Women in Life and Literature

There is also a striking difference in the amount of work written by women and men being actively used. Work written by women is used less in textbooks in general. Males write a majority of textbooks used today in classrooms. Although there are just as many female historians and professors, women don’t often receive the respect given to men.

If one were to compare male roles in literature to female roles, one would find most often men are complex characters, while women are static. Women often fall into the trap of playing the same roles in every novel. They rarely change throughout the unfolding of the novel, unless a male character brings on the change. Women usually on change or “find their true selves” unless the action is enforced by a man in the novel. Usually the women serve as plot developers in novels. They support the male characters, often as love interest for the male or simple roles that serve little purpose. These characters only last a few pages or a chapter at least. If the love interest is in more than one page she is barely mentioned or ends up being the secret antagonist. The most common unspoken role of a female is to further along male plot lines.

A prime example of basic women’s roles in literature is works written by Ernest Hemingway. Not only have a majority of novels by Hemingway follow the stereotypical female roles, he has also written women in a new light with the novel “The Sun Also Rises”. His view on women is often questioned based on his comments and written actions against women in novels. Hemingway has been called many things one being a masochist. It is said that Hemingway had masochistic sexual tendencies and that those “tendencies” are expressed in many of his male characters. (Hatten, “Ernes...

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...at he thinks she would like. It appears that Frederic has control of Catherine by the way Catherine expresses he supposed feelings for Frederic by repeatedly telling him she only exists when he is around, she is only happy when he is there. It is clear by the end of the novel that it has been Catherine leading their lives together and it is from Catherine’s death that Frederic takes responsibility and finally comes into himself (Recla, "The Development of Hemingway's Female characters: Catherine from A Farewell to Arms to The Garden of Eden.” Pg.11)

In “Hemingway’s “A Soldiers Home” The man in the book, the soldier, views women as objects that are distractions. When he returns from the war he lacks the desire for a woman and her affection. He finds a women’s affection false and not comforting, but instead a reminder of the loss of his life and innocence in the war.