Ernest Hemingway is perhaps one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. Known for his “spare and tight journalistic type of prose,” Hemingway gives his readers uncomplicated views into the complex lives of his characters. In his works, Hemingway deals with many issues. However one of the most prevalent is gender and the male-female relationship. In many of his early works, Hemingway explores the complexities of male identity and how women interfere in its formation.
Hemingway once said “If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them” (Reuben). Hemingway knew first hand of the difficulties his male characters had with the women in their lives. In his personal life, as well as the lives of many of his male characters, Hemingway dealt with his inability to effectively communicate with women.
In his novel The Sun Also Rises (1926) and his short story collections In Our Time (1925) and Men Without Women (1927), Hemingway portrays women as destructive creatures, who whether intentionally or inadvertently, create problematic situations for the men in their lives, leaving them to question their own identity.
Although many perceive his characterizations to be based in malice towards the opposite sex, Hemingway’s female characters are manifestations of his inability to find and maintain a balance between being a man and having strong women in his life.
Throughout his life, Hemingway had, at best, a difficult relationship with his mother. Grace Hall Hemingway and her husband Clarence “Ed” Hemingway had very different ideas about how to raise their children, especially their sons. An extremely independent and assertive woman, Grace sought to teach Ernest about the joys of music, her chosen career. In contrast, Ed wanted to promote his son’s interest in hunting and fishing (Gladstein 54).
Hemingway resented his mother’s incessant conflicting views to those of his father. Grace’s domineering personality often assured that she got her way is disagreements with her husband. Grace also disagreed with Ernest, in his early years. On one occasion, she reprimanded him in a letter for being indolent, stating that: “the world needed men-real men with both moral and physical brawn and muscle” (Gladstein 55).
It has been documented that Hemingway often referred to his mother as “that bitch” and at least on one occasion as the “all-time, all-American bitch” (Gladstein 55). He never forgave his mother for her comments and begrudged her for the remainder of his life. He was never able to accept his mother for who she was probably because they were essential so much alike. However, Hemingway was unable to see this.
He believed that his mother purposely sought to reverse traditional gender roles and resented her for it: “The qualities that he thought admirable in a man-ambition, an independent point of view, defiance of his supremacy-became threatening in a woman” (Kert 152). Hemingway believed that his mother never allowed his father to be the man that he needed to be. However Hemingway never discussed his problems with his mother and often ignored her attempts to communicate with him. His own inability to effectively communicate with his mother and his father’s inability to stand up to his mother left an indelible mark Hemingway’s life. He dealt with his problems the only way he knew how, through his literature.
Hemingway’s feelings for his mother, father and their relationship heavily influenced his short story “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife.” The story appears in the book In Our Time, a collection of short stories that follow the life of Hemingway hero, Nick Adams. After returning home from an altercation with some Indian workers, Nick’s father, Dr. Adams is questioned by his wife about work. When he tries to explain the happenings of the day he is met with Mrs. Adams seemingly patronizing remarks: “Remember, that he who ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city” (Hemingway 25). A devout Christian Scientist, Mrs. Adams is portrayed as a woman who perceives herself as a religious superior to her husband.
She even second guesses her husband by questioning whether the Indian’s intentions were harmful: “His wife was silent…Then he heard his wife’s voice from the darkened room. ‘Dear, I don’t think, I really don’t think that any one would really do a thing like that.’ ‘No?’ the doctor said. ‘No. I can’t really believe that any one would do a thing of that sort intentionally'” (Hemingway 26). Mrs. Adams does not support her husband in the way that a typical wife would. Instead she maintains her own opinions and views about the situation.
Later on in “Now I Lay Me,” Nick recounts another occasion of his mother’s disregard for his father and his feelings. Although the story appears in Hemingway’s second short story collection Men Without Women (1927), the story takes place while Nick is serving in the war. In the story Nick is unable to sleep and starts to reminisce about the details of his childhood. In the story he recounts the time that his mother burned some of his father’s belongings: “I remember how my mother was always cleaning things out and making good clearance… ‘I’ve been cleaning out the basement, dear,’ my mother said from the porch. She was standing there smiling, to meet him.
My father looked at the fire… ‘Get a rake, Nick,’ he said to me (Hemingway 148). Once again Mrs. Adams is able to do what she wants without consulting or even discussing it with her husband. Nick also states that their house was “designed and built by my mother” (Hemingway 147). This statement proves that Mrs. Adams had all of the power in her relationship because traditionally, the man of the house would be responsible for decisions of that magnitude. Like Grace Hemingway, Mrs. Adams does not allow society to dictate her role as a woman in her marriage; instead she does things her own way.
At the end of “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife,” Dr. Adams tells his son that his mother is looking for him. However, Nick states “I want to go with you” (Hemingway 27). Nick, unlike his father is able to reject his mother’s request. Throughout the collection there are never any confrontations between Nick and his mother directly. Instead we are given his reaction to his mother’s treatment of his father. Just as Hemingway himself never fully and openly communicated with his mother, Nick Adams never really interacts with his mother.
Instead we see Nick and his father retreat into the woods in search of squirrels. Several characters retreat into the woods and nature when they are trying to escape the rest of the world, especially the parts dominated by women. To Hemingway, the woods and fishing symbolized the only occasion were a man could be a man. To Hemingway, this was the only place where a man could truly assert his power: “Ernest’s lifelong assertion of masculine power grew out of his emotional need to exorcise the painful memory of his mother asserting her superiority over his father” (Kert 21). This retreat becomes a common mode of escape for the men in Hemingway’s work.
Like his literary counterpart, Hemingway spent time as a soldier and served in World War I. After being wounded in Italy, Hemingway met and fell in love with nurse, Agnes H. von Kurowsky. His first adult love, Agnes was over five years older than Hemingway. After he recuperated, Agnes encouraged Hemingway to return to the States. Hemingway proposed to Agnes; however she was unable to commit to the relationship, which was never consummated sexually. Her rejection and subsequent engagement to another man devastated Hemingway (Gladstein 56-7).
Later Hemingway began a serious flirtation with Lady Duff Twysden, a women who like himself was married. He introduced Duff t his then wife, Hadley and the two became friends. Duff often used this friendship as an excuse not to sleep with Hemingway. Despite her known escapades with several men, Duff and Hemingway never shared a sexual experience. In spite of this, like the many men around her, Hemingway was infatuated by Duff: “When she turned to him for help and drew him into her orbit, he was buoyed up.
When she solemnly told him that his sexual magnetism tested her self-control, he was all the more excited by her (Kert 161). For the second time in his life, Hemingway was unable to have the object of his affection, the woman of his dreams. To combat the real-life loses, Hemingway created one of his most memorable female characters in modern literature and patterned her after the two who stole his heart, but could never commit to him.
Lady Brett Ashley appeared in Hemingway’s first novel, The Sun Also Rises (1926). The story follows the escapades of several expatriates and their female companion, Brett, as they travel across Europe in search of a good time. In traditional Hemingway style, SAR features several male characters that carry the weight of the novel. Each of them is dealing with personal experiences and a past that they are trying to either alter or flee. Each of them also has different ideas of what it means to be a man and how he asserts his manhood and masculinity.
In SAR Hemingway tackles the complex issue of gender role reversal. Although he disliked his mother’s unwomanly characteristics, Hemingway created in Brett a woman with similar traits. Whereas the men in the novel are in search of their manhood, the one character who is completely in touch with their masculine side is not a man at all. In fact, perhaps the manliest of all men in the story is Brett, the female lead. Ironically, Brett is the common thread that weaves the men together and it is her presence that causes the most distraction and dissention between the men.
Brett seems to be fully in touch with her masculine side and is described as having masculine behaviors. For instance, she wears her hair short like a boy and she dresses in men’s hats and Jersey sweaters. She also goes around referring to herself and others as “chaps”: “Brett came up to the bar. ‘Hello, you chaps.’ ‘Hello, Brett,’ I said. ‘Why aren’t you tight?’ ‘Never going to get tight any more. I say, give a chap a brandy and soda.’ (Hemingway 29). Even her name, “Brett” is considered by many to be a man’s name. Despite this manly disposition, Brett also gives off an air of sex appeal that the male characters are unable to resist.
Almost every man in the novel, at one time or another becomes infatuated with and mesmerized by Brett and her undeniable sex appeal. Brett is a sexually librated character unlike any before her. She does what she wants to do, when she wants to do it and with whom she wants to do it with. On the surface, she appears not to care what others think about her and her actions and continues to do as she pleases, despite being labeled a “bitch” as a result of her actions.
When first introduced to Brett, it is revealed that she is in the process of getting a divorce and is already engaged to another man. Brett’s fiancé, Mike Campbell is described as a bankrupt drunk. Like many of the characters in the novel, Mike uses alcohol to escape his problems. He desperately wants to marry Brett, but is often infuriated with jealousy by her insatiable appetite for and affairs with other men. The one character that bothers Mike more than any other is Robert Cohn. Upon his first meeting with Brett, Cohn is completely infatuated with her. Although she initially rebuffs his request to dance, he is still in awe of her: “Dancing, I looked over Brett’s shoulder and saw Cohn, standing at the bar, still watching her” (Hemingway 30).
Throughout the novel, Cohn displays his feeling and ideas about what a man is and does. He constantly displays his chivalrous and gallant qualities. An aspiring writer, Cohn embodies the spirit of an idealic romantic suitor. He sincerely believes that he loves Brett and that in time she will grow to love him too: “Love for Cohn …is a sickness. It affects the mind and the body. It dominates and one becomes a slave to it. One is in love with love” (Lewis 23). Cohn is blinded by love and is unable to recognize Brett’s true feelings for him.
The only Jewish character, Cohn is constantly reminded of how different he is from the other men in the story. He does not use alcohol to medicate his problems and is usually the only sober one in the bunch. Unlike the other men, he wears his heart on his sleeve. He is unable and unwilling to mask his feelings for Brett. Cohn is incessantly ridiculed and attacked for his views. More often than less, this ridicule comes from a drunken Mike:
“‘Do you think you amount to something, Cohn?
Do you think you belong here among us? People who are out to have a good time? For God’s sake don’t be so noisy Cohn!’… ‘Do you think Brett wants you here? Do you think you add to the party?’… ‘Why don’t you see when you’re not wanted, Cohn? Go away. Go away for God’s sake. Take that sad Jewish face away.’ (Hemingway 181) However, Cohn does not back down from Mike or any other challenge in regards to Brett. Like a knight in shining armour, he is willing to fight to the death for Brett. Cohn lives by a different code as the other men in the novel.
Brett seemingly uses both Mike and Cohn at her own convenience. Although both love her, she does not have genuine feeling for either of them. Brett ultimately leads them both down destructive paths. Mike is in a constant drunken stupor over Brett and is rarely seen sober or rational. Brett challenges his manhood by holding all of the cards in their relationship. If she chooses to be with him she will be, if she does not, she will not. He is unable to stop her sexual escapades and in fact often has them flaunted in his face. With Cohn, Brett does the same thing. She never had any intentions of having a relationship with him.
Their fling in San Sebastian was simply that, a fling. It is not until after fighting every other male character that Cohn realizes that he can never have Brett: “‘I just couldn’t stand it about Brett. I’ve been through hell, Jake. It’s been simply hell. When I met her down here Brett treated me as though I were a perfect stranger. I just couldn’t stand it. We lived together at San Sebastian . . . I can’t stand it anymore'” (Hemingway 198). After fighting Brett’s latest conquest, Pedro, and noticing his unwillingness to back down, Cohn gives up. Unable to fight anymore, Cohn throws in the towel and leaves. Brett’s relationships with Mike and Cohn were both one-sided. Where men traditionally are the powerful ones in relationship, Brett reverses the script and asserts her independence, control and inability to be tamed by one man.
Perhaps the one man that has the greatest affect on Brett is Jake Barnes. Jake is the polar opposite of Cohn. They differ in every way imaginable, including their personal views of manhood and masculinity. Whereas Cohn rejects the standard idea of the macho man, Jake is desperately seeking to maintain it. Jake struggles with his identity as a man and is in search of his masculinity. Because of an accident, he is left unable to have sex. This one trait becomes the center of his identity, or lack of thereof. Throughout the novel, Jake questions his value and worth as a man. To escape his doubts, he self-medicates with his constant drinking and partying. Like Mike, Jake is also jealous of Cohn and anyone else secure with his status as a man.
When Jake first sees Brett, he comments on the homosexual men that she enters the room with: “I was very angry. I know they are supposed to be amusing, and you should be tolerant, but I wanted to swing on one, any one, anything to shatter that superior, simpering composure” (Hemingway 28). Jake’s anger is a manifestation of his own insecurities about his masculinity. He also holds contempt for Cohn because, unlike himself, Cohn has the possibility of consummating his relationship with Brett. This is only a fantasy to Jake.
The only time that Jake is free from the sexual tension and insecurities that dominate his life is when he is in Burguete with Bill. For the first time, Jake is somewhat comfortable and at ease with himself. While fishing with Bill, he is able to express himself more freely. Even Jake comments on how comfortable he is around Jake: “‘Listen. You’re a hell of a good guy, and I’m fonder of you that anybody on earth. I couldn’t tell you that in New York. It’d mean I was a faggot'” (Hemingway 121). His assertion exemplifies his comfort with Jake and his own sexuality. Like Nick and his father searching for squirrels in the woods, for Jake and Bill, the country side offers a male safe haven. While fishing they are free from the scrutiny, judgment and pressure associated with the presence of women.
Their act of male bonding allow the men to connect on a level not associated with sex: “One reason why Jake and Bill must escape to Burguete’s natural sanctuary before expressing their love is that the cultural discourse of educated Northern Europeans and Americans, allows no conceptual space for love between men…” (Blackmore). Sharing his feelings in front of his other friends may bring to Jake the same ridicule and scorn given to Cohn. Hemingway found this male friendship essential to the quest for true manhood. He felt that the inclusion of women in these sacred places impeded one’s transition into manhood. As seen with the other men in the novel, Jake’s problems escalate when Brett becomes a present part of his life.
Jake and Brett’s relationship is one filled with highs and lows. Jake genuinely loves Brett, for who she is and wants nothing more that to be with her and for them to share a life together. And Brett cares deeply about Jake too. However, the impossibility of them ever consummating their relationship keeps them from fully embracing the idea of themselves as a couple. Jake knows that his inability to have sex would never allow him to be with Brett. Jake explains his dilemma:
Women made such swell friends. Awfully swell. In the first place, you had to be in love with a woman to have a basis for friendship. I had been having Brett for a friend. I had not been thinking about her side of it. I had been getting something for nothing. That only delayed the presentation of the bill. The bill always came . . . You paid some way for everything that was any good. (Hemingway 152) Jake knows that Brett’s sexual identity is an important part of who she is. He knows that she needs sex and that it is a source of power for her. He knows that she will be unwilling to commit to him exclusively. Despite their troubles getting together romantically, Jake is the only constant on Brett’s life.
Despite many critics’ assertions that Brett is a bitch, plain and simple, there are several indications that suggest that there is much more to her. First, Brett is never intentionally mean or hurtful to the men she encounters. Although her actions are questionable, at best they can be described as careless, not malicious. She often defends Cohn to Mike and tries to protect him from Mike’s insults even though she is often annoyed by Cohn: “‘They never say anything and they’re always hanging about so’…Robert Cohn was angry. . . Mike went on talking… ‘I should think you’d like it. You’d never have to say a word… ‘Come off it, Michael. You’re drunk,’ Brett said” (Hemingway 146). Brett is somewhat protective of the men she seemingly hurts. She does not set out to hurt or get pleasure from hurting the men in her life.
From both Jake and Mike, it is revealed that Brett is a nurturer. She meets both men while she is nursing them back to health from war injuries they sustained. She also nurses Pedro after his fight with Cohn. It is known that Brett enjoys taking care of others: “‘Brett’s rather cut up. But she loves looking after people'” (Hemingway 206). This fostering quality is not representative of a so-called bitch. Her desire to take care of others, although often masked, lies at the heart of Brett and is representative of her true nature. Also, by serving as a nurse in the war, Brett has witnessed many of the same horrors and tragedies that the expatriates have faced. Like them she is also disillusioned by the post-war society and leads the life of a lost soul.
Although Hemingway openly proclaimed his distain for his mother’s assertiveness, in his early life, he was attracted to women who had many of the same characteristics. As a member of the lost generation, Hemingway is torn between his love for women and his inability to live with them in his life. His inability to fully understand them, led to his somewhat negative characterizations. However, Hemingway truly loved women and always had one in his life. Although constantly puzzled by women and their actions, behaviors and motives, Hemingway could never learn to live without them in his life in some way or another. In his literature, Hemingway often showed his frustrations in the opposite sex. Although many perceived Hemingway to be a misogynist, he was simply a man unable to find the balance between being a man and living with assertive women.
Sources
Blackmore, David. “‘In New York It’d Mean I was a…’: Masculinity Anxiety and Period Discourses of Sexuality in The Sun Also Rises.” Hemingway Review. 18.1 (1998). 01 October 2003. http://weblinks2.epnet.com. – NC Central University, Academic Search Elite Database
Gladstein, Mimi Reisel. The Indestructible Woman in Faulkner, Hemingway and Steinbeck. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986. – borrowed from Perkins Library at Duke University
Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. 1925. New York: Scribner, 1953. – purchased from booksamillion.com
– – -. Men Without Women. 1927. New York: Scribner, 1955. – purchased from booksamillion.com
– – -. The Sun Also Rises. 1926. New York: Scribner, 1954. – purchased from NC Central Book Store
Kert, Bernice. The Hemingway Women. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1983. – borrowed from Perkins Library at Duke University
Lewis, Robert. W. Hemingway on Love. Austin: University if Texas Press, 1965. – borrowed from Davis Library at UNC-Chapel Hill
Reference:
- Works Cited Blackmore, David. ” ‘In New York It’d Mean I Was a…’: Masculinity Anxiety and Period Discourses of Sexuality in The Sun Also Rises.” Hemingway Review. 18.1 (1998). 01 October 2003. weblinks2.epnet.com. Gladstein, Mimi Reisel. The Indestructible Woman in Faulkner, Hemingway and Steinbeck. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986. Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. 1925. New York: Scribner, 1953. – – -. Men Without Women. 1927. New York: Scribner, 1955. – – -. The Sun Also Rises. 1926. New York: Scribner, 1954. Kert, Bernice. The Hemingway Women. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1983. Lewis, Robert. W. Hemingway on Love. Austin: University if Texas Press, 1965
