The Burden Of Femininity In Alice Munro And Ernest Hemingway

The Burden of Masculinity and Femininity In Alice Munro and Ernest Hemingway’s stories the burden of masculinity and femininity means conforming because of the cultural norms in society. However in Munro’s stories the burden of femininity means the importance of conforming because of the consequences of rebelling while in Hemingway’s stories the burden of masculinity means the importance of conforming because of the need to maintain one’s masculinity, the stereotypical qualities expected in men. In both Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” Harry’s love for his wife is a façade. The same can be said for Greta’s marriage in Munro’s “To Reach Japan.” Both Harry and Greta are unhappy in their domestic lives. Harry maintains the masculine stereotype …show more content…
Jack has made a living through boxing and is now worn down Jack knows he is in no condition to win his upcoming fight saying “ ‘I’m tired all the time’ ” (Hemingway 99). Even his friends know he is in no shape to win “ ‘They said he was awful. They said they oughtn’t to let him fight.’… ‘Yes,’ said Hogan. ‘But this time they’re right’ ” (Hemingway 99). Jack’s burden comes from years of being a successful boxer but knowing he is no longer the champion he once was. To lose would be a blow to his masculinity. Jack also feels the need and importance of being with his family “ ‘I’d damn sight rather be in town with the wife’ ” (Hemingway 98). He knows he has missed out on a lot by supporting his family “ ‘And being away from home so much. It don’t do my girls any good’ ” (Hemingway 106) which is stereotypically the man’s job to do. By sticking to cultural norms he has missed out and the knowledge of that weighs on his thoughts. In the end, he decides to bet against himself, planning to throw the fight and walking away not with a victory but with money for his family. In a way he is compromising on his masculinity “adventure, masculinity and violence thus seem to remain three inseparable terms” (Armengol 81) suggesting that to end his violent career of boxing he is shedding his masculinity. While Linde writes that Hemingway was “A writer ridiculously obsessed about his …show more content…
While undergoing an experiment to help heal war wounds the narrator meets the major. The doctor shows the major before and after pictures of a hand that have a similar injury as his which show promising results. The doctor asks the major if he has confidence in the experiment and he says “no” (Hemingway 66) and later that “it was all nonsense” (Hemingway 68). By being honest with himself and the doctor he is maintaining his masculinity because if he were to be optimistic he could be letting down his masculine façade. Getting wounded in war is a part of war. Being a soldier is the ultimate example of masculinity as well as bearing one’s scars of war and to have a lot of hope for the healing of an injury in the hand while one’s comrades have been killed could be seen as unmasculine. The major tells the narrator “[i]f he is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose” (Hemingway 69). By the end of the story we learn that the major recently lost his wife and he begins to cry after telling the narrator, shedding the masculine façade he has been holding onto. The major fails at maintaining that masculinity which “men have an unstable sense of masculinity-gender constancy-and are driven to validate it throughout their entire lives” (Meladze 93) and falling under the burden of