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A Farewell to Sexism and The Female Also Rises: A Critique of Ernest Hemingway's Works

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A Farewell to Sexism and The Female Also Rises: A Critique of Ernest Hemingway's Works
Ashley Buffton
Mr. Borthwick
AP Literature
18/2/14
A Farewell to Sexism and The Female Also Rises Ernest Hemingway has a reputation of being a complete misogynist. People have analyzed his books, specifically A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises, and attacked him for being sexist towards the main female roles, Catherine Barkley and Lady Brett Ashley. Other analysts argue that Catherine and Brett are strong female lead roles. Through these two characters, Hemingway disproves the misogynist and sexist analysts and presents readers with independent female roles. A characteristic of sexism towards women include showing their dependence, including the inability to think by themselves. In A Farewell to Arms, Frederic asks Catherine to kiss her and she replies no. If Catherine was so dependent and couldn’t think on her own, she wouldn’t have refused Frederic’s affection. Catherine also asks Frederic if he loves her and she calls him out for lying and goes on to say “You don’t have to pretend to love me” (Hemingway, 31). This shows that she thinks and is not blinded by her emotions and is able to realize that he is lying to her. In The Sun Also Rises, Lady Brett Ashley does whatever she wants. She is incredibly promiscuous and parties all the time with the guys. Most women during the World War I time sat home in the kitchen and took care of the kiddos rather than having a drink with the guys. Instead, after she hooked up with Romero and Cohn got jealous and beat him up, she scolded Cohn. Not many women would yell at a guy during the World War I period. This just further shows her independence and her ability to think by herself. Critics argue that Catherine is “merely a male fantasy” (Shmoop Editorial Team). They have good evidence in saying that and they argue that Catherine “gives up her own identity to get Frederic to love her.” They use her quote about religion, “You’re my religion. You’re all I’ve got” (Hemingway), and her quote about herself, “There


Cited: Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner, 1957. Print. 16 Feb. 2014. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
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