Gender Roles In Ernest Hemingway's Up In Michigan

Gender Roles in Hemingway’s Up in Michigan

Ernest Hemingway was an American 20th century writer, renowned for his simplistic writing style and seemingly macho ideals (Hemingway, 2012, 430) (Putnam, 2006, para.2) (Ziff, 1978, 417). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 because of his ‘mastery of the art of narrative’ and influence ‘on contemporary style’ as demonstrated in one of his later works, the short novel The Old Man and the Sea which also won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize (Bracker, 1953, para.1) (Nobel Media AB, 2016b, para.1). One of Hemingway’s earlier short stories, Up in Michigan, was published in 1923, signifying the beginning of his career as a short story writer and subsequent development of his writing style (Fenstermaker,

The short story is written in past tense which is easier for readers to understand than present or future tense. This readability means that the reader is not as distracted, and the events and characterisation that occur in the story are more noticeable. Liz acts as the narrator for most of the story through a third person limited point of view. However, the first and fourth paragraphs provide an objective account of both the town and characters’ history and physical description, by making statements like ‘Jim Gilmore came to Hortons Bay from Canada’, while the second paragraph and beginning of page 77 provides a more subjective yet limited insight into Jim’s perspective through comments like ‘Jim … liked her [Liz’s] face because it was so jolly but he never thought about her’ and ‘Jim began to feel great’ (Hemingway, 2005, 74, 77). This shift in narrative perspectives highlights the differing views of Jim and Liz as the initial objective statements simply provide descriptions of the characters and promotes Jim’s active role in the story as he ‘came’ from Canada, and he ‘bought’ his blacksmith shop (74). Ziff argues that Hemingway ‘communicate[s] a feeling of receptivity rather than activity on the part of the narrator’ (1978, 418). This feeling of receptivity is evident on Liz’s part, as she was too afraid to cook or talk to Jim, instead settling for seeing ‘him as he went out’ (Hemingway, 2005, 75, 77). Her receptivity is emphasised further during her sexual interaction with Jim, as while he actively touches her, Liz ‘held herself stiff’ (Hemingway, 2005, 77). Additionally, her actions in kissing Jim are limited, rather ‘Jim kissed her’, and Liz merely receives this kiss (Hemingway, 2005, 77). Liz’s reception of Jim’s advances emphasise her vulnerability and passivity, characteristics of