Hemingway Sexism

Hemingway uses age, racism, and sexism as common themes in his short stories. Nick and his father go to an Indian Camp with shanties. His father delivers a baby and Nick witnesses it. In Indian Camp and The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway uses the themes of racism, coming of age, and sexism to show Nick’s transition into adulthood. Hemingway’s writing is based on his life. Hemingway was born and lived in the time of World War l and World War ll. He has mother and girlfriend issues, like how he is only interested in older women. He lived with his parents and siblings when he was very young, “Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1899” (Encyclopedia of World Biography). First he did not go to college and he decided to be a reporter. Then he joined the army which was a huge part of his life. His life was difficult yet successful. Hemingway writes about his life through short stories. Nick learns about serious things like death, “‘Is dying hard Daddy?’ ‘No, I think it’s pretty easy, Nick. It all depends’”(Indian Camp). Hemingway deals with a lot of death in his life, “Hemingway’s life would take a tragic turn shortly after, when his father committed
suicide”(Biographies: Ernest Hemingway). Nick is still a child because he’s just learning about these mature subjects and doesn’t fully understand them yet. He’s like an adult because he was willing to witness childbirth and he is learning about a mature subject. Nick’s coming of age is taking away his innocence. Hemingway mentions a lot of racist events in these short stories. Uncle George is racist,
“‘Damn squaw bitch!’ And the young Indian who had rowed Uncle George over laughed at him”(Indian Camp). Also, Hemingway includes a racist character, Uncle George, “While my focus in this essay will be on the racist an Indian (rather than Africanist) presence,...”(Amy Strong 1). It shows racism because it shows that people don’t care about minorities, whether it’s black of Indian people. Whites are treated nicely but they act mean towards minorities. The Indians are being treated awfully. It influences Nick because it might make him become racist. Uncle George is a bad influence on him. Racism is a huge issue in his short stories.. Sexism is also a problem in Hemingway’s works.
“In the upper bunk was her husband”(Indian Camp). The husband chooses the top bunk because of masculinity and he thinks guys are better, they are sexist, “‘Indian Camp’, like several of the vignettes in In Our Time, centers on suffering and specifically female suffering” (Texas Studies in Literature and Language). Hemingway suffered with depression and had mother/girlfriend issues. This quote shows sexism because it shows how a lot of women suffer in some of Hemingway’s short stories. The men are being treated fairly while on the other hand, women are treated unfairly. This influences Nick because it teaches him to become sexist too with all the bad influences around him. Sexism is a huge theme in his
stories. Hemingway uses the three themes: sexism, coming of age, and racism to write about life through his short stories. The doctor’s wife is an example of sexism. The fact that there are Indians bring racism into this. Also, Nick is innocent and an example of coming of age. The reader should now notice the different themes and how Hemingway applied his life to them.