Hemingway's Skeptical View About The Coherence Of Sex, Gender, And Desire

Hemingway is always linked with the stereotypical notion of "masculinity", because he describes male pursuit, attitude, and virility in his writing. People tend to divide his women characters into stereotypes either of bitch or angels and thus he is accused as a sexist, perpetuating gender roles and sexist stereotypes. With the publication of The Garden of Eden with its strong androgynous theme and the publication of Kenneth Lynn's 1987 biography Hemingway, which stresses the utterly different characteristics, motifs and images in Hemingway's writing, critics have initiated a reassessment of his presentation of male and female characters from gendered perspective.Under the guidance of Judith Butler's postmodern feminism, this thesis intends to explore cross-dressing, gender transformation, homosexual desire, i.e. "the subversive repetition" occurred in Hemingway's two novels, The Garden of Eden and The Sun Abo Rises, to expound that Hemingway is not a writer who advocates gender stereotypes and firmly celebrates masculinity, but a writer who tries to deconstruct the coherence of the continuum of sex, gender, and desire in the patriarchal society.Based on a detailed analysis of the three aspects, this thesis aims to reveal Hemingway's awareness of the uncertainty of gender and sexuality, which challenges the validity of defining gender in terms of masculinity/femininity, sexuality in terms of heterosexuality/homosexuality. The thesis further points out that the aberration doesn't mean Hemingway prefers gender transgression or "queer", but shows his great concern for the transformation or reconstruction of gender in the modem society. So this thesis is a challenge to the traditional view of Hemingway as a sexist, perpetuating gender roles and sexist stereotypes.