Injustice Everywhere: Hemingway's Struggle with Race, Gender, and Aesthetics

Authors

Michael Riobueno, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

English

First Advisor's Name

Nathaniel Cadle

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Phillip L. Marcus

Third Advisor's Name

Ana Luszczynska

Keywords

Hemingway, Garden of Eden, Battler, To Have and Have Not, Race, Gender, Aesthetics

Date of Defense

2012

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate the aesthetic decisions and theoretical complexity of three of Ernest Hemingway’s most experimental texts: IN OUR TIME, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, and THE GARDEN OF EDEN, and to show that the usually maligned Hemingway was an author invested in the avant-garde and in analyzing and dissecting rigid societal rules, not championing them.

Through critical analysis this study examined how Hemingway makes specific aesthetic decisions in order to more clearly examine the disparity between whites and both women and racial minorities in America. The problems that Hemingway makes clear through his art are meant to have a profound effect upon the reader and encourage re-evaluation of societal rules, their purpose, and their fairness to those who are not white, male, and typically in a position of power. The findings demonstrate that Hemingway’s entire oeuvre is open to re-interpretation on the basis of a progressive view of the author.

Identifier

FI12120402

Recommended Citation

Riobueno, Michael, "Injustice Everywhere: Hemingway's Struggle with Race, Gender, and Aesthetics" (2012). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 763.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/763