Ernest Hemingway did not want the meaning of his texts to be obvious on the surface, rather it to shine through implicitly. He describes this style of writing as the iceberg theory:"I always try to write on the principal 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 strengthens your iceberg... It is the part that doesn't show."
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald also employed the iceberg theory. In the end of the novel, when Nick, Jordan and Tom drive through the valley of ashes the reader is presented many examples of the theory. First, when Tom sees it is a car crash outside of Wilson´s auto repair shop, he says:”That´s good. Wilson´ll have a little business…show more content… Under the surface, he is probably happy for this business boom because it will make Wilson capable of staying in New York and not move as planned, which means that Tom´s mistress Myrtle will also stay. Firstly, Tom is excited by the accident, but when he sees Myrtle´s body wrapped up in a blanket Tom “was bending over it, motionless.” On the surface, one could believe he is only shocked by seeing a dead body. However, under the surface we know that he has strong affections for Myrtle, he is standing motionless because he is sad but still cannot show his emotions because of the inappropriate relationship. When the negro tells the police “It was a yellow car” that ran over Myrtle. The meaning on the surface is that a car that is the color yellow ran over Myrtle. However, under the surface, with our previous interpretations we know that this car is Jay Gatsby´s, which makes Tom, who is also standing next to the Police, believe that Jay Gatsby was the one who killed Myrtle. Wilson had overheard the conversation, saying:”You don´t have to tell me what kind of car it was! I know what kind of car it was!” Obviously, on the surface we know that Wilson has seen the car before and knows who the owner is. Under the surface, we can recall that Wilson saw Tom driving Jay
