the part that doesn’t show.”( 董衡巽，120) 1.2 Brief introduction of The Sun Also Rises
In The Sun Also Rises, the famous contemporary American writer Ernest Miller Hemingway tells a stroy about a group of “lost” America young intellectuals in a profound way. After the the First World War, they led a hopeless life in a disordered and deserted world. They have ever witnessed their young friends died in the war. And for those who suffered, some have been injured to disabled and others who kept healthy had spiritual wounds than cannot be healed. The war had knocked down their formal moral sense and ideal life goal. They have spiritual emptiness and felt hopeless. Nothing can make them get rid of their spiritual pains and heart wounds. They believed nothing but only their own feelings. They represented the generation after the first world war.（高树卿，39）Hemingway used the words of a woman America writer Gertrude Stein as the inscription on the cover page “ You are all a lost generation.”
Everyone who has read the novel The Sun Also Rises will be impressed by its unique style. It is brief and fresh. Hemingway’s objective is to tell the story as brief as possible, so he tried to use direct description, distinct dialogue, short sentences and exact words to let the readers learn about the events, behavior and language in a direct way. While the thoughts and emotions that the writer wanted to express are hidden behind it. It is in accordance with Hemingway’s “Iceberg Principle”. In The Sun Also Rises, the story is told in a brief way, which is the 1/8 of Hemingway’s iceberg, and the other 7/8 should be discovered by the readers upon their reading. The paper takes the 17th chapter as an example, to analysis the application of Iceberg Principle and the emotions and thoughts in deeper level.
2.The application of Iceberg principle in the 17th chapter
After careful reading, we can find that the iceberg principle is precisely applied on The Sun Also Rises. It is applied to almost every aspect, from the theme, to the storyline and also the characterization. In The Sun Also Rises, the 1/8 is the sequence of actions and facts which form the emotions. While the 7/8 is the emotional sufferings, the control of emotions, the grace under pressures and the meaning of life. The 17th chapter is the climax of the novel and also a good example of the application of Iceberg principle.
2.1 The other 7/8 of the storyline
2.1.1 The added description of Cohn and Brett’s secret date In the 17th chapter, after Cohn’s fight with Jake, Cohn tries to apologize to Jake and said “...I just couldn’t stand it. We lived together at San Sebastian. I suppose you know it....” In the novel, there’s little evidence about why Cohn has conflicts with other people, that is the secret date between Cohn and Brett in San Sebastian. （刘炜，30）This is a key event in the stroy, because it is this event that set the relationship among all the figures: Jake and Cohn becomes competitor in secret, Cohn and Mike are rival in love; Cohn fights with Romero for Brett. However, the writer doesn’t write much about this key event , only mentioned it in a brief sentence for 3 times in the 17th, 10th and 9th chapter. The added description of this key event by other figures should be the 1/8 of the iceberg while the relationship among the figures and their emotions are the other 7/8.
2.1.2 The side description of the fight scenes between Cohn and Romero
The fight between Cohn and Romero is the climax of the novel, and it is happened in Romero’s room. At that time, Jake has been knocked down by Cohn and know nothing about it. He was told about what happened by Mike the next morning. Mike is also not the witness, and he heard about it from Brett. In this way, the writer avoid the positive description of the climax, but the readers can reconstruct the fight scene by the few words of other people. Hemingway believes in readers’ imagination and experience, so he leave the other 7/8 to the readers to imagine, which is much more attractive.
2.2 The other 7/8 of the characterization
2.2.1 The omission of Jake’s psychological description
Jake is one of the main figure in the story, and also the story teller. Therefore, his observation, thoughts and emotions are all parts of the story. For the readers, we can see one after another life scene on the streets of Paris, the natural scene of the border of Spain. We can experience the satisfaction of fishing in the forests, the busy St. Fleming's day in Pamplona and the exciting moments of bullfight. We can also understand the hopeless love affair between Jake and Brett. However, it is difficult for us to tell what kind of emotion Jake has toward Brett till the end of the novel, and it is also difficult to tell what kind of attitude Jake has in the series of events.（陈汤龙，155）It is because the writer never show Jake’s inner world and actually the writer never say anything about his psychology even in the key events, leaving endless room for the readers to think. Moreover, the writer put relative more emphasis on his sensory perception but not his emotional experience, which is difficult for us to learn about Jake’s thought, especially his emotion and attitude toward Brett. In the 17th chapter, there is a description of Jake when he was knocked down by Cohn and was in a state of dazed and frightened. “...It was all different. I felt as I felt once coming home from an out-of town football game. I was carrying a suitcase with my football things in it, and I walked up the street from the station in the town I had lived in all my life and it was all new...” Here, Hemingway describes Jake’s physiological feelings but also omit his emotional experience. In another way, the physiological feelings is the 1/8, an the other 7/8 need readers’ discovery. We can find that Jake is not willing to leave Brett to Romero, and his motion is complex. On the one hand, he felt guilty for he cannot give Brett complete love though he loves her; On the other hand, this is a revenge to Cohn. Therefore, although it is against his moral codes, he did so just as what Cohn called him “pimp”. The omission of psychological description is also an application of “Iceberg Principle”.
2.2.2 Different characterization of the “lost generation”
All the figures in the novel are immigrants from America or Britain who rove in Europe, moving from one hotel to another. It seems that their life are filled with colorful activities like parties, fishing, watching bullfight and traveling. However, we can soon find the desperation behind it. The 17th chapter is the climax of the novel, including the fight between Cohn and Jake, and also Cohn and Romero. The writer just describe it in a brief way, but we can find the different characterization of the 3 people in the deeper sense.
Jake-----grace under pressure
In this chapter, after Jake was knocked down by Cohn who was crazy about Brett, he still try to comfort Cohn and gives him understanding and compassion, suffering from the pain in his body. From this 1/8 of the iceberg, we can see that for Jake, he doesn’t care about the chaos of the world, he just wants to know how to live in it. He believes that he can find the meaning of life if only he can live. Jake learned to control himself, and not give vent to others and let others to pay for his pain, like Mike, Brett or Cohn. (陈世丹,孟兆富,36)He shows us what is “grace under pressure”.
Cohn——the loser
Although in this chapter, Cohn has hit Jake and Romero with his skill as a boxing champion. He made Jake feel dizzy and Romero sat down on the floor. But in the eyes of Breet, Jake and Romero, he is a total loser and a love slaver. He is not knocked down by fate but that he himself is a poor guy who can be very easy to be defeated. On this point, we can see the application of “Iceberg Principle”. Although Cohn seems to gain the upper hand in both the fights with Jake and Romero, after careful thinking we can understand that Cohn is a total loser spiritually. Romero——cannot be defeated
In the 17th chapter, there is description about the fight between Cohn and Romero,”...He didn’t say much, but he kept getting up and getting knocked down again...”“...He’d been knocked down about fifteen times, and he wanted to fight more...He was weak, but Brett couldn’t hold him, and he got up.” Romero is a matador , and Cohn is a boxer. Although the boxer has knocked down the matador for several times, the matador stand up all the time. Hemingway uses the fight between them to show the spirit that “cannot be defeated” of Romero.
3. Conclusion
From the above, we can conclude that in the 17th chapter of The Sun Also Rises, the “Iceberg principle”is applied to several aspect, both the storyline and the characterization of the figures. We should not only see the 1/8 above the water, but also try to discover the other7/8 underwater, that is try to understand the thoughts and emotions behind the words.
References：
[1]陈世丹 孟兆富：“《太阳照样升起》中的冰山风格”，《辽宁师范大学学报》第一期（1994年）：34-36
[2]刘炜：“《太阳照样升起》中的省略—“冰山”原理的叙事学阐释”，《文学语言学研究》（2008年）：29-31
[3]高树卿：“从《太阳照常升起》看海明威创作的冰山风格”，《大同职业技术学院学报》第20卷第3期（2006年）：39-40
[4]陈汤龙：“浅谈《太阳照样升起》中的冰山原则与象征手法”，《科技信息》（2010年）：155
[5]海明威：《死在午后》.上海：上海译文出版社, 1999年
[6]董衡巽：《海明威评传》.浙江：浙江文艺出版社, 1999年
【Keywords】Iceberg Principle The Sun Also Rises Hemingway the other 7/8
The Sun Also Rises is the master work of Ernest Miller Hemingway, and also a quite classic novel in history. “Iceberg Principle” is also first applied to the area of literature by Hemingway, and he always try to write on this principle.This paper take the example of the 17th chapter in this novel to analyze the other 7/8 behind the words. There are 3 chapter in this paper. The first chapter is a literature review about “Iceberg Principle” and also The Sun Also Rises. The second chapter is also the main chapter, studying the application of “Iceberg Principle” from the perspective of storyline and characterization. The third chapter is a summary of the paper.
1.Literature review
1.1 Iceberg Principle
Iceberg Principle is first pur forward by the psychologist Sigmund Freud. He take the subconsciousness as iceberg, the 10% on the water surface is consciousness while the 90% under water are fore-consciousness and subconsciousness. Ernest Miller Hemingway introduced “Iceberg principle” to the area of literature, and created his unique writing style.Hemingway had twice explained the “iceberg principle” as his writing method. The first is in his work Death in the afternoon which is published in 1932, he said : "If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he dose not know them only makes hollow places in his writing”(海明威，193) The second time came when he was interviewed by journalist George Plimpton in1958“I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg.There is seven - eighths of it under water for every part that shows.Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengths your iceberg1It is the part that doesn’t show.”( 董衡巽，120) 1.2 Brief introduction of The Sun Also Rises
In The Sun Also Rises, the famous contemporary American writer Ernest Miller Hemingway tells a stroy about a group of “lost” America young intellectuals in a profound way. After the the First World War, they led a hopeless life in a disordered and deserted world. They have ever witnessed their young friends died in the war. And for those who suffered, some have been injured to disabled and others who kept healthy had spiritual wounds than cannot be healed. The war had knocked down their formal moral sense and ideal life goal. They have spiritual emptiness and felt hopeless. Nothing can make them get rid of their spiritual pains and heart wounds. They believed nothing but only their own feelings. They represented the generation after the first world war.（高树卿，39）Hemingway used the words of a woman America writer Gertrude Stein as the inscription on the cover page “ You are all a lost generation.”
Everyone who has read the novel The Sun Also Rises will be impressed by its unique style. It is brief and fresh. Hemingway’s objective is to tell the story as brief as possible, so he tried to use direct description, distinct dialogue, short sentences and exact words to let the readers learn about the events, behavior and language in a direct way. While the thoughts and emotions that the writer wanted to express are hidden behind it. It is in accordance with Hemingway’s “Iceberg Principle”. In The Sun Also Rises, the story is told in a brief way, which is the 1/8 of Hemingway’s iceberg, and the other 7/8 should be discovered by the readers upon their reading. The paper takes the 17th chapter as an example, to analysis the application of Iceberg Principle and the emotions and thoughts in deeper level.
2.The application of Iceberg principle in the 17th chapter
After careful reading, we can find that the iceberg principle is precisely applied on The Sun Also Rises. It is applied to almost every aspect, from the theme, to the storyline and also the characterization. In The Sun Also Rises, the 1/8 is the sequence of actions and facts which form the emotions. While the 7/8 is the emotional sufferings, the control of emotions, the grace under pressures and the meaning of life. The 17th chapter is the climax of the novel and also a good example of the application of Iceberg principle.
2.1 The other 7/8 of the storyline
2.1.1 The added description of Cohn and Brett’s secret date In the 17th chapter, after Cohn’s fight with Jake, Cohn tries to apologize to Jake and said “...I just couldn’t stand it. We lived together at San Sebastian. I suppose you know it....” In the novel, there’s little evidence about why Cohn has conflicts with other people, that is the secret date between Cohn and Brett in San Sebastian. （刘炜，30）This is a key event in the stroy, because it is this event that set the relationship among all the figures: Jake and Cohn becomes competitor in secret, Cohn and Mike are rival in love; Cohn fights with Romero for Brett. However, the writer doesn’t write much about this key event , only mentioned it in a brief sentence for 3 times in the 17th, 10th and 9th chapter. The added description of this key event by other figures should be the 1/8 of the iceberg while the relationship among the figures and their emotions are the other 7/8.
2.1.2 The side description of the fight scenes between Cohn and Romero
The fight between Cohn and Romero is the climax of the novel, and it is happened in Romero’s room. At that time, Jake has been knocked down by Cohn and know nothing about it. He was told about what happened by Mike the next morning. Mike is also not the witness, and he heard about it from Brett. In this way, the writer avoid the positive description of the climax, but the readers can reconstruct the fight scene by the few words of other people. Hemingway believes in readers’ imagination and experience, so he leave the other 7/8 to the readers to imagine, which is much more attractive.
2.2 The other 7/8 of the characterization
2.2.1 The omission of Jake’s psychological description
Jake is one of the main figure in the story, and also the story teller. Therefore, his observation, thoughts and emotions are all parts of the story. For the readers, we can see one after another life scene on the streets of Paris, the natural scene of the border of Spain. We can experience the satisfaction of fishing in the forests, the busy St. Fleming's day in Pamplona and the exciting moments of bullfight. We can also understand the hopeless love affair between Jake and Brett. However, it is difficult for us to tell what kind of emotion Jake has toward Brett till the end of the novel, and it is also difficult to tell what kind of attitude Jake has in the series of events.（陈汤龙，155）It is because the writer never show Jake’s inner world and actually the writer never say anything about his psychology even in the key events, leaving endless room for the readers to think. Moreover, the writer put relative more emphasis on his sensory perception but not his emotional experience, which is difficult for us to learn about Jake’s thought, especially his emotion and attitude toward Brett. In the 17th chapter, there is a description of Jake when he was knocked down by Cohn and was in a state of dazed and frightened. “...It was all different. I felt as I felt once coming home from an out-of town football game. I was carrying a suitcase with my football things in it, and I walked up the street from the station in the town I had lived in all my life and it was all new...” Here, Hemingway describes Jake’s physiological feelings but also omit his emotional experience. In another way, the physiological feelings is the 1/8, an the other 7/8 need readers’ discovery. We can find that Jake is not willing to leave Brett to Romero, and his motion is complex. On the one hand, he felt guilty for he cannot give Brett complete love though he loves her; On the other hand, this is a revenge to Cohn. Therefore, although it is against his moral codes, he did so just as what Cohn called him “pimp”. The omission of psychological description is also an application of “Iceberg Principle”.
2.2.2 Different characterization of the “lost generation”
All the figures in the novel are immigrants from America or Britain who rove in Europe, moving from one hotel to another. It seems that their life are filled with colorful activities like parties, fishing, watching bullfight and traveling. However, we can soon find the desperation behind it. The 17th chapter is the climax of the novel, including the fight between Cohn and Jake, and also Cohn and Romero. The writer just describe it in a brief way, but we can find the different characterization of the 3 people in the deeper sense.
Jake-----grace under pressure
In this chapter, after Jake was knocked down by Cohn who was crazy about Brett, he still try to comfort Cohn and gives him understanding and compassion, suffering from the pain in his body. From this 1/8 of the iceberg, we can see that for Jake, he doesn’t care about the chaos of the world, he just wants to know how to live in it. He believes that he can find the meaning of life if only he can live. Jake learned to control himself, and not give vent to others and let others to pay for his pain, like Mike, Brett or Cohn. (陈世丹,孟兆富,36)He shows us what is “grace under pressure”.
Cohn——the loser
Although in this chapter, Cohn has hit Jake and Romero with his skill as a boxing champion. He made Jake feel dizzy and Romero sat down on the floor. But in the eyes of Breet, Jake and Romero, he is a total loser and a love slaver. He is not knocked down by fate but that he himself is a poor guy who can be very easy to be defeated. On this point, we can see the application of “Iceberg Principle”. Although Cohn seems to gain the upper hand in both the fights with Jake and Romero, after careful thinking we can understand that Cohn is a total loser spiritually. Romero——cannot be defeated
In the 17th chapter, there is description about the fight between Cohn and Romero,”...He didn’t say much, but he kept getting up and getting knocked down again...”“...He’d been knocked down about fifteen times, and he wanted to fight more...He was weak, but Brett couldn’t hold him, and he got up.” Romero is a matador , and Cohn is a boxer. Although the boxer has knocked down the matador for several times, the matador stand up all the time. Hemingway uses the fight between them to show the spirit that “cannot be defeated” of Romero.
3. Conclusion
From the above, we can conclude that in the 17th chapter of The Sun Also Rises, the “Iceberg principle”is applied to several aspect, both the storyline and the characterization of the figures. We should not only see the 1/8 above the water, but also try to discover the other7/8 underwater, that is try to understand the thoughts and emotions behind the words.
References：
[1]陈世丹 孟兆富：“《太阳照样升起》中的冰山风格”，《辽宁师范大学学报》第一期（1994年）：34-36
[2]刘炜：“《太阳照样升起》中的省略—“冰山”原理的叙事学阐释”，《文学语言学研究》（2008年）：29-31
[3]高树卿：“从《太阳照常升起》看海明威创作的冰山风格”，《大同职业技术学院学报》第20卷第3期（2006年）：39-40
[4]陈汤龙：“浅谈《太阳照样升起》中的冰山原则与象征手法”，《科技信息》（2010年）：155
[5]海明威：《死在午后》.上海：上海译文出版社, 1999年
[6]董衡巽：《海明威评传》.浙江：浙江文艺出版社, 1999年