Date of Award
Fall 12-2015
Degree Type
Thesis-Restricted
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Rioux, Anne Boyd
Second Advisor
Piano, Doreen
Third Advisor
Hazlett, John
Abstract
Nearly all discussions of Hemingway and his work touch on the theme of masculinity, a recurrent theme in all of his works. Examinations of Hemingway and his relationship to masculinity have almost unanimously treated the author as a misogynist and a champion of violent masculinity. However, since the posthumous publication of The Garden of Eden in 1986, there has been much discussion of Hemingway’s uncharacteristic use of androgynous characters in the novel. Critics have taken this as a clue that Hemingway possessed a complex attitude regarding gender fluidity, but have failed to examine the constructions of gender and identity in his earlier fiction. By examining two of his earliest works, In Our Time (1925) and The Sun Also Rises (1926), I argue that Hemingway’s complex ideas about gender performance have been hidden just beneath the surface all along.
Recommended Citation
Thibodaux, Brock J., ""It's No Life Being a Steer": Violence, Masculinity, and Gender Performance in The Sun Also Rises and In Our Time" (2015). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2111.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2111
Included in
American Literature Commons, History of Gender Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, United States History Commons
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.