Fiction in the early twentieth century (when U.S. journalist-novelists were beginning to distinguish their work in fiction and journalism as qualitatively different) was characterized by a style of purity and simplicity, achieving these effects through omission and indirection. Because of these attributes and their effect, this style has been called behaviorist and objective; although we associate these characteristics with objective journalism, they are not features of Hemingway's journalism, in the early twenties or later.

When Hemingway used journalistic material in works published as fiction, he omitted signs of its writing and much of its context and explanation. As in revising the refugee chapter from Asia Minor, he removed extraneous characters and narrowed the temporal focus to a single period. Instead of reporting the consequences of events or explaining them, he presented scenes dramatically, often concentrating on a few details that then had to bear the weight of meaning, much as an objective correlative does. In one example after another, we see him transforming news stories into fictional vignettes by simplifying, omitting details, and making formal patterns out of chaotic or random events.