A BUTLERIAN READING OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY’S PERSONALITY AND HIS WORKS

This study aims at analyzing Hemingway’s selected novels and short stories in order to identify possible shared masochistic symptoms. The overriding questions concerning this paper will center on the multiple ways in which Hemingway’s sexual fluidity contributes to formation of masochistic behavior in his writings and also the degree to which masochistic properties contributed to the aesthetic and literary values of his fiction. This paper concentrates on the specific elements of masochism which pertain to the texts most, including symbiosis/separation dichotomy (closely related to the theme of humiliation), fetishism, pain, violence and death. The author wishes to unveil the oft-hidden submissive and feminine characteristics of the masculine characters which are not few in Hemingway’s writings.


Introduction
Ernest Hemingway is regarded as one of the best prose writers in American literary canon since the time of the great Romantics of nineteenth century.During his professional literary career, he was always the subject of news and gossips due to his personal demeanor which included sport activities or outlandish outfit.The controversies over his public and private life has lived on so that it has created a mythical or a legendary figure out of him.Just as he romanticized his heroes, people of the twenties, thirties and forties had an anomalous interest in exaggerating and romanticizing any event that was even remotely associated with him.However, unlike in his personal and social life, Hemingway was never a flamboyant figure when it came to his style.Hemingway is the most celebrated heir of an American tradition that valued American eccentricities and spirit of individualism and placed it as its highest subject matter.
The once prevalent image of Hemingway in literary circle, an ultimate American masculinist, heavy drinker, big game hunter, deep sea fisher and bullfight aficionado, has its roots in more than a simple adventure-seeking personality.Hemingway's overt and patent application of violence in both short and long fiction can be traced back to years when he was no more than a young boy.As attested by his siblings and his biographers, Ernest's father, Dr. Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a local physician who bears a striking resemblance to the image of Nick's father in Indian Camp, "suffered from unpredictable and dramatic mood swings characterized by episodes of depression and irritability".( Martin,3).
As a strict and demanding father, he used to punish the children on various occasions and in different ways which included using a razor strop or frightening them by threatening to send them to state prison (Stanford,19).This caused a deep-rooted feeling of vexation in young Ernest in particular so that, as biographies attest, "he had wished his father dead [many times in his childhood] and had [virtually] pointed a loaded gun at his head" (Martin,6).The father's distressed periods of nervous conditions had an inevitable imprint on other members of the family, leaving them, as in Ernest's case, heirs to psychic liability for mood inconsistencies and character oscillation.Ernest's relation with his mother, too, was problematic.Jon Dos Passos, a writer/friend of Hemingway, describes Hemingway as "the only man I ever knew who really hated his mother."He is said to have referred to his mother as "that bitch".The reason behind this blatant hatred toward his mother can be traced back to the years of Hemingway's early childhood when Grace used to dress Ernest as a girl, let his hair grow long, and pass him as Marceline's (Ernest's older sister) twin, despite the difference in size.Thus, as Martin notes "Grace's inconsistency regarding gender may have been confusing and difficult for the young boy to reconcile, possibly influencing him toward overt masculine pursuits later in adult life" (6).The anger he bore toward his father, along with the inconsistencies regarding the issue of gender and identity caused by the incoherent treatment by his mother, tended to spill over throughout his adult life and career in the form of the androgynous inclinations which are in stark opposition to the mythic Machismo picture Hemingway wished to portray of himself.
The abounding public-social life and the convoluted inner world of Hemingway which informed his writings are, at the same time, both products of and defense mechanism against his painful mental states.In addition to a lifelong store of anger and a predisposition for violence, Hemingway carried, almost throughout his entire life, a strong bipolar tendency during which, as Baker describes: "the pendulum in his nervous system swung periodically through the full arc from megalomania to melancholy" (291), meaning that the strength of his mood swing has been to the extent in which he seemed to be both exhilarated and under stressed and depressed.
This research aims directly at analyzing Hemingway's selected novels and short stories in order to discover their common ground with respect to their masochistic properties.The overriding questions concerning this paper will revolve around the multiple ways in which Hemingway's sexual fluidity contributes to the formation of masochistic behavior in his writings and also the degree to which masochistic properties contributed to the aesthetic and literary values of his writings.

Methodology:
With its subversive touch, post-modern era has converted Hemingway into one of its best examples for analyzing the monolithic masculinity, which aims at subverting such societal hegemony.In the same vein, the field of Hemingway studies can be divided into two major mainstreams.The early phase of criticism covers the timespan during which critics were, for the most part, focused on the stylistics and the highly projected thematic properties of his writings.In their literature, the readers came across the following phrases more than often: Hemingway as the emblem of "Lost Generation" writers; Hemingway as the inventor of the "ice-berg theory"; "Papa Hemingway"; Hemingway as the epitome of the American masculine vogue and pursuits, etc.
However, the trend began to change after the pace and agitation of the first wave of criticism came to a stall.A host of factors have contributed to the emergence of the second phase of Hemingway criticism, among which, the rise of the second wave of feminism can be singled out as the leading one.
Mid-1980s was a time during which the second wave of feminism was being shaped and feminist activists were inheriting the ideas of the second wave of feminism in their theory and practice.The Second Wave feminism was, in fact, a delayed and long-awaitedfor response to the domestic image of women produced after the Second World War.During 1950s, America was witnessing a wide range of changes in the social domain.The country was prospering and the baby boom years followed as a natural outcome.American nuclear family was the prime example of the notion of family being advertised at the time and a culture of consumerism placed women at home with all sorts of advanced home appliances.These and a host of other socio-political events prepared the ground for the emergence of the second wave of feminism with an emphasis on the sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, and both de facto and de jure inequalities.Many feminist activists at the time criticized the nuclear family notion on the ground that placing women at home would limit their possibilities and waste their potentials.The perfect nuclear family image depicted and strongly marketed at the time did not reflect happiness and was rather degrading for women.In her best-selling book, Betty Frieden, introduces an ironical portrayal of women of the 50s and before, stating that: They [women] were taught to pity the neurotic, unfeminine, unhappy women who wanted to be poets or physicists or presidents.They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights_ the independence and the opportunities that the old-fashioned feminists fought for.(16) Second Wave Feminists seek to abolish patriarchy.The general assumption in feminist theory is that, due to patriarchy, women have come to be viewed as the "other" to the male norm and, as such, have been systematically oppressed and marginalized.By exerting its control over non-dominant men and all women, the patriarchal system is benefiting from this marginalization, feminists claim.According to Moya LIoyd "patriarchal society takes certain features of male and female biology and turns them into a set of gendered characteristics 'that serve to empower men and disempower women.'These characteristics are then presented as the natural attributes of males and females, respectively" (29).
Heterosexuality is one of the main components of patriarchy.In a feminist view, heterosexuality provides a social privilege for men to establish their assumed superiority in its very primitive form.As in most other binary oppositions, heterosexuality consists of two diverse poles where one's superiority leads, inevitably to the other's inferior status.The notion of "compulsory heterosexuality", a term first used by Adrienne Rich, creates more and more boundaries for both men and women in that, in its basic denotation, it rejects the existence of a choice in one's sexuality, labeling anyone who diverges from the heterosexual network's normalcy as abnormal or even ex-communicated.Heterosexuality is further reinforced through the practice of such male-dominant social constructs including politics, marriage, media, law, literature and religion.In all of them, compulsory heterosexuality as a means of assuring male right of physical, economic, and emotional access keeps the convention of female disempowerment intact through heterosexual relationships and as such removes the possibility for the growth of other form of sexualities.
This transition in the literary and political scene, concurrent with the posthumous publication of Garden of Eden, paved the way for a renewal in the oeuvre of Hemingway criticism.The publication of Garden, with its complex lucid female protagonist located at the center of the story, unveiled the mask that had long shadowed the real persona behind it.The problematic treatment of gender relationship throughout the plot brings gender issue to the forth and reminds the reader of the fact that gender has always been Hemingway's constant concern.Readers along with the critics began to view Hemingway as a man who is held so much of a captive inside the vortex of socio-sexual web which pushes him alongside the extremities of sexual and psychic pendulum; the Pundonor and Cojone, which define his characters in Death in the Afternoon, give way to the submissiveness and masochistic traits that we witness in the Garden.
Thus, in order to see through the real personality of Hemingway, in order to see the full arch, a re-visitation of Hemingway's text seems inevitable.The overall significance of this study lies in the emphasis on the performativity notions in the related field of gender studies and the psychosexual fluidity of the author as well as the characters.The specific significance of this study, however, is attributed to its emphasis on locating the masochistic properties of the texts, trying to define a new persona which was denied to (though desired and acknowledged by) Hemingway In its use of theories, the researcher attempts to follow a gender study approach with the main emphasis being placed on the performative quality of Hemingway and his characters' gender conflicts and its manifestations.To that end, the theories of Judith Butler will be taken into account and applied to the texts.In outlining her theories, Judith Butler locates herself as an offshoot of a number of literary and philosophical schools, ranging from Hegel's school of phenomenology to (a revolutionized) concept of feminism.
The field of feminism has always been a developing and self-correcting discipline.The terrain of feminism has seen differing phases initiating with the first wave of feminist activities in the 19 th and early decades of 20 th century.As expected, the calls and demands of the feminist activist in the early days were essentially basic in nature, emerging out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, socialist politics.The goal of this movement was to open up opportunities for women, with a focus on suffrage.
The span of the second wave of feminism covers three decades of 1960s, 70s, and 80s.It slightly continued into the 90's.As Rampton explains The second wave was increasingly theoretical, based on a fusion of neo-Marxism and psycho-analytical theory, and began to associate the subjugation of women with broader critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, normative heterosexuality, and the woman's role as wife and mother.Sex and gender were differentiated-the former being biological, and the latter a social construct that varies from one culture to another and over time.However, the discourse of feminism was taken a step further by the introduction of the theories of Judith Butler into its domain.It was primarily out of the sex/gender argument that Butler's ideas emerged.Judith Butler's main distinction and departure point from feminism is in her rejection of the natural basis for the notion of "sex".According to LIoyd: When feminists first began to theorize the sex/gender relation, the underlying assumption was that sex was both logically and chronologically prior to gender.Culturally determined gender norms, in other words, were conceptualized as secondary to natural sex.Gender was thus what was inscribed onto sex in some way.It is the priority of the relation between sex and gender that Butler problematizes.(32) The shift she makes in the existing theories of the time regarding the creation of the identity of individual men and women reverses the dominant feminist discourse in their essential prioritizing in the sex/gender dichotomies.Following her basic rejection of the origins of the two, she introduces the concept of gender performativity which assumes, as the name suggests, a performative nature of gendered and sexed identities.In Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990) which was later revised and rewritten in 2007, Butler develops her theory of gender performativity.The notion of gender performativity holds that "sex and gender are the effects rather than the causes of institutions, discourses and practices; in other words, you as a subject do not create or cause institutions, discourses and practices, but they create or cause you by determining your sex, sexuality and gender" (Sara Salih,10).
The link between Butler's dual notions of performativity and subjectivity lies in her argument that subjects do not become -as in de Beauvoir's term-men or women as a natural consequence of their sex.As Salih states 'woman' is something we 'do' rather than something we 'are' (10).However, unlike the lucid appearance of the term, Butler is not suggesting that gender identity is a performance.Instead, she proposes that the performance pre-exists the performer.In fact, she borrows Nietzsche's original assumption which he expounded in On the Genealogy of Morals.In that book, Nietzsche states that 'there is no "being" behind doing, acting, becoming; "the doer" is merely a fiction imposed on the doing -the doing itself is everything' (29).Believing so, Butler is removing any possibility of sexed or gendered identity as it was introduced even in the former context of feminism."When she articulates her own theory it is one in which sex, sexuality, desire, gender and body are all regarded as discursively constituted; where, in other words, none of these features is treated as a natural fact of human existence" (LIoyd, 30).
Her pivotal point, which relates to the present reading of Hemingway, is that identity is constructed through language and discourse.Butler asserts that the very language that is used to describe the body in fact constitutes it.The theory entailing such an assumption is her theory of gender performativity with its stress on the role of society and social constructs in the formation of gender which in its own turn lead to the creation of sex.
Kubiak describes the performative theory of Butler as follows: Judith Butler, in Gender Trouble and again in subsequent works, discusses gender in terms of what she calls performativity.Gender is not so much a construct or the "congealing" of a specific sexual identity; it is rather an enactment, a performed moment, in which sexual identity "becomes" through the moment of enactment in the body: "one is not simply a [gendered] body, but, in some very key sense, one does one's body " (1990:272).This performativity is not a performance, however.Performance as a more or less consciously elucidated act or series of acts can never be performative, in Butler's terms, because performance is too a priori, too conscious of itself and its biases and internal, social forces.Performance is more a showing than a becoming.The forces at work in performativity are more insidious, hidden, concealed, and self-concealing.(1) In this regard, categories such as gender, sex, and sexuality are conceived as cultural products which are positioned at a binary opposition alongside with heterosexually."As such, it came to be seen as problematic for many later feminists, such as Butler, who were more concerned with deconstructing this kind of binary opposition.Indeed, in Gender Trouble, Butler is rather concerned to examine the ways in which the categories of sex and/or gender come to be established as foundational and to analyze their pivotal role in the institution of 'compulsory heterosexuality'."(Jagger, 2008, 2).In other words, the symbolic apparatus such as biology, kinship and marriage are all socially constructed.

Discussion:
Since the researcher tries to follow the pattern of characters' sexual and psychic development and alteration by unveiling their masochistic elements and tendencies through the gender theories of Butler, a brief introduction on the nature and definition of masochism seems relevant here.The definition provided in Webster, Merriam Dictionary is as follows: 1: a sexual perversion characterized by pleasure in being subjected to pain or humiliation especially by a love object 2: pleasure in being abused or dominated: a taste for suffering.However, when locating the masochistic tendencies in a literary piece, the term does not necessarily connote a form of sexual anomaly as referred to in the definition.While examining a text in the light of its masochistic qualities, the critics try to unveil the conscious or unconscious acts of the characters which result in the agents' suffering and pain.The study can become particularly rewarding when it comes to (heterosexual) males who have a predisposition for what is known as feminine passivity or submissiveness which might at times verge on an act of sodomy.Hemingway's major works began to come into the light of the new lines of feminism and gender study theories so much so that the central conflict in his previous stories shifted from male-dominated worlds of war casualties and its psychological aftermaths to topics such as gender, male and female identity, sexual ambiguities and crossing of sexual boundaries.This is where the recent masochistic concepts meet the undertones in Hemingway's writings.
The emphasis of this paper, however, is to find evidence in the works of Hemingway in what pertains to the latter part of the definition; encompassing the quality of dominance, submissiveness and other masochistic elements located in his writings, including symbiosis/ separation dichotomy (which is closely related to the theme of humiliation to be discussed within the symbiosis/separation section), fetishism, pain, violence and death.

Symbiosis/Separation Dichotomy
One of the pivotal notions in the masochistic context and its related literature is the symbiosis/separation dichotomy.Symbiosis is the state of intense dependence on another agent for survival both physically and psychologically.The term has been originally introduced in the form of a myth of the creation and development of human beings as they are today in Plato's The Symposium where he refers to the number of sexes as three and not two: The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double nature, which had once a real existence, but is now lost, and the word "Androgynous" is only preserved as a term of reproach.
The idea behind this myth is the founding ground for many psychological hypotheses regarding man's sexual behavior; however, the common basis in all of them is that "this pursuit of the forever elusive union with the self is conducted through sexuality" (Fantina,48).Through androgyny, Hemingway removes the complexities and inconsistencies he bore within his psyche regarding the male-female relationship; by removing the barriers between the sexes, he also calls into question the topics of sexuality and gender.
The sexual quality of such a quest ties the symbiotic inclinations to the masochistic traits.Thus, relationships based on symbiosis/separation complex can be frequently found in masochistic literature.It also abounds in the stories of Hemingway."Hemingway's characters dwell so excessively upon the idea of symbiosis that they resist individuation and seek defiantly to remain within the protective sphere of the Other" (Fantina,48).The Indian husband in the story Indian Camp presents an ardent and lucid case of symbiosis/ separation duality which leads to his suicide.The degree of his dependence upon his wife is so strong that, once threatened by the looming death of his wife, he is unable to cope with the situation and seeks refuge in death in order to avoid leading a life in which the pillar of his identity-his wife-is missing.This is an instance of what Fantina refers to as "resistance to individuation" (47) One of the major characteristics that has always been attributed to the masochistic traits is the inclination to submissiveness, a feature which has long been associated with femininity.In fact, the male heterosexual masochist exposes strong tendencies to be sexually dominated by women.Hemingway's women can be generally described as feminine, intuitive, realistic, direct, quiet, principled and highly risk takers.Once contrasted with the major male protagonists of his novels, as in A Farewell to Arms, Sun Also Rises, and Garden on the one hand, and literally with the entire male characters in different short story collection, the degree of the female mental, psychological and sexual authority is highly reflected.His female characters exist in relation to me, but they are superior to them so that the men will learn from them.Such a process is symbiotic in nature.Throughout all his life time Hemingway has tried to create idealized wome.Hemingway is thought to have believed in the simplicity of an all-sufficiency of love, a form of chivalric love in which purity and sacrifice permeates the relationship, and similarly in the notion of giving up identities and merging into one single soul through every possible means which includes both physical and mental as well as sexual domains.As in A Farewell we witness a similar case, the relation between David and Catherine is highly symbiotic through their renouncing of all other interests for the sake of the supremacy of the lovers' world and relationship.In Hemingway's view, that is how the beauty of the union is realized and idealized in heavily symbolic and symbiotic relationship.It is worthy of notice that while A Farewell is publicly recognized as a war novel, the readers of the novel have no doubt that they are reading a highly sexual text.In that novel, the idealization of the sexual act is celebrated through a male-female couple who are thoroughly subordinated to each other's pleasure.The notion of dominance is always accompanied by a certain degree of humiliation.Despite the overriding masculine expression of Hemingway's characters, they have turned out to exhibit profound submissiveness in the way they relate to women."Francis and Margaret Macomber" pair is an instance of such binary docility/power opposition.Hemingway's presentation of Margaret's character is a cold, ruling and unsympathetic woman who is a prototype of female figure in masochistic literature.She orders her husband; she sets out on hunting games with them on the safari trip; she has a peculiar insistence on the animals to be killed; and the last but not the least she holds a pistol and shots her husband dead at the end of the story.The indifference is an indispensible part of her reactions toward him.This description provokes an image of the cold ruling woman who holds the upper hand in the course of their life; a picture which brings to mind the image of dominatrix; a relentless dominating woman indifferent to the suffering and demands of the man.Humiliation is the core element around which the entire events of the story revolve.Due to his failure, Francis is constantly humiliated by his wife and he chastises himself constantly for that.
The disparity and the incoherence Francis bears stem from the lower degree he finds himself in in the binary opposition between himself and his wife.The emphasis that is placed on her beauty -"Margot was too beautiful for Macomber to divorce her" (SHLFM, 13) -deprives him of levying any authority in their relationship.Furthermore, the sense of humiliation and submissiveness finds its extreme form when Margaret sleeps with Wilson in an act of cuckoldry.The symbiotic dependence is so deeply rooted in the character of Francis that, upon the metaphoric separation that takes place after he shoots the buffalos, he dies, though by a gunshot he receives from his wife.This represents an extreme case of symbiosis/separation similar to Indian husband in the Indian Camp.Francis is immersed so deeply in the symbiotic relation with his wife that the idea of separation in fact highlights, and functions as a precursor for, the individuation anxiety; an ending which is by nature similar to that in "Indian Camp", since now at the end, he is faced with naked reality of his lonesomeness and the fact that he has been forced out of symbiosis state to an undesired imposed individuation process.For Francis Macomber, the male passivity and dependence leads to a distorted psychological state in which he develops several anxieties within his very manhood and character.The fear of emasculation, fear of powerlessness and the last but not the least, the fear of loss which in its own turn encompass the fear of loss of identity, loss of courage, sexuality, creativity and ultimately loss of life all combine with each other in the context the gender relationship which reinforces and instills the symbiotic properties and inclination within him.
Fetishism "There can be no masochism without fetishism in the primary sense" asserts Deleuze.Fetishism has long been associated with sexuality.Singer states that "a psychoanalytic fetish covers the wound" (9) and Smirnoff describes the role of the fetishism as the "unattainable fusion with . . . the primary sexual object" (72).In fact, fetishism begins during infancy when the child uses fetish to ease the separation process from its mother.As Fantina notes "the fetish provides the tangible and very physical link between the child and the idealized mother and allows at least an illusory sense of reunion that can be realized through the agency of fantasy" (51).
In the same regard, Hemingway's fiction is replete with instances of fetishism which, for one thing, can be witnessed in the short-haired female characters of his stories.The amputee is another instance of fetish in Hemingway's writing toward whom the women show an erotic attraction (Fantina,54).In the case of Francis Macomber, the idea of safari in general and hunting, animals, lions and buffalos in particular turns out to be elements of fetishism for him.His sexual revival is demonstrated in the form of his obsessive impulse for hunting and killing.For him, hunting and killing become means through which he can establish himself sexually, with respect to the fact that it was the night before buffalo hunting when Margaret leaves Francis's bed for Wilson's.The failure or winning in hunting games equals the failure or success in his sexual life.The enactment of his sexual potency in the form of his ability to hunt in fact brings about a reunion with the lost object of desire and functions as a realization of his masculinity.

Pain, Violence, Death
As attested by the agreement of all critics and readers, pain and violence are the basic constituents of Hemingway's oeuvre.He has experienced it first hand, he writes about it, describes it studiously, and places it at an existential background where he measures the significance of life against the degree to which individuals are apt to pit themselves against impending violence and danger.
These and a host of other biographical and psychological examinations of Hemingway's fiction have brought about a new theory regarding the nature of violence as depicted in his short and long stories.For over half a century, Hemingway has stood for the spirit of American (hyper) masculinity, an advocate of the sheer masculinity which can be found in various fields and settings, e.g.boxing, prizefighting, hunting, fishing, bullfighting, war trenches, among the Indians, etc.However, as time passed, and especially with the posthumous publication of some of his texts such as Garden of Eden, critics began to doubt the previously conceived concepts of masculinity as applied to Hemingway and his characters.At this time, a new facet of gender relation was discovered which sheds light on existence of the oft-hidden side of Hemingway's male heroes.The stereotyped male characters began to unfold a more submissive part in themselves which gives way to pain and violence in a masochistic context, albeit not necessarily a sexual one.
The application of violence is an inseparable part of the practice of masochism and, in a parallel mode, Hemingway's fiction represents violence and pain in a variety of forms.The soldiers at war fronts, dead bodies of men and children, bullfighting and a host of other instances represent the physical violence.However, as it can be clearly detected and also expected, the psychic wounds would follow.The description of soldiers back at home, the entire Nick stories, the lost generation of characters in Sun Also Rises, etc. are all considered as war casualties who are suffering from a wounded psyche leading them toward their psychological isolation.As Fantina explains Many Hemingway characters, quintessential expressions of the "lost generation," combine both physical pain and thwarted desires […].In Hemingway's world, pain presents itself as inevitable and he embraces it in its many manifestations.These range from the physical wounding of his characters, the painful submission to sodomy that brings sexual pleasure, and the general physical and psychological submission to women who alternately discipline, degrade, and sustain the suffering male (63).
With the inclusion of women in evaluating the theme of violence and elucidating their part in the way the male heroes confront it, the masochistic qualities of the character is further underlined.The willingness to pit oneself against danger or surrender to violence appears in many of Hemingway's writings.In its radical form, the two male protagonists in "Indian Camp" and "Francis Macomber" expose themselves to such an extreme form of danger that in both cases it costs them their lives.And in both cases, women function as the harbinger of their death.In the case of the "Indian Camp", the man is so psychologically emulated in the pain and suffering of his wife that he literally dies by seeing her suffer.The woman relates to his death passively but effectively.Similarly, in the case of Macomber's death, Hemingway moves a step further and turns Margaret Macomber into a close imitation of the masochistic female prototype, bordering on and in fact functioning as femme fatale.The story is replete with verbal, psychological and physical violence.Francis Macomber is constantly targeted by his wife as a subject of verbal abuse.The cuckoldry ruins his ego while at the same time giving him an impetus for killing and applying more of raw violence which, in its own turn, brings about his death where she explicitly shots him dead.Thus, violence functions as the practical axis through which the entire masochistic complex is practiced and finally resolved.
As proved historically, there is a deep-rooted attachment between spiritual dimension of religion and sexual aspect of masochism.As Stark insightfully notes [T]he representation of spirituality in terms of physical and mental anguish does not preclude the erotic; indeed, it indicates its involvement in the erotic.Physical and mental torments lie at the heart of the erotic fantasies underlying Christian mysticism.
Therefore, the pain and suffering that he tolerates is at the same time a spiritual as well as an erotic experience for him.The voluntarily pain he endures brings about a sexual pleasure which is all but meaningless unless it is carried out in a masochistic background.

Conclusion
The strength and velocity of Hemingway's depiction of his male hero's experiences of and confrontations with war in the decades that followed the two World Wars shadowed the psychological implications and gender conflicts the man had left between the lines of his stories, compelling many readers and scholars to overlook, for one thing, the gender-issue implications embedded within the characterization.With the expansion of Hemingway scholarship, his picture as Papa Hemingway and also as the spokesperson and advocate for the American hyper masculinity was replaced by a more humane image as an author who presents both men and women as real human beings, inflicted with certain dilemmas, looking for ways to heal that loss based to their own codes.One of the pathways through which these wounds can be healed is revealed in the masochistic bonds between the heroes and the women with whom they form a relationship.
Although Hemingway did not use specific language indicating his belief in multiple genders, his works often explore the challenges of having to adhere to strict gender binaries in societies.As a result, his characters often venture outside gender boundaries and exhibit behavior not specific to their gender ( 16).
The elements of masochisms abound in stories of Hemingway.The degree to which the male heterosexual heroes of his fiction suffer from and are metaphorically or literally left wrecked by the woman they see themselves attached to, also the degree to which they long to be dominated, ruled, disciplined and at times frequently degraded by those women can all be taken as instances representatives of masochistic inclination.The general tendency to submit to a woman, both sexually and psychologically is the common basis in all masochistic traits.Upon closer examination, Hemingway does not use the strong women in his works as vehicles for his misogyny, but rather as agents for questioning and challenging heteronormativity in society ( 16), helping the reader of a Hemingway text to find attributes that underlie and highlight the submissive nature of his characterization of male heroes.