Love Relationships In Couples In Ernest Hemingway’s Short Stories

Chapter 2

Love Relationships in Couples in Ernest Hemingway’s Short Stories

The love relationship in couples in Ernest Hemingway stories is based on unshared feelings. Hemingway creates the female characters to be supportive and loving, who at the end are disappointed, and the male characters to be uncaring and unloving with their partners.

This type of relationship in couples supposedly came from the author’s own life experience. Ernest Hemingway never heals from the emotional damage implemented by his mother, evident in the dysfunctional relationships in his short stories. His mother was a domineering type, who used to call him Ernestine, and dressed him like a girl. Hemingway saw the way his mother abused his father, who was suffering from diabetes. He is worried that he will end up like him, a man who was emasculated and controlled by his wife. This fear, made it impossible for Ernest Hemingway to establish a healthy man-woman relationship.

Another reason for what he creates this type of relationship between the couples is that he was constantly married to another woman. He falls in love with Agnes von Kurowsky and plan to marry her, but she left him for another man. He was devastated but he focused on writing. The biographer Jeffrey Meyers said that Hemingway was devastated by Agnes’ rejection and in his future relationships he followed a pattern of abandoning a wife before she abandoned him.After a while, he married Hadley Richardson in 1922, his first wife, and they went to Europe. A year later they had a child. As Meyers said, “With Hadley, Hemingway achieved everything he had hoped for with Agnes: the love of a beautiful woman, a comfortable income, a life in Europe”.

I associated the need that the American wife from “Cat in the Rain” had to have a cat, to the moment Hadley was pregnant. He gave acceptance to a concept in which the women lost themselves upon marriage and maybe that is why he did not give names to these characters.

The short stories “Cat in the Rain” (1925) and “Hills like White Elephants” (1927) were written in the period of marriage with Hadley. The fact that he lives in Europe when he is writing is a reason why the action from this short stories is in the same place. In 1927 he divorces Hadley Richardson and marries Pauline Pfeiffer, the woman who caused his divorce. They got back in America in 1928. They had two sons, Patrick and Gregory. The short story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1935) was written after Hemingway and Pauline went on a safari to East Africa, and as reflected in the story, he was evacuated by plane. In 1937 while reporting on The Spanish Civil War met a fellow, Martha Gelhorn who will soon be wife number three, after he will divorce Pauline. Their marriage lasts until 1945, when he marries Mary Welsh.

Hemingway’s father suicide affected him a lot and he chooses to end his days like his father did. Another aspect is that his father had diabetes and Hemingway suffered from liver disease and high blood pressure. I think this is a thing they had in common and even if he did not want to end up like his father, he did.

The short stories “Cat in the Rain”, “Hills like White Elephants” and “The Snow of Kilimanjaro” best illustrate this type of relationship.

Cat in the Rain

“Cat in the Rain” is about an American couple on vacation in Italy. Their hotel room faces the sea, the public garden and a war monument. That day it was raining and George, the husband was lying on the bed reading, while his wife was looking out the window and saw a cat. She expressed his wish to get the cat into the hotel room. The husband offered him to bring her up, but he just wanted to be polite, because he does not get off the bed to go. The wife goes down to the lobby where the hotel owner rises and bows to her , and when he saw that she wants to go outside , in the rain, he sends the maid with an umbrella . She does not find the cat and goes into the room upset, complaining to her husband how much she wants the cat, but he ignores her. Then, she looked in the mirror and asked him if she should grow her hair out, but his answer was:”- I like it the way it is! “. Then she starts to complain about her needs, about her wishes, but the husband tells her to “shut up and get something to read!”- .And after that, the maid knocked at the door, she brought a cat, at the request of the hotel keeper.

Their relationship as a couple is not a good one. The author uses the cat to compare it with the wife, to show that she was not loved by her husband. The wife feels lonely, unhappy. She feels neglected, like the cat is: “-It isn’t any fun to be a poor kitty out in the rain.” Her husband does not pay attention to his wishes, to his feelings, that is why she wants to have a cat, because she feels the need to give her love, her attention to “this poor kitty”.

The description of the American wife is almost nonexistent in the story. The only description that the author makes is about her hair, which is close like a boy’s:” -I get so tired of looking like a boy.” Based on this description and George’s answer “-I like it the way it is.”, meaning short hair, like a boy’s, which is not feminine, the author suggest the lack of passion that is between the couple.

The relationship that Hemingway wants to show is based on his own fear, that man should not be emasculated by woman, and that is why he builds the masculine characters to be strong, and the female ones weaker, with emotional issues.

The way the wife tells her needs, shows a step into Hemingway’s female evolution. She is not afraid to express herself and she found the courage to do it. She expresses this desire for material things, which comes from an inability to receive her husband’s attention, his affection.

“I want to pull my hair back tight and smooth and make a big knot at the back that I can feel.”, she said.[…] “And I want to eat at a table with my own silver and I want candles. And I want to be spring and I want to brush my hair out in front of a mirror and I want a kitty and I want some new clothes.”[…] “Anyway, I want a cat”, she said, “I want a cat. I want a cat now. If I can’t have long hair or any fun, I can have a cat.”

(Hemingway, 1987:110)

The American wife noticed that the hotel-keeper pays more attention to her than her husband does, that is why she liked him. The feeling of being important for someone was a big important thing to her. She noticed that he listened to every request and word of her’s.

” The wife liked him. She liked the deadly serious way he received any complaints. She liked his dignity. She liked the way he wanted to serve her. She liked the way he felt about being a hotel-keeper. She liked his old, heavy face and big hands”.[…] “The padrone made her feel very small and at the same time really important. She had a momentary feeling of being a supreme importance.”

(Hemingway 1987: 109-110)

Hills like White Elephants

“Hills like White Elephants” is about a conversation between an American man and a young woman who are waiting for a train from Barcelona to Madrid and having some beers outside the railway station bar. The story begins with a description of the view of the river Ebro and the white hills beyond it. They are talking about the hills nearby, which the girl say they look like white elephants and the man tells her that he has never seen one. They order more drinks, and the man suggests that he wants her to perform an operation. This operation is actually an abortion. He does not see the risks of this operation for her, he even says that this kind of operation “it’s not really an operation at all”. He is agitated because their relationship has a problem and the only thing that will bring them back together is the performance of this abortion. She says she will do the abortion because she does no longer cares about herself, but the man says she should not do this for this reason. He reassures that things will be like before. He even says in a line that “-I’m perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you.” They have been arguing for some time, until the girl gets tired and asked him to” -stop talking”. The bartender brings them two more beers and announces them that the train comes in five minutes. The man helps her with the bags and asks her if she feels better, her answer being “-There’s not wrong with me. I feel fine”.

In this short story, the author does not use any description for the characters, not even a description of their clothing. The only thing we know about the girl is that the American man calls her “Jig”. The characters do not have names. The female is called “the girl”, and the male “the man”.

The relationship between them is not a good one. They are drinking alcohol throughout their conversation to avoid each other and the problems they have. The man is a manipulator, who beliefs deep inside him that the idea of making an abortion is the best option that exists. He sees this child like a problem that needs to be fixed, and tries to convince her too. He blames this child for their unhappiness. The man is not ready for such a responsibility, and tries to place it on her shoulders. He is not very convinced of what he is saying, that is why he uses the words “I wouldn’t have you to do it if you didn’t want to.” Every clue that the author gives in the story, refers to this.

"We'll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.”

"What makes you think so?"

"That's the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy."[…]

"And you think then we'll be all right and be happy." "I know we will. You don't have to be afraid. I've known lots of people that have done it."[…]

“I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don't really want to. I wouldn't have you do it if you didn't want to.”

(Hemingway 1987: 169)

From the American man’s point of view, this abortion is a “simple operation”. He only analyses their relationship from his own perspective. He does not think of the girl’s emotional and physical damage, how this abortion will affect her. "-It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig," the man said. "It's not really an operation at all."

The evolution of the female character in this short story is achieved gradually. At the beginning she is depending upon the American man, she is not even able to order a drink without his help, because he was the one who speaks Spanish. Throughout the story, the girl appears helpless, indecisive, confused. But later, she realizes that even if she has the abortion, their relationship would not return to how it used to be, they cannot have the “whole world” like they once did.

"We can have everything."

"No, we can't."

"We can have the whole world."

"No, we can't."

"We can go everywhere."

"No, we can't. It isn't ours anymore."

"It's ours."

"No, it isn't. And once they take it away, you never get it back."

(Hemingway 1987: 170)

At the end she is more confident in herself and more conscious of what to expect from the man. She even has the courage to tell him to shut up. The way she says it, repeating the word “please” for seven times, indicates how bored she is of his fake attitude and tired, exhausted to hear the same old story over and over again.

"Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?"

(Hemingway 1987:170)

At the end of the story, when he asked her if she feels better, her answer was:”-I feel fine …That’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” which I can tell that has a little of sarcasm in it.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” is about a married couple, Harry and his wife, Helen, during a safari in Africa. Their truck broke down, a bearing burned out and Harry suffered a gangrene that has infected his leg because he did not applied iodine after he scratched it. Until the plane is coming to rescue them, Harry is drinking whisky soda, insults Helen and realizes that he spent his talent marring with a wealthy woman that he does not love. Harry is got a series of flashbacks , where he sees himself , first on the mountains of Bulgaria, after being alone in Paris, and then an American poet is talking about some things, while is watching people to write about. Knowing that he will die, he goes to sleep and he is dreaming about the plane that is going to rescue and taking him to the highest mountain in Africa, Kilimanjaro. Outside the tent, the hyena made a strange, human, almost crying sound, so loud that she wakes up Helen and then sees that Harry’s leg is dangling alongside the cot, he calls his name repeatedly, but without any answer. After that, she could not hear his breathing.

Harry is a frustrated man who married his wife, Helen, for her money. Their relationship is not a healthy one. While Helen is trying to help him, is trying to make him feel more comfortable until the plane is coming to rescue them, he is insulting her, is hurting her feelings for his one amusement. “-I’ll go on hurting you. It’s more amusing”. He is unconfident that the rescue plane will come, so the situation itself makes him irritable, he quarrels with his wife over everything, and the way that he speaks about his one death makes Helen very upset. He feels the need to contradict her with everything she says, and their interests are not the same.”-You give a damn about so many things that I don’t”.

The way they are thinking is completely different and their opinion contradicts. For example when she says:

"-If you have to go away," she said, "is it absolutely necessary to kill off everything you leave behind? I mean do you have to take away everything? Do you have to kill your horse and your wife and burn your saddle and your armour?” "Yes," he said. "Your damned money was my armour. My Swift and my Armour."

(Hemingway 1987:49)

She is talking about her feelings, but few further lines, he says "I don't like to leave anything," the man said. "I don’t like to leave things behind." thing that demonstrate that he is not as cruel as he want to be.

Harry’s frustration comes from the lack of inspiration that he had and he is blaming his wife because due to her money, he occupied his mind with other things instead of writing. He takes everything for granted, and now that he is dying, he is thinking how he could have appreciated more every single thing. Their relationship is built on lies, conditional love from her, which in return she does not receive love, but lies. A good example is when Harry said that he never loved her, and further lines he said that he loves her in a way he did not loved anyone like her.

“Why, I loved you. That’s not fair. I love you now. I’ll always love you. Don’t you love me?”

“No”, said the man. “I don’t think so. I never have.”

[…]

” Don’t pay attention, darling, to what I say. I love you, really. You know I love you. I’ve never loved anyone else the way I love you.”

(Hemingway 1987: 48- 49)

In the short stories “Cat in the Rain” and “Hills like White Elephants”, the characters are American peoples and the place is set in Europe. Hemingway is calling them: ”American man”, “American young lady” instead of giving names to the characters.

In all this three short stories, Ernest Hemingway built the female character to be weak, to suffer, to show unconditional love for the man, even if in the end they will suffer. Although he created the female character weak, I can see a difference, a change of perspective, an evolution from the beginning of the story to the end. At the beginning, all female characters are fragile, with some emotional issues unsolved, but gradually they try to overcome their problems, find the courage, the voice to do it. This is a step in female evolution. As Linda Wagner-Martin said, “even though Hadley missed her child, she knew that staying close to Ernest was her primary role in life”. She supported her husband with all her power even that means she stays away from her child. One reason for what Hemingway talks about female evolution in his short stories is that he had been through his first divorce, one that Hadley field. Hemingway wrote Hadley a letter in which he said that “she was brave and unselfish and generous and he would never have written any of the books if he had not been married with her.”

Hemingway built the male characters strong, with power, uncaring and unloving with his partners due to his own life experience. His father was emasculated by his mother, and because he did not want to end up like him, tries and built characters which prove the contrary. I think it is his own way to protect, to defend himself from this trauma that was implemented in his mind. Although all male characters are strong at the beginning, later they have a problem, a weakness, and I think this also comes from his father issues, who had diabetes.

The difference that I see is that, at the beginnings of the short stories, female characters are with unsolved issues, and the male are strong with no problems. But then, they switch roles. At the end of the stories, the female are fine, with their problems solved, even partial, and the male suffer, or die.

Hemingway uses the Iceberg technique in his short stories which reveals only a part of the story to the audience, and the other part is letting to the reader to discover.