Theoretical Overview
MALE AND FEMALE AUTHORS PERSPECTIVES OF THE SHORT STORY.
The short story, perhaps better than any other form, exemplifies the different perspectives that males and females have of their world. Its short format, and personal nature make it particularly suited for communicating views on gender roles, perception, and personal realities. The authors studied in this class, specifically, Chopin, Hemingway, Lawrence, Mansfield, and Woolf, have all to varying degrees shown the dichotomy between the sexes.
THE ICEBERG VS. THE NEEDLE
Hemingway described his writing as an iceberg. "There is seven-eighths underwater for every part that shows." "In Hill's like White Elephants", he casually, and objectively reports on the conversation of two people. There is very little attention given to anything other than the main characters own words. Hemingway leaves the vast majority of the story, the characters emotions, the surroundings, the subject of conversation, and the outcome, to be inferred and interpreted by the reader.
In stark contrast to the bare minimalist style of Hemingway are the works of Woolf, and Mansfield. While Woolf also felt that the short story needed to "hang on and expand in the mind," her approach was radically different than Hemingway's. Woolf and Mansfield, both paid explicit attention to detail, "feel[ing] an infinite delight and value in detail." (Mansfield). The work of both authors is rife with detail, and intricate descriptions of both emotion and place, "She saw Julia open her arms; saw her blaze; saw her kindle. Out of the night she burned like a dead white star. Julia kissed her. Julia possessed her."
Hemingway, Woolf, and Mansfield all focus on creating a reality that lingers with the readers. However their approach varies drastically. Hemingway like many male authors focuses on precise, accurate details of time, and place. Woolf and Mansfield, like many women authors, instead choose to focus on subjective, and emotional details. Both approaches lead the reader to emotional introspection; however the way they get there is radically different.
TIME
In a "Slater's Pins Have No Points", Virginia Woolf expands the brief period of time, between a pin drop and its retrieval, into a vast expanse of emotional introspection. Similarly, in Chopin's the "Story of an Hour", we have a small snippet in time becoming a much larger, deeper reality. Both authors treat time as an abstract concept, with the actions in their stories being guided more by events in the stream of consciousness than by measures in the physical world. "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long." (Chopin)
In both Lawrence and Hemingway the readers are keenly aware of the flow of time. Like many male writers they choose to depict a very concrete and defined view of reality. Actual events in the physical world, be they conversation, transactions, or drowning, direct the flow and action of events in the story. The male perspective tends to treat emotion as background, and hence allows physical events to direct the speed and pace of the story.
CHALLENGING GENDER ROLES
Chopin, Mansfield, and Woolf are all considered to be pioneers of feminism, their work helped to challenge, and redefine peoples perception of gender roles. The merry widow of Chopin's, "Story of an Hour", the retreating lover of Mansfield's "A Dill Pickle", and the unmarried piano teacher of Virginia Woolf's "Slater's Pins Have No Points" all help to challenge conventional stereotypes of women. Chopin's jubilant widow exclaiming, "Free, free, free" is cited by many prominent feminists as a prelude to the women's movement.
The challenging of male and female gender roles is not something exclusive to women. Lawrence and Hemingway, both challenged conventional depictions of masculinity in their works. In many of Lawrence's work we see the reversal of the female and male polarities (John R. Harrison, D.H. Lawrence), as well as the challenging of gender roles, "He would marry and go into his harness." Hemmingway unlike Lawrence was known for extreme machismo and reinforcement of many conventional roles, the younger inexperienced women, the older more experienced man. His portrayal of women earned him sharp criticism from many, but his critical interrogation of hard-boiled masculinity has been useful in an era of shifting gender relations.
CONCLUSION
Males and Females have approached the short story in different ways, but often with the same result. The works of Mansfield, O'Connor, Woolf, Lawrence, and Hemingway all depict unique elements of the short story, and all comment on the relationship between men and women, in some way. Lawrence said, "The great relationship, for humanity will always be the relationship between man and women. And the relation will forever be the new central clue to human life. It is the relation itself which is the quick and central clue to life." The different perspectives with which men and women come to this relationship can only lead to a greater understanding of it.
Omar Yaqub