Research mission: Outline, summarize the main points of feminist theory. Identify the system of female characters and their role in E. Hemingway’s works. From theory “feminist critique”, explains some characteristics of female characters in E. Hemingway’s works. Format E. Hemingway''s female characters in American traditional literary. Provide a new approach to E. Hemingway’s works.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION LE LAM FEMALE CHARACTERS IN ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S WORKS FROM FEMINISM PERSPECTIVE Speciality: Theory critical of literature Classification: 62.22.01.20 ABSTRACT OF THESIS DOCTORATE OF LITERATURE Hanoi 2015 Thesis was completed in: Hanoi University of Education Advisor: A. Professor. Ph.Doctor. LE HUY BAC Reviewers 1: A. Professor. Ph.Doctor. Tran Khanh Thanh University of Social Sciences and Humanities Vietnam National University, Hanoi Reviewers 2: A. Professor. Ph.Doctor. Nguyen Van Dan Institute of Social Sciences Information Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Reviewers 3: Ph.Doctor. Nguyen Thị Kieu Anh Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 The thesis presented at Library of Hanoi University of Education At…… , date…… , month………., year 2015 The Thesis can be found at: National Library of Hanoi, Library of Hanoi University of Education INTRODUCTION 1. The reason for choosing subject 1.1. E Hemingway (1899 1961) is the great writer of the twentieth century humanity. He has left a strong impression in the reader not only in the literary art, but also through his life 1.2. E Hemingway explored and discovered to reflect on his writings the diversity of human life. He left a legacy for humanity literature not many in number, not abundant in the genre, but the works of E Hemingway were conveyed more pressing issues that contain the forever mankind 1.3. In Vietnam, E. Hemingway is one of the few foreign writers who are the most investing in translating and studying. The number of published books and especially the number of translations of his works have shown the interest of readers, researchers, critics, translators for this writer 1.4. There are many comments on “the world men without women” in the works of E Hemingway. It is suggested that E. Hemingway had an aversion to women Deploying the topic, we look forward to bringing a more comprehensive view of female characters in the works of E. Hemingway. To demonstrate another aspect: in E Hemingway’s iconic world, the female character still occupies a significant position as an inevitable part of life. The heroine of his work has contributed significantly to convey the artistic intention of the writer 1.5. The foreign researchers have applied the theory of feminist literary criticism to recognize the female characters in Hemingway's work, especially in the late twentieth century and early twentyfirst century, this method became popular. It creates a new look, a new debate in researching the work of E Hemingway for all these problems that seem to have an arrangement 2. Objects, mission, scope of the research 2.1. Study objects The thesis studied the female characters in E Hemingway’s short stories and novels to highlight E. Hemingway’s iconic heroine characteristics and related issues 2.2. Research mission Outline, summarize the main points of feminist theory Identify the system of female characters and their role in E. Hemingway’s works From theory “feminist critique”, explains some characteristics of female characters in E. Hemingway’s works Format E Hemingway's female characters in American traditional literary 2.3. Scope of the research The thesis focused on the E. Hemingway's works that have been translated in Vietnam, with the original reference (if necessary) and expanded into other works that have not been translated 3. Research methodology We apply some basic methods: systematic method; comparative method; methods of analysis and synthesis; Historical method; Interdisciplinary method 4. Contribution of the thesis 4.1. This is the first project in Vietnam study of female characters in E. Hemingway’s works in a systematic way 4.2. Codify some features of iconic female characters in American literature 4.3. Clarify female characters in E. Hemingway’s works 4.4. Provide a new approach to E. Hemingway’s works 5. Structure of the thesis To study the subject, apart from the introduction, conclusion, appendices, references, we deploy the thesis in four chapters as follows: Chapter One: Overview of Research Issues Chapter Two: E. Hemingway’s female characters in American traditional feminist literature Chapter three: Correlation female – male characters Chapter four: Feminist over formatting female characters Chapter 1 OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ISSUES 1.1. The research on the female characters in E.Hemingway’s works through Vietnamese We have spent more than half a century to receive and study the works of Hemingway. He is one of the foreign literary authors studied most in Vietnam. Many contents in Hemingway's works have been mentioned, but the issues of the female characters have not been studied in a comprehensive and satisfactory way It can be seen in the first stage, the researchers focused on introducing the identity, the life, and the representative works of Hemingway. The later, they focused on the contents: The Principle of Iceberg, the dialogue art, the interior monologue art, the symbolism art, the art of character show, and the art of using of space and time, etc. There has not yet any researches in which the female characters in Hemingway's works selected as independent bodies to investigate Here, we go through some related contents: In 1985, in the introduction to the book Ernest Hemingway A day’s wait by the Cultural Association published Nghia Binh, Mai Quoc Lien said about the social trends shown by the character Margaret (Magot) in the work The short happy life of Francis Macomber In 1992, Western Literature syllabus (Episode 3) was published, Hemingway’s works were officially taught in Vietnamese schools. The author, Dang Anh Dao had some comments on the character in A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls. These are practical suggestions giving us bases to assess the female characters In 1997, Phan Quang Dinh wrote The vibrant life with enthusiasts of Hemingway. The book has provided a number of important issues, especially information about Hemingway's relationship with women In his studies, especially in The novel of Hemingway, published by Social Sciences Publishing House in 1999, Le Dinh Cuc has had direct comments on the female characters in Hemingway's works Le Huy Bac has continued to generalize this content in Ernest Hemingway Iceberg and knights, published by Education Publishing House in 1999 In 2001, Education Publishing House published Hemingway the sky of art. Some authors of this book as Le Nguyen Can, Le Hai Phong, Le Tay have mentioned the female characters and the related issues Despite preliminary, some authors have stated the correct remarks on the female characters in the works of Hemingway. Particularly, two researchers Le Dinh Cuc, Le Huy Bac have made specific, accurate and scientific interpretations on the female characters in Hemingway's works 1.2. The research on the female characters in Hemingway’s works through English The study of the female character in Hemingway’s works in other countries has been focused more than in Vietnam. Although, we have not found the independent work on the female characters in Hemingway's work, there are many articles as well as comments on this content The book Hemingway: A Collection of Critical Esays, edited by Robert P. Weeks, and published by Prentice Hall, in 1962. In the two works: Men without Women by Leslie Fiedler and The death of love in "The Sun Also Rises" by Mark Spilka, the authors have mentioned several features of building the character in Hemingway's works and explained how to show the female characters through the character Brett in The Sun Also Rises In Ernest Hemingway: The Critical Reception, edited by Robert O. Stephens, published in 1977, when judging the plot as well as the way of building the characters and the relationships among the characters in The Sun Also Rises, the writer has made remarkable insights about the relationship between the female and the male characters In 1983, Robert A Lee compiled Ernest Hemingway: New Critical Essays. The book has collected a number of essays on the representative works of Hemingway as In Our Time, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, etc The researchers have made brief insights about the female characters, especially two characters Brett in The Sun Also Rises and Catherine in A Farewell to Arms In 1984, the University of Wisconsin published the book Ernest Hemingway The Writer in Context, edited by James Nagel It is 15 composed is the stage where the rights of women with systems theory to ensure its activities to achieve outstanding results. Hemingway saw it and reflected on their pages. His female characters bring the breath of feminism as an inevitable social life 16 Chapter 3 FEMALE – MALE CHARACTER CORRELATION It is not difficult to recognize the appearance in an overwhelming quantity of man world – male character in Hemingway’s works. There were times feminist critics impute Hemingway of having gender prejudices in this unusual correlation. However, if feminist criteria are taken into consideration, female roles are not obscured despite the paucity of female characters 3.1 Female characters in quantity aspect As surveying Hemingway’s 55 shortstories and 8 novels, the quantity of female characters being named does not reach to 30. The unnamed ones are also equivalent. Being divided by the ratio, each of 2 Hemingway’s works, a female character appears once. In the main character perspective, there are female characters among all of Hemingway’s novels and short stories In order to explain this, it is suggested that the gender unbalance appears in Hemingway’s works because of his enmity against women. Several studies abroad have confirmed this From the fact that woman image does not appear much in Hemingway’s works; or if it exists, it seems to be very complicated, challenging or sometimes is considered as the threat to men. Several researchers arrive at a conclusion that this is an act of revenge or somehow a “reaction” of Hemingway to woman It is compulsive if it is observed in that way Real literature composing shows that it is not always true when having an aversion to 17 someone; the writers will not let them appear in their papers or make them be punished or become demons Studying on the huge array of content that E Hemingway expressed such as boxing, hunting, war, bullfighting there are few scenes for female characters. At a certain angle, the decision of not mentioning a lot about female characters seems to be the converse proofs to these given allegations. It proves that Hemingway also has some clear considerations to women 3.2 Gender relationships and the abnormalities about sex and gender Gender relationships in Hemingway’s works express many abnormalities about sex and gender. This, to an aspect, contributes to reveal and define the role of female characters Researchers abroad have soon discussed sex and gender issues in Hemingway’s work, especially within the beginning years of 21st century until recently. The published materials on Hemingway’s real life and the expansion of research trends have created conditions to cognize the issue in a more specific and objective way. In this point, researchers have focused on analyzing the masochism spots, homosexuality and abnormal gender relationships in the system of characters that Hemingway built 3.2.1. About "masochism" and the suffering of men "Masochism" is a form of unusual sex of group sexual deviance. In English, it is the masochism. The name is derived from an Austrian Sacher Masoch writer (18361895). In some of his works, this writer has described the sexual activity is not normal behavior 18 with the trait of masochism, so they took him to name for this syndrome. When talking about masochism, sexual violence in Hemingway's works, researchers can compare the methods used to build his characters and Masoch Imprint of masochism in Hemingway's works is evaluated in terms of: The pain, torment of the characters in the attachment relationship The inability of the characters, especially male characters The breakdown in the relationship between men and women: husband and wife, mistress The wounds suffered by characters Especially in the works of Hemingway, the mark of masochism is showed much more in the male characters From the feminist perspective to recognize the relationship of female sexuality and male character we can be seen masochism for male characters as a process of denying the role of dominant men 3.2.2. The complexity of gender Indeed, few authors have built the kind of unusual characters like Hemingway. In his work, we can see the female characters from non woman or the male characters that do not carry full Masculinities as usual 3.2.2.1. Trends and the feminine gender swap We can see very feminine stamp indelibly on Hemingway's works. Even the works which are absent women character we still find it with some expressions: 19 The appearance of the male characters in some of the works of Hemingway also marked femininity Hemingway’s male characters are most active, present as "muscle man" but they are human compassion and love Even the area reserved for masculinity mentioned above still has the mark of femininity: The hunter is sad when the animal is killed, the bullfighting boxer is face to face with himself after killing the animal, the soldiers’ suffering, sadness, concern after destroying enemies Hemingway's characters sometimes beyond normal standards which had been the default gender: Men carry traits women and vice versa In conclusion, it stays most of the traits in terms of territory still deep feminine in the same characters in both male and female characters in Hemingway’s works. Feminine marked up system to universal character both men and vice versa, Hemingway contributed to erase the boundaries seem to have authentication over time between masculine and feminine. The "standard deviation" of the female characters created by Hemingway shows elements of social change was strongly influenced women to look and how Hemingway built in his female characters 3.2.2.2. Imprints of gay relationships in feminist The phenomenon of gay characters in Hemingway's works has been recognized and evaluated by many researchers. Another noteworthy point is the expression of the female homosexuality is mentioned more The way that Hemingway mentions gay (male and female) is very special. He did not delve into the abnormal sex of the character 20 that is almost "normalize" them. Readers rarely stop to wonder about the gender of the character that is often caught up in the events of their lives, and they experience the ups and downs of life. It shows the "woman trend" in his thinking. On the one hand, it describes the feminist struggle female male, on the other hand it shows absolutely no winner of the women in maledominated society 3.3. Portray female characters from the feminist perspective 3.3.1. The external view It is easy to see the majority of the women that Hemingway described not bad. The female bias of the writer obviously reflected this. They may have unusual features: unusually fat, stubborn, manly But there are not any female characters that leave an impression on the outside looks ugly Writers often use external characters to show the character under several typical: the appearance is similarity with personality; the appearance contrasts with personality; the appearance changes with personality, life circumstances The way Hemingway describe the female appearance is not located in one of the above formats. He is not intended to use the appearance to express personality, characters’ internal thoughts. In Hemingway's works, the appearance has helped establish the position of female characters in his writings 3.3.2. Description of action to assert women's rights heroine Hemingway's characters are action figures. The writer has created the environment for their characters floundered. Researchers 21 have shown that most of the actions in Hemingway's works are strong, masculine and humane: antiwar, love nature, precious human lives One especial thing is Hemingway hardly distinctive realm of action for the female characters. Thereby, we can see the look of Hemingway is deeply feminist. The women, we can add one more assertion that there is an important place on the pages of Hemingway 22 Chapter 4 WOMEN'S RIGHTS THROUGH THE FORMAT FEMALE CHARACTER In this chapter, apply theoretical feminist critique theoretic, namely the feminine form (feminist identity), we indicate some kinds of the female characters Thereby, shows that the way which Hemingway processed the art image and what were his contributions to talk positively about women's rights 4.1. The woman "wound" and loneliness As mentioned, most of Hemingway's characters carrying the wounds that cannot heal The portraits of the women with the "wounds" and the gap of the loneliness appeared immediately in the first works of Hemingway and followed all the way his work Female characters in Hemingway's works are very sensitive. They have a deep sense of life, the world and especially about men. Put in the context of war and other awful conditions, they are easy to be vulnerable Like the male characters, female characters have two kinds of injuries: The physical injuries and mental injuries However, the mental injuries occupy main position. Hemingway's characters always desire empathy, understanding and sharing Unfortunately, most of them do not achieve the desire 23 Express the pain, the loneliness of a woman that were written, Hemingway has been shown the dramatic era of "forgettable Generation" 24 4.2. The woman "termagant" Factor "termagant" of female characters in Hemingway's works expressed in the basic points below: 4.2.1 The women who maltreated, dominated, caused the death and trouble for men 4.2.2. The adulterous women 4.3. The degraded natural function woman The degradation of the natural function is also a form of "wound" in Hemingway's female characters. The nature of the women in the works of Hemingway is slowly fading. They changed about identity, personality, attitude and action. Almost every character of Hemingway can not be motherhood Some feminist trends blame for reproductive potential of women, and regard it as a cause of inequality for women which push them into position to serve men. However, we think this is not the propensity that makes Hemingway deprive the birth rights of woman giving birth (in terms of composition). The more important than that is the writer reflects the tragic era in which his characters experienced 4.4. The woman "the light of the world" Although there are women who abused men (temporarily supposition), the adulteress, even murder, but basically the female characters (as well as male character) in Hemingway's works all have the good qualities. They dare to live with their feelings, go to the end of what 25 they think is right, never accept the cowardliness, infamousness. Even in many works, the women are emotional support for men 4.5. Brett woman "bisexual" Brett is not only the first central female character first but also the unique in the novels by Hemingway. Therefore, it is subject which many scholars are interested in studying about the characters in his works Brett represents a character "bisexual" that Hemingway built successfully. Brett "bisexual" in many aspects: The appearance (both feminine beauty and manly beauty); actions (both strong, manly way and weakness as a female); mood (both vandalism, swaggering and just pain, weakness) Brett seems to converge totally characteristics of the female characters of Hemingway Although Hemingway does not write much about female characters because of some reasons which mentioned, we can see that Hemingway had great contribution in building the image of women in American literature The classification is the relative because Hemingway is not extreme in anything. The issues that he wrote in his works are always interference and female characters are too 26 CONCLUSION It is undeniable that stamp of feminism from family to society, has a direct impact to Ernest Hemingway and his methods of work. Survey of Hemingway’s female characters, we found that there were many criteria, characteristics which were close to those characteristics that feminist and feminist critics had raised: About woman does not have the ability to give birth? About masochism and gender swapping About lesbians On the classification of character class However, Hemingway was never a slave of the philosophy, the more impossible that his work is to illustrate that philosophy. Women rights to Hemingway are only the aspects of his colorful life which he has witnessed and experienced and convey it into the pages of his writing Feminist critics are a school which has social, political nature. It is influenced by political and social issues directly. Looking at the historical development of feminist criticism, we can find it attached to the landmark of fighting to confirm feminism, confirm the status of women in society. Hemingway was one of the witnesses of the time of the height in the feminist struggle. His life and works are also given to dissect and judge by the feminist. But parallel with it, the era when Hemingway lived there were many events even bigger than the long struggle for the rights of sex and gender Two World Wars have claimed the lives of millions of people, the development, and the change of social after the war that many people found the boundary 27 between life and death, between fantasy and reality which is so fragile. Pain, emptiness, loneliness became the regular haunt in the heart of each person regardless of male or female. Thus the factors which were thought that marked feminist in methods of expressing the character of Hemingway describes the anomaly of the times rather than conveys the intention of a philosophy The number of women’s characters which, indeed, appears in the Hemingway’s opuses is too little compared to what he had conveyed and expressed What it brings, however, perhaps surpassed the authors’ expectations It could be said that it is too rare for any literary imageries to create mixed and varied opinions, as Hemingway’s women’s character With the heroine's journey in the flow of American literature, Hemingway has contributed a unique displayed method and more than that, not only in the scope of women's rights (or counter feminist), his women's imagery conveyed the spirit age and the deep human values The purpose of the format of Hemingway heroine is only to understand and see more clearly in the personality traits of character, not to put character into each specific type Similarly, although the issues of sex, gender which Hemingway rendered in his work brought many unusual features, it was not extraordinary. Hemingway acknowledged this with a magnanimous way and he passed this feeling to the reader comments to the final mark of abnormal sex, sex is empathy and sharing in a very humane way 28 It could be said that the little amount is too unusual, but the heroine system in Hemingway's works conveyed a greater reflected capacity REFERENCES 1. Le Lam (2007), "The necessity of integrating Foreign literature sub subject into literature frame program of pre university course", Educational Review (178), p. 13 14 2. Le Lam (2008), "From the characteristics of building animals image in Ernest Hemingway's works, providing students with additional approach to animals image in the novel The Old man and the Sea", Educational Review, (Special Issue's), p. 25 28 3. Le Lam (2010), "Animals in the works of Jack London and Ernest Hemingway", Journal of ScienceHanoi University of Education (55), p. 57 63 Le Lam (2010), "Symbolic significance of animals in Ernest Hemingway works", Americas TodayInstitute of American studies, p. 55 62 Le Lam (2012), "The female character in Hemingway's works", Journal of Science Hanoi University of Education (57), p. 37 42 6. Le Lam (2012), "Sex and gender in Ernest Hemingway works", Journal of Science Hanoi University of Education 2, (21), p. 38 47 ... interpretations on the female characters in Hemingway' s works 1.2. The research on the female characters in Hemingway s works through English The study of the female character in Hemingway s works in other ... by Social Sciences Publishing House in 1999, Le Dinh Cuc has had direct comments on the female characters in Hemingway' s works Le Huy Bac has continued to generalize this content in Ernest Hemingway Iceberg and knights, published by Education Publishing ... etc. There has not yet any researches in which the female characters in Hemingway' s works selected as independent bodies to investigate Here, we go through some related contents: In 1985, in the introduction to the book Ernest Hemingway A