Another Side Of The Tough Guys

Ernest Hemingway is one of the greatest American novelists in the 20th century. He is well known as a"tough guy"writer as well as the"spiritual monument"of the United States. In his life, he produced 11 novels, 8 collected stories and plenty of releases and reports, among which the novella The Old Man and the Sea wins worldwide praise in literary circle and helped Hemingway gain the Pulitzer Prize and the 54th Nobel Prize. Hemingway's legendary life experiences, unique writing style and profound works draw much attention of scholars both at home and abroad. Especially his"code heroes"have long been the focus of critics'interest.In the past half century, critics usually regarded Hemingway's"code heroes"as the reproduction of western heroes and tough guys. Their outstanding courage, endurance and"grace under pressure"are taken as qualities of the hegemonic masculinity defined by the patriarchal system. These"code heroes", who embody the tough guy spirit, are also considered as positive heroes and Hemingway is accordingly branded as the advocator of the patriarchal culture. However, close textual reading from the perspective of masculinities study shows that Hemingway's"code heroes", under the surface of toughness, bear such qualities as"emasculation","homosexuality"and"masochism", so this thesis will attempt to find the hidden side of the"code heroes"from rereading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.The thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter one mainly discusses the hero in The Sun Also Rises Jake Barnes'physical and emotional castration as well as the heroine Brett Ashley's domination over him. It points out that Jake's castration and being dominated by Brett reveals Jake's characteristic of"emasculation"and his anxiety and pain caused by the phallocentric culture, so Jake is not a hero who enjoys the privileges endowed by the phallocentric culture but a man who is tired of the limitation settled by the patriarchal culture. Chapter two mainly deals with the hero in For Whom the Bell Tolls Robert Jordan's overt heterosexual tendency and covert homosexual tendency. Through the analysis, it attempts to explore Jordan's trouble in sexual orientation, which proves that Jordan is not a qualified heterosexual demanded by the men-centered culture, but a homosexual criticized by the men-centered culture, so Jordan is not a"code hero"defined by the western mainstream culture. Chapter three mainly reevaluates Cuban fisherman Santiago's heroic actions—"can be destroyed but not defeated"from psychology and behavior way, intending to show that his heroic actions are actual the performance of masochism, so Santiago is less a perfect hero than a victim of the patriarchal society.Through detailed analyzing the three Hemingway's"code heroes"from the perspective of masculinities study, the thesis points out that"code heroes"have such negative qualities as castration, homosexuality and masochism, which reveals their another side as tough guys. In the men-centered culture, these negative qualities that violate traditional male's code of behavior bring"code heroes"lots of anxiety and pain. At the same time, this thesis explores Hemingway's sympathy for and concern about these"code heroes". From another side of these tough guys, it explores that Hemingway's purpose of portraying"code heroes"is to disclose the fact that male does get privileges from the patriarchy but they also cost too much for the privileges because they are completely bounded by the compulsory male standards. Therefore, Hemingway urges male to get rid of the patriarchy as female does and to live their favorite life.