The Iceberg Theory (also known as the "theory of omission") is the writing style of American writer Ernest Hemingway. As a young journalist, Hemingway had to focus his newspaper reports on immediate events, with very little context or interpretation. When he became a writer of short stories, he retained this minimalistic style, focusing on surface elements without explicitly discussing underlying themes. Hemingway believed the deeper meaning of a story should not be evident on the surface, but should shine through implicitly. Critics such as Jackson Benson claim that the iceberg theory, along with Hemingway's distinctive clarity of style, functioned to distance himself from the characters he created.