Examples Of Misogyny In Hemingway

Jordyn Granito
Mrs Fowler
American Modernism
26 April, 2018
Feminism or Misogyny? Hemingway tends to put a lot of himself in his work, basing his writing off of personal experiences. Another theme that seems to be present within his work, is the idea of gender struggle, so much so, that although, some look at it, as a piece of feminism, others may look at this piece as one of misogyny. With this being said, it is entirely possible that Hemingway, himself went through a extremely similar struggle in which he followed misogynist beliefs, especially due to his childhood. Due to childhood trauma, Hemingway, very much carries, misogynist beliefs, which show through symbols within his writing, as well as through his characterization. Woman have
As soon as this happens, George leaves unable to handle the sight, as Nick asks his father, “Where did Uncle George go?” (Hemingway 4). George, being unable to face a horrific situation, was never seen in the novel, again. Unlike, Nick and his father, based on this, George proves to not be able to handle, being face and face with danger, and thus, proves to not fit into the stereotypical ‘masculine’ guidelines. This contrasts greatly, with both Nick’s father who does not seem to be too affected by this, and Nick, who acts the strongest of the three, as he faces the situation with childlike wonder, stating that “ he felt quite sure that he would never die,“ (Hemingway 4). However, Nick also, focuses on the negative, rather than the positive. Identifying more with the male indian who just killed himself, rather than focusing on, the woman, who after being in a consider amount of pain, is able to bring life into the world. This seems to lean towards the idea of misogyny, as Nick only asks about the male indians. At this point in the novel, it begins evident that Hemingway, only keeps around characters, that he deems to be tough, as the strongest of the three, although he slips up sometimes, shows up the most, while the weakest, is done away with right
On top of this, the fact that Nick, goes with his father at the end, is proof of gender roles in this time, as Nick’s father, has all the say over Nick, and ignores his wife’s request for Nick to come in. Later, the reader is also able to see Nick’s relationship with his love interest Marjorie. After they’re done fishing, which happens to be a symbol for feminism, Nick, acts as he is supposed to, based on the guidelines set before him before society, as he tells Marjorie, that she knows everything, in a rather, hateful way. This is due to the fact that Nick, not only, does not want to come to terms with Marjorie being an equal, but Nick feels as though Marjorie has been tying him down, much like Hemingway’s mother has done to him as a child, by saying “[he feels] as though everything was gone to hell inside of [him]” (Hemingway 8). Nick’s attitude quickly changes though, as he listens to what Bill has to say about