Masculine Dominance in Hemingway Essay Example

Ernest Hemingway and Masculine Dominance "But man is not made for defeat. A Man can be destroyed but never defeated." This quotation from the late Ernest Hemingway in the Old Man and the Sea summarizes his view on masculinity. Hemingway's works are both criticized and praised for their portrayal of masculinity. Hemingway equated masculinity with toughness and guts. Also Hemingway's beliefs on masculinity were dependent upon control of women. Hemmingway once said, "To me heaven would be… two lovely houses in the town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on different floors." From this quote one can easily see Hemingway's emphasis on masculine dominance in his own life. This was reflected in his work. Hemingway's works are widely thought to mirror his own life. He once said, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." He also often referred to his typewriter as his "physiatrist." The struggles his protagonist faced in his stories were often similar to those that he himself faced in his own life. Even in Hemingway's writing style were his ideas on gender relations evident. He often used short concise sentences this is sometimes referred to as muscular prose.

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Hemingway even through his syntax embodied his own ideal of masculinity. Female authors often tend to be more descriptive writers and tend to use more flowery language. Hemingway used very concise and pithy sentences in his writing. About writing Hemingway said, "It wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics." Hemingway was accused of misogyny, hatred of women, in his writing. Mark G. Newton in his dissertation argued against this. "Clichés abound," he says. "Hemingway was in search of his manhood (an ignoble quest?); he hated