The Test of Manhood in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms

Abstract

The present study discusses the masculine identity of Frederic Henry, the main character in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. In the past, literary critics had identified Hemingway’s main male characters as individuals that demonstrate tough masculine traits. In contrast to the previous critics’ views, I argue that Hemingway’s central male character, namely Henry is in struggle with regard to his masculine social positions and he is hardly able to prove his masculinity. Moreover, in marked contrast to the previous emphases on biographical readings and psychoanalytical analyses of the novels, this study pays careful attention to the social construction of the masculine identity of Henry. My discussion of the subject is based on the social construction of manhood. This involves examining the motives that lead Henry to participate in the First World War. Henry has no way except rebuilding his masculine identity by joining the war. However, he soon finds out that being involved in the war is not a way to assert his masculine identity. In other words, the war leaves him disenchanted with his search for manhood. Consequently, he is overwhelmed by his disenchantment with his desperate attempts to rebuild his masculine identity as he is eventually unable to find happiness by asserting his manhood neither in the battlefield nor in family life. He becomes distraught and desperate due to the death of his lover Catherine and her stillborn child. Thus, Henry fails in his attempts to prove his manhood

Keywords

• Hemingway, Crisis of Masculinity, Gender Roles, Henry, Construction of Masculine Identity, A Farewell to Arms