Ernest Hemingway's Treatment of Women

For: Creative writing classes, English, Lit.

Ernest Hemingway’s Treatment Of Women


Hemingway’s portrayal of women in his novels is well known aspect of his style, instantly recognizable in the literary world, and referred to as “Hemingway woman”. It is a source of objection for many feminist literature critics as his women are, for the most part, described as emotional, vulnerable and dependent, and weak. Hemingway’s women are generally static characters, that do not develop themselves but rather seem to exist solely for a male protagonist, and that stay consistent to the typical women stereotype of his era. Hemingway also often uses hair to symbolize the character of his women.
The women of Hemingway’s novels is emotional, and dependent on the male, a common stereotype in Hemingway’s time period. In A Farewell To Arms Catherine Barkley is an emotional woman, erratic, going with her heart. She is idealized as a perfect woman, beautiful, and compliant to her lover Frederic’s wishes. Again in Hills Like White Elephants the girl is completely accepting of the man’s wishes, even though it appears evident she doesn’t want to do what they are discussing. The girl in Hills Like White Elephants is also consistent with the easily manipulated, and emotional ‘Hemingway woman’. While this is the norm for Hemingway’s female characters, it is not always the case. In some of his novels, women are portrayed as overly controlling, or independent, but it seems to put a negative light on the woman. An example of this is in his short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro. The husband, Harry is dependent on his wife for money and hates her for it. Consistently though, Hemingway’s women are based on a basic stereotype of women, instead of individual characteristics.
Women in Hemingway’s works are static characters, or catalyst characters. They seem to be included in the novel only for the purpose of strengthening the male protagonist, or adding to the male protagonist’s character development. In A Farewell To Arms, Catherine is a catalyst to Frederic, and follows the flat stereotypical character of compliant, and emotional. This characterization of women reflects a sense of insignificance to women, as if they were not necessary.
A female character’s hair is related to Hemingway’s treatment of women in his novels. Long hair symbolizes the feminine stereotypical gentleness in a woman, for example in Catherine Barkley of A Farewell To Arms, he admires her hair, and therefore admiring her typical femininity. On the contrary, short hair represents strength, or independence in a woman, short hair being more masculine in nature. When Catherine announces she’s going to cut her hair to Frederic, after she’s had the baby, Frederic doesn’t object, but she dies in labor, unable to live into her independency.
The ‘Hemingway Woman’ is a title with connotations of the stereotypical view of women as weak, cursory, and emotional. Hemingway portrays this treatment of women through his female static and catalyst characters, and by symbolism in a woman’s hair. In Hemingway’s novels a woman is idealized when she is compliant, and beautiful. This portrayal of women is in sync with the views on women in the era in which Hemingway lived, which could have prompted his treatment of them through his works.