Lost Paradise: The Garden Of Eden And Hemingway's Gender Trouble

Earnest Hemingway (1899-1961) was one of the most famous writers that the American history has ever witnessed. He has been well known for his stoic, "masculine" style, good at graphic description of male pursuits and their life attitudes. Perhaps the "code hero" he depicted in his works or his own public image as "masculine figure" is deeply rooted in all reader's mind that many critics titled him to be a writer who is not dept at women characterization or who is better at the description of men without women. Some critics of his novels criticized that he is blind and indifferent to female life pursuits and their unfair sufferings. There are even some critics even charging him of having a growing hatred to women. However, after a series of study of the main characters and their features in his The Garden of Eden, guided by the theory of gender issues, the author finds out that Ernest Hemingway is very sensitive to gender issues in his time. He expresses deep sympathy with female sufferings and criticizes male selfishness, laziness and cowardice, sharing the same sympathies with women rather than a male chauvinist. In the novel, Hemingway expresses his sympathy for weak women who depend on male characters under the man-speaking culture and his appreciation to New Women who are independent, acting as men do. Moreover, Hemingway is enabled to view things from the female perspective.This thesis tries to concentrate on the male and female characters, Catherine and David in Hemingway's The Garden of Eden, and study them basing on gender issues, intending to find their characteristics separately and further the diverse and complex attitude of David as well as Hemingway towards Catherine. Through the depicting of Catherine and her relation with David, Hemingway holds a quite contradictory attitude to her. On one side, he appreciates Catherine's creativity and initiative. On the other side, Hemingway fears Catherine's possessiveness resulting from her inferiority. To him, girls like Catherine are too aggressive, which means he will lose some private space in front of women of this kind. Further more, this thesis also tries to find the possible reason to explain the forming of Hemingway's complex attitude to women through the study of his early childhood, and cultural background of his living time. Based on this, the thesis attempts to point out that Hemingway holds complicated attitudes towards new women typically represented by Catherine. This thesis consists of five parts. In general, the introduction part, the body part and the conclusion part. The body part is also composed of three parts.The introduction part first briefly introduces to Hemingway's novels and the main content of his novel The Garden of Eden; then gives a general view of Hemingway's literature review at home and abroad; at the end, makes short explanation of the focus and purpose of the thesis.In chapter two, the author firstly makes a survey of Bulter's theory on gender and sexuality, focusing on his views on gender performativity, including post-structural question of the identity between the signifier and signified, Butler's criticism of ontology in traditional gender identity theories And Gender as Performativity. Secondly, the author introduces the realization of performativity in Bulter's theory.In chapter three, the author attempts to make depiction of the male and female character in the novel discussed, basing on the theory of gender issues introduced in the previous chapter. Through the further elaboration of both the characters, the author tries to find the specific points that Hemingway appreciates and that he resists.In chapter four, the author attempts to give rational reasons for Hemingway's contradictory attitudes towards new woman characterized by Catherine. The author tries to make the analysis from Hemingway's growth experience including his mother and father; social background of the gender war in his time and its impact on him; his own marriage life separately.The conclusion part sums up what has been discussed in the previous chapters. Earnest Hemingway is a writer very sensitive to gender issues. He pays much time considering male characters and their inner world in his works, but not neglecting or understating female characters. On the contrary, he holds a contradictory attitude to New Women represented by Catherine.