From Aristophanes’ Lysistrata to Steinem in Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, the female/male relationship has been the focus of much literature, either directly or indirectly. In 1941, Pearl S. Buck wrote in Of Men and Women, “The basic discovery about any people is the discovery of the relationship between its men and its women.” This relationship is easily seen in the literature of various cultures in history.
Often in mainstream literature, female characters were portrayed in rigid roles that presented women as sexual objects, subordinate servants, or irritating mysteries confounding male “rationality.” With the advent of the first wave of women’s rights, however, change came to how women stories were read; old presuppositions were seen by many enlightened critics to be unfairly hostile and insulting toward women. By the 1960s, the civil rights movement empowered women even more and pushed back against older, traditionalist views stereotyping and restricting them, socially.
Not surprisingly, earlier works once considered to be one of the “Greats” were reread and critically analyzed with feminist disdain. Part of this contempt concerned the way writers such as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, or Hemingway incorporated women into their stories.
According to Beidler, French feminists suggested that “masculine desire dominates speech and posits woman as an idealized fantasy-fulfillment for the incurable emotional lack caused by separation from the mother. (Jones, ‘Writing’ 83).”[1] This assertion is observable no clearer than in Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home,” a story about a marine returning home after WWI to live with his mother. Their relationship is strained and he struggles to rejoin regular life, including socializing, partially due to his traumatic wartime experiences.
The main character, Krebs, reflects, “Nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up. But they lived in such a complicated world of already defined alliances and shifting feuds that Krebs did not feel the energy or the courage to break into it. He liked to look at them, though. There were so many good-looking young girls. . . . They were too complicated”[2] In this passage, feminists would point to three factors suggesting Hemingway’s antagonist and anachronistic portrayal of women—the stunted social atmosphere in the town, the negative female political milieu, and the sexual objectification of the young girls.
Krebs claim that “Nothing was changed in the town,” except that the young girls grew up, displays a cynical attitude about women in society and their potential for progress. Basically, Hemingway is suggesting that women do not change, at least when it comes to social customs and mores. However, they do age. Feminist critics would condemn this notion as completely unrealistic considering the progressive nature of human beings, a classification in which women are included.
Regarding these young girls and their “complicated world of already defined alliances and shifting feuds,” Hemingway goes on to paint a bleak picture of female manipulation and their rote approach to relationships. Based on this passage, women foster an environment wherein their conniving ways cause conflict and factionalism so unpleasant that Krebs lacked “the energy or courage” to get involved. Feminists would claim this unfairly presents women as generally (and eternally) devious.
Finally, Krebs ruminates ad nauseum about the appearance of the young girls in his town and how they provide visual enjoyment, but he resists getting to know them because “They were too complicated.” Instead, Krebs focuses only on their outward appearances—“There were so many good-looking girls.” Feminists would argue Hemingway is only portraying women as sexual objects and as a commodity. These young girls are not human; they are goods to be selected only if they serve male interests, which does not include dialoguing or engaging in real relationship interactions.
In “Soldier’s Home,” Krebs’ pondering and interaction with women suggests a negative attitude. Many consider Hemingway’s presentation of women in this work to be insulting and two dimensional. Literature utilizing this approach to women invites condemnation by feminists in Hemingway’s time and the present day. More than that, it underplays the humanity of a quintessential segment of human society.
Works Cited
[1] Peter G. Beidler, ed. Geoffrey Chaucer: The Wife of Bath (U.S.A.: Bedford, 1996), 256.
[2] Ernest Hemingway, “Soldier’s Home,” Short Story Masterpieces (U.S.A.: Dell, 1954), 209.