Examples of implication in writing?

If you have never watched the film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? I encourage you to do so (and not just because it's in my sig line).

There is a scene where Holly Hunter (her character is Penny) and George Clooney are talking; they're divorced. She's essentially telling him that when he was sent to prison, she had to fend for herself with their (6? 8? Can't recall, but there were a lot of them) children. Hence she defends her decision to remarry a man who's plain and boring whereas Clooney's character is neither.

The detail that really brings it is when you look at her hat. This is the 1930s and people wore hats a lot more than they do now. She's wearing a cloche hat which is clearly left over from the '20s. And the straw brim is unraveling.

Her hat brings her financial circumstances home, and it's very subtle. Blink and you'll miss it.

2 other film versions of implication.

The film Office Space is set dressed perfectly. Peter's furniture all screams that Ikea is too rich for his blood. Michael's clothes are cheap. The cubicles are drab gray. The buildings and the industrial park are cookie cutter. Every bit pushes the viewer to realize just how soul-killing Innotech is.

Jennifer Aniston's character (Joanna) works at a casual restaurant that's basically the equivalent of TGI Friday's. Her boss gets on her case for not wearing enough "flare", which is corporate-sanctioned buttons and other decorations meant to make the patrons feel like the waitstaff are expressing themselves. But it's anything but that, because everything is vetted by HQ and run through focus groups so no one wears a button to express support for gay rights or comment on nihilism or anything like that. She quits over it, so the viewer sees how stifling her job is, too.

And for even more of a comedy, there's Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Jokes from one scene spill over into another one, and it's often subtle. For example, when they're talking about burning Carol Cleveland's character as a witch, there's someone with a bird with two coconuts on a string attached to the bird's feet, pushing the bird to fly. This directly echoes the opening scene, where the knights aren't riding horses. They're pretending to, with serfs behind them tapping coconut shells together.

This in-joke continuity holds the film together (which is otherwise mainly a series of vignettes) and cues the viewer in that the logic in the film's universe—such as it is—has an internal consistency. That the discussions, no matter how ludicrous, make sense to the characters.

Finally, examples from written prose. The book is The Great Gatsby. It's a short, easy read if you've never read it. The book is chockful of symbolism, from the lights to Daisy's voice to a billboard. I realize you're talking about implication, but it seems to relate to symbolism as well.

Penny's hat tells us she's been desperately poor. Joanna's feelings about the flair tells us she knows it's all fake. Peter's furniture tells us that he looks middle class but is probably barely above the lower economic class, that his tie, etc. are him kidding himself about his prospects in life. Daisy's voice being "full of money" tells us that Gatsby sees her not just as his lost love but also as his ticket to respectability.

I dislike it when literature is over analyzed in search of meaning.

I remember years ago in a community college lit class the teacher asked what the significance of the main character’s arms were while sleeping. His arms were raised above his head. Teacher said it showed immaturity, like how a baby would sleep.

Coming from experience in a home of drunks, I mentioned that I thought it simply meant that he probably passed out.

Thank you Jespah very well-articulated and insightful