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Masculinity in the work of Hemingway
Ernest hemingway and masculinity
Masculinity in the work of Hemingway
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Ernest Hemingway, an American Novelist writes in ways which “uses a plain, forceful prose style characterized by simple sentences and few adjectives or adverbs. He writes crisp, accurate dialogue and exact descriptions of places and things” (Kramer), to reflect his thoughts and life lessons. Hemingway apart of what is considered the “lost generation” writes a vast amount on the society that exists during the time of the World Wars and how they (the lost generation) struggle in adjusting to the changes of society after the wars. Through this and his personal experiences, Hemingway reveals his own thoughts on women. After reading Hemingway’s short stories, “Hills like White Elephants”, “Cat in the Room”, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, and his Novel, “A Farewell to Arms”, It is clear that Hemingway combines his ability to tell a story, and the ironic situations which occur between a man and a woman to prove that men sacrifice their future personal growth because of the manipulation and critique involved with love.
Looking at Ernest Hemingway’s life we can see that he was affected emotionally by his relationships as a young man. Hemingway goes through history in various relationships, which all contain problems and continue to not satisfy his desires or needs. This leaves him constantly searching for the ‘right woman.’ As Hemingway gets older in life he writes negativity towards his relationships in and outside of marriage.
Hemingway went through four wives and his experiences with them all are reflected in his writing. Hemingway doesn’t only speak of his personal relationships regarding his feelings of women, but also regards his relationship with his parents. In “The Hemingway Women,” written by Bernice ...
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...es). However, if the emotional feeling of love is destroyed because it is claimed not real or because reality catches up, a man then sacrifices his emotional growth. His emotional growth is put on pause by hidding behind sexual desires and encounters. I will claim that not all situations involving love resemble this philosophy; But this Hemingway philosophy can be seen best in the Novel, “A Farewell to Arms.”
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner Classics, 1997. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. Selected Letters 1917-1961. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York: Scribner,1981. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Short Stories: The First Forty-Nine (1921-1938). New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. Print.
Kert, Bernice. The Hemingway Women. New York: Norton and Company, 1999. Print.
Kramer, Victor A. "Ernest Hemingway." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
In Ernest Hemingway's short stories "Indian Camp" and "Soldier's Home," young women are treated as objects whose purpose is either reproduction or pleasure. They do not and cannot participate to a significant degree in the masculine sphere of experience, and when they have served their purpose, they are set aside. They do not have a voice in the narrative, and they represent complications in life that must be overcome in one way or another. While this portrayal of young women is hardly unique to Hemingway, the author uses it as a device to probe the male psyche more deeply.
Hemingway can be seen as a women's man, he was attracted to women, and marriage did not prevent him from having affairs. Whatever his life was, one of the main themes in his writing remained his determination to understand the difference between the two genders. This difference always mattered in his texts, as we will see in this short story, written by Hemingway, “Up In Michigan”. In this story, Hemingway tries to tell the story in the way he thinks a woman would see and live it, during the story, he will alternate the two point of views, the man’s (Jim), and the woman’s (Liz), and he will end the story on Liz’s view.
Hemingway deals with the effects of war on the male desire for women in many of his novels and short stories, notably in his novel, The Sun Also Rises. In this novel, the main character Jake, is impotent because of an injury received in World War I. Jakes situation is reminiscent of our main character Krebs. Both characters have been damaged by World War I; the only difference is Jake’s issue is physical, while Krebs issue is mental. Krebs inwardly cannot handle female companionship. Although Krebs still enjoys watching girls from his porch and he “vaguely wanted a girl but did not want to have to work to get her” (167). Krebs found courting “not worth it” (168). The girls symbolize what World War I stripped from our main character, a desire that is natural for men, the desire for women.
One observation that can be made on Hemingway’s narrative technique as shown in his short stories is his clipped, spare style, which aims to produce a sense of objectivity through highly selected details. Hemingway refuses to romanticize his characters. Being “tough” people, such as boxers, bullfighters, gangsters, and soldiers, they are depicted as leading a life more or less without thought. The world is full of s...
He also challenged the typical gender roles by creating a relationship between the two that was quite a close friendship but entirely platonic and void of physical action. One could see the irony in Jake’s inspiring manly men with his male dominant agenda because if one were to take a step back and focus in on the real Jake they would notice how vulnerable and emotion driven he truly was. They would see a man who did not portray the gender role assigned to him by society. Then if one were to look at Brett they would not see a woman who decided to conform to the norms of society, either. Instead they would see a woman who knew what she wanted, took what she wanted, and didn’t care what others thought of her. When Hemingway creates these two characters he creates entirely new archetypes that will be used in works of literature from there on out. Archetypes where the male definition can indeed include vulnerability, although, it does not release the male characters from their most stereotypical gender roles as protector and provider. In other words, Hemingway redefines manhood to include more feminine attributes, but he does not release men from the chains of their past roles so that in essence the new man has even more expectations set upon him. The archetype that he creates is not only responsible for
...on, he posed no great threat to the group and was more a victim of racism than of unrequited love. If his interest in Lady Brett amounted to anything, it was as a target for the jaded sentiments of his "fellow" bon vivants; someone should have clued Cohn in and told him he'd be better off staying in Paris. I suppose these sordid affairs only prove Hemingway's feelings, as expressed by Bill in the novel: "You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend your time talking, not working." (120) Maybe Robert Cohn, a victim of this ruination, will know better than to waste his time with these dark-hearted dilettantes who hold costly ideas of enjoyment.
In The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume II. Edited by Paul Lauter et al. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1991: 1208-1209. Hemingway, Ernest. A.
Through this brief anecdote, Hemingway presents the readers the social dilemma of male domination over his counterpart. The women's fight for equality changed some "old traditions" but there are still many Jigs in our society that shouldn't be treated as inferiors. Women are the most beautiful beings in life, but they are not to be possessed ,but loved and admired.
Hemingway has created a situation where she is forced to depend on him because she is a young, immature, girl in an adult situation. It is when the American tells jig that “we will be fine afterward. Just like we were before, it is the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy” that she realizes nothing will ever be the same no matter what he says. During one discussion she says “we could have everything” the man agrees, then she says “no we can’t it isn’t ours anymore and once they take it away, you can never get it back.” He says “But they haven’t taken it away” and her response is “we’ll wait and see.” The American doesn’t realize that at this point she has discovered that if he cannot love her and be happy while she is pregnant how he will ever truly love her as much as she loves him. According to Robert Barron many critics believe that the couple’s relationship has a bleak and ultimately poor ending (Barron). The older waiter in “A clean, Well-Lighted Place” is dealing with a similar situation when a wealthy old man who is a regular at the café he works at comes in after a failed suicide
To begin Hemingway’s two photographs show an evolution of the young character who as time passes is withdrawing from humanity, in light of this; he becomes lonely and unable to reconnect with individuals. In fact the transformation from a member of social organization who attends a
The novel, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway is an example of how an entire generation redefined gender roles after being affected by the war. The Lost Generation of the 1920’s underwent a great significance of change that not only affected their behaviors and appearances but also how they perceived gender identity. Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes are two of the many characters in the novel that experience shattered gender roles because of the post war era. The characters in the novel live a lifestyle in which drugs and alcohol are used to shadow emotions and ideals of romanticism. Brett’s lack of emotional connection to her various lovers oppose Jake’s true love for her which reveals role reversal in gender and the redefinition of masculinity and femininity. The man is usually the one that is more emotionally detached but in this case Lady Brett Ashley has a masculine quality where as Jake has a feminine quality. Both men and female characters in the novel do not necessarily fit their gender roles in society due to the post war time period and their constant partying and drinking. By analyzing Brett, Jake, and the affects the war had on gender the reader obtains a more axiomatic understanding of how gender functions in the story by examining gender role reversal and homosexuality.
The Cambridge Companion to Ernest Hemingway; edited by Scott Donaldson; Cambridge U. P.; New York, NY; 1996
Tyler, Lisa. "Dangerous Families and "Intimate Harm" in Hemingways "Indian Camp"" Texas Studies in Literature and Language 48.1 (2006): 37-53.
...d his lost love, he produced the character Krebs who was troubled by female companionship. Krebs wanted a woman but was not willing to work for one. Krebs considered relationships too complicated and painful. Hemingway learned this from previous relationships especially the relationship between Hemingway and Kurowsky. Krebs who lived with his parents after the war continued to do nothing around the house. Tensions grew between him and his parents and Krebs was eventually driven out.
Through the characters' dialogue, Hemingway explores the emptiness generated by pleasure-seeking actions. Throughout the beginning of the story, Hemingway describes the trivial topics that the two characters discuss. The debate about the life-changing issue of the woman's ...