In “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife,” Nick was reading with his back against a tree, a feminine act in the eyes of his father, Nick Adams Sr., when Adams found him. Upon his arrival Hemmingway wrote, “‘Your mother wants you to come down and see her,” the doctor said’ (27). Hemmingway proceeded to illustrated the following scene: “’I want to go with you,” Nick said. His father looked down at him’ (27). At the beginning of the encounter, Hemingway refers to Nick’s father as the doctor. This is significant because Adams was upset with Nick for reading a book. When Nick tells his dad that he wants to go hunting with his father, then Nick Adams Sr.’s title changes from “the Doctor” to “his (Nick’s) father”. This is ultimately important in the big
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and Mrs. Elliot,” it initially appears that this story is disparate than the other stories within this book; however, the central theme subtly of defying gender expectation reoccurs through Mrs. Elliot. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot were a married couple, but Mrs. Elliot started to become unhappy. This consequently led to Mrs. Elliot’s friend being flown in for a visit that caused Mrs. Elliot to become, “Much brighter after her girl friend came and they had many good cries together” (Hemmingway 87). Throughout Hemingway’s intentional minimalism, the theory that Mrs. Elliot could be a lesbian, starts to become apparent. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot had tried to have a child, but their efforts were to no avail. The story continuously reinforced the idea that Mrs. Elliot did not enjoy making love to Mr. Elliot. The “many good cries” between Mrs. Elliot and her friend that she called “Honey,” were actually the two women having an affair. Mr. Elliot could not think of this possibility of occurring, because women were supposed to be attracted to men and men were supposed to be attracted to females. Towards the end of this section, “He and Mrs. Elliot tried very hard to have a baby in the big hot bedroom on the big, hard bed” (Hemmingway 88). One of the reasons that it was so hard to have a baby was because Mrs. Elliot did not enjoy having sex with Mr. Elliot. Consequently, when referring to Honey’s typing ability, “She was very neat and efficient and seemed to enjoy it”
and Mrs. Elliot,” it initially appears that this story is disparate than the other stories within this book; however, the central theme subtly of defying gender expectation reoccurs through Mrs. Elliot. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot were a married couple, but Mrs. Elliot started to become unhappy. This consequently led to Mrs. Elliot’s friend being flown in for a visit that caused Mrs. Elliot to become, “Much brighter after her girl friend came and they had many good cries together” (Hemmingway 87). Throughout Hemingway’s intentional minimalism, the theory that Mrs. Elliot could be a lesbian, starts to become apparent. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot had tried to have a child, but their efforts were to no avail. The story continuously reinforced the idea that Mrs. Elliot did not enjoy making love to Mr. Elliot. The “many good cries” between Mrs. Elliot and her friend that she called “Honey,” were actually the two women having an affair. Mr. Elliot could not think of this possibility of occurring, because women were supposed to be attracted to men and men were supposed to be attracted to females. Towards the end of this section, “He and Mrs. Elliot tried very hard to have a baby in the big hot bedroom on the big, hard bed” (Hemmingway 88). One of the reasons that it was so hard to have a baby was because Mrs. Elliot did not enjoy having sex with Mr. Elliot. Consequently, when referring to Honey’s typing ability, “She was very neat and efficient and seemed to enjoy it”