During Ernest Hemingway 's life, there were a lot of revisions made in society. While these changes were transpiring, he began to write about them. In many of his works, he examined these changes and how they affected society. In Hemingway 's short story, “Up In Michigan”, he addresses the change in gender roles. In this short story, he focuses on two main characters, Liz Coates and Jim Gilmore, to establish this claim. With this story taking place in a very small town in Horton Bay, Michigan, Liz 's understanding of relationships between men and women being very limited, Liz 's innocence and naivety is illuminated. In “Up in Michigan”, Liz finds herself infatuated with Jim, a blacksmith from Canada. When Jim finally approaches her, she finds
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In the beginning of the story, Hemingway emphasized the fact that Liz was very neat and well-kept., thus giving the readers a deeper understanding of her character. By describing her as very neat, it also shows how she was the stereotypical girl, obeying men and doing all of the housework.She was very submissive, never doing anything out of her daily routine. Along with Liz’s submissive behavior, she was very naive. Hemingway explained how the setting affected Liz 's innocence and her naivety. In the story he states, “Hortons Bay, the town, was only five houses on the main road between Boyne City and the Charlevoix” (Hemingway 1). By this description of the town, it is understood that there was very limited human interactions with new people, hence, making it difficult for Liz to recognize what a normal, healthy relationship looked like between man and woman. Alice Petry, the author of the article “Coming of Age in Hortons Bay: Hemingway 's 'Up in Michigan '”, goes further in depth saying, “Hemingway 's quick sketch of tiny Hortons Bay does much to explain Liz 's ignorance of male/female relationships- an ignorance so extensive that she does not recognize sexual urges when she feels them” (Petry 25). In the story, when Hemingway 's repeatedly says how Liz “liked” many things about Jim and how she got this strange feeling when she thought about him, she did not know what this feeling was, the readers knowing it was sexual urges. Due to the setting of this story, Liz was unable to decipher her feelings or even comprehend them. When Liz is in fact raped, she is still very confused and unsure what to make of what just happened. Lisa Tyler goes on to say, “Hemingway depicts her as innocent and naive; it is therefore quite possible she assumes that her experience with Jim is typical of adult sexual relations- that it is ordinary, everyday sexual intercourse” (Tyler 6). Even after
In the beginning of the story, Hemingway emphasized the fact that Liz was very neat and well-kept., thus giving the readers a deeper understanding of her character. By describing her as very neat, it also shows how she was the stereotypical girl, obeying men and doing all of the housework.She was very submissive, never doing anything out of her daily routine. Along with Liz’s submissive behavior, she was very naive. Hemingway explained how the setting affected Liz 's innocence and her naivety. In the story he states, “Hortons Bay, the town, was only five houses on the main road between Boyne City and the Charlevoix” (Hemingway 1). By this description of the town, it is understood that there was very limited human interactions with new people, hence, making it difficult for Liz to recognize what a normal, healthy relationship looked like between man and woman. Alice Petry, the author of the article “Coming of Age in Hortons Bay: Hemingway 's 'Up in Michigan '”, goes further in depth saying, “Hemingway 's quick sketch of tiny Hortons Bay does much to explain Liz 's ignorance of male/female relationships- an ignorance so extensive that she does not recognize sexual urges when she feels them” (Petry 25). In the story, when Hemingway 's repeatedly says how Liz “liked” many things about Jim and how she got this strange feeling when she thought about him, she did not know what this feeling was, the readers knowing it was sexual urges. Due to the setting of this story, Liz was unable to decipher her feelings or even comprehend them. When Liz is in fact raped, she is still very confused and unsure what to make of what just happened. Lisa Tyler goes on to say, “Hemingway depicts her as innocent and naive; it is therefore quite possible she assumes that her experience with Jim is typical of adult sexual relations- that it is ordinary, everyday sexual intercourse” (Tyler 6). Even after