Ernest Hemingway is praised for his mastery of language and description, but his flaws are prevalent in his portrayal of female characters who are constantly tainted by his masculine ideals. In her novel A Farewell to Arms, her female characters are shown as subordinate objects who are helpless without a man by their side. The main female role, Catherine Barkley, is used as a major plot element for the main character's development, however she is portrayed as a desperate and fragile woman, making her a representation of sexist beliefs. Throughout the story her ultimate goal was to fall in love and be loved by Frederic Henry, the main protagonist. She sacrificed so much of herself for the promise of being with him. However, Henry only saw her as an escape from his problems and used her as a distraction to avoid his problems throughout the novel. In this way, Hemingway attempted to create a picturesque relationship between a man and a woman, but in doing so he ignored feminist ideology to create his perfect woman. Hemingway's masculine vision of the "perfect woman", displayed throughout A Farewell to Arms by the weak and underdeveloped character Catherine Barkley, was the product of his failures with the women in his life and his quintessential vision of a woman's role in relation to a man. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Hemingway's go-to women for men were characterized by weak traits, as shown through Catherine. According to Hemingway's ideals, a perfect woman is one who is "excessively self-effacing, whose posture of trembling helplessness is merely a way of disguising what she...should desire" (Fetterley 58). This states that women act weakly to get what they "should want" or a man. This ideal emphasizes that a woman's ultimate goal should be to conquer a man so that she is no longer defenseless. She will be able to be of any use with a man by their side, so she must act accordingly to get a man. When Hemingway writes to Catherine explaining: “You are my religion. You are all I have,” supports the point that women want and need men by their side (Hemingway 116). Catherine is the portrait of this ideal woman because, as shown in this quote, she willingly sacrifices herself to dedicate herself to Henry, like a religion where he would sacrifice himself for a god. Henry is able to act as her knight in shining armor and ultimately save her from herself because, as he has proven, she is nothing without him Many humiliating traits, including helplessness and submissiveness, were shown in Catherine's character to reflect Hemingway's model that women need a man to depend on, so they, in turn, do not mind being subordinated he made Catherine weak and submissive to satisfy his fantasy as the modern women in his life could not reach these standards Hemingway tried to convey Catherine with purity by giving her redeeming qualities that reflected feminine concepts but her submissive traits ultimately made her seem desperate. Hemingway describes Catherine as a hard-working nurse and also explains that she was once engaged. The fact of not being married reinforces her image of purity even though she suffers from the death of her boyfriend. Furthermore, being a nurse subjects her to being a noble woman who is always dressed in white. The image of purity is supported by this white dress as it serves as a “symbol of her purity” (Recla 14).Recla observes: “Women constantly reassure their men that they are good and normal girls. Catherine Barkley wants to be Frederic's good wife and other half” (Recla 21). She was always trying to prove to Henry that she was a "good girl", which made her noble but desperate for Henry's acceptance. This is demonstrated when he states, “I know I've caused trouble now. But haven't I always been a good girl until now?" (Hemingway 138). Her constant pursuit of Henry makes readers see her as desperaterather than pure as Hemingway intended. She feels she has to prove her worth to Henry, which it takes away her purity of being a "good girl" and highlights her persistently needy nature Catherine puts all her energy into pleasing Henry and neglects her well-being, as demonstrated when she works too hard on night shifts just to be with Henry. This makes her seem obsessed with winning Henry's affection as she neglects his well-being to be with him. Although the counter emphasizes that this is meant to create a romantic atmosphere, this demeans Catherine into nothing more than a prop. for the progression of romance.Therefore, even with this conjecture, Catherine symbolizes the masculine ideal of a woman who sees women as objects of affection and distractions whose purpose is to sacrifice herself for men. Although Hemingway used pure qualities to characterize Catherine, her desperation and submission further made her an idealized woman according to his male vision. Catherine's most important trait, being submissive to Henry to win his attention, stripped her of any individuality she had. Catherine wanted to be with Henry, so she let go of everything she knew to focus solely on him. He readily gave up his own will, as shown when Hemingway writes, "I want what you want. There is no more me. Just what you want." (Hemingway 106). Catherine gave up the ability to make her own choices and promised obedience to Henry. This submission made her dependent on Henry's will and demonstrated that she also considered herself inferior to him. Furthermore, Hemingway writes about Catherine always wanting to be associated with Henry as he says, “There is no me. I am you. Don't invent a separate me” (Hemmingway 115). Catherine sacrificed herself and her individuality when she said "there is no me". She didn't see herself as her own person, but rather as belonging to Henry. Additionally, she preferred to be called an "us," which supports the idea that she only wanted to be with Henry. She was content to give up her individuality in the hope of receiving Henry's love. This submission gave Henry full control over Catherine, which reflects another of Hemingway's ideals in a woman. Another flaw in Hemingway's portrayal of Catherine was that he did not fully develop her as a character. Much of Catherine's personality was based on the general image of women which included stereotypes and gender roles. Other traits had to be interpreted by the reader rather than having a clear understanding of his character. Recla states, “Catherine Barkley's appearance is rarely described” and “the lack of detail about Catherine Barkley's appearance helps create the superficial, half-portrait of a woman” (Recla 16). The reader had to assume a lot about Catherine's appearance and personality because we were not given insight into her thoughts and opinions. Furthermore, since Henry was the narrator and our window into Catherine's character, his partial vision only provided this “shallow” view of her. He never described his specific thoughts or traits and only emphasized hisbeauty and beauty. Recla also highlights, “characters who maintain gender-specific roles of male provider and female nurturer” (Recla 25). By using generalized female roles to characterize Catherine, she had no distinctive traits that separated her from the common woman. In turn, she was a stereotypical woman who wanted to be in love. Catherine was not a fully developed character due to Hemingway's use of gender roles and stereotypes which contributed to her poor portrayal. The portrayal of Catherine is heavily based on Hemingway's masculine values ​​because his negative encounters with women inspired him to create a woman who expressed his ideal standards. Hemingway had many wives and affairs, some of which lasted longer than his marriages. Thus, Hemingway now had a positive view of women in general, they were replaceable and, at best, good distractions. Sanderson states, “Hemingway's imaginary women can be seen as his desire for the transformation of modern women” (Sanderson 176). Hemingway incorporated the ideals he desired in a woman to create his perfect woman because the women in his life failed to meet these standards. Therefore, his female characters turned into a "desire makeover", as the women in his life left bad impressions on him. For example, Sanderson describes, “His father's suicide…reminded him of the failure of his parents' marriage, a failure that Hemingway attributed to his mother's bullying and his father's inability to stand up to her” (Sanderson 182). His mother's domineering ways, which had caused his father's death, made Hemmingway detest power in women. Instead, she felt that the male should be dominant and in control of a relationship. This led him to desire a weak, dependent woman who would obey male authority. These ideas, along with many others, are reflected in Catherine to make her the ideal woman in Hemingway's eyes. The women in his life were unable to fulfill what he glorified as feminine, so he incorporated his ideal traits into Catherine. One explanation for why Hemingway portrayed women so poorly may be because he had not yet grasped the feminine concept of women. Hemingway had endured much heartbreak in his love life and frowned upon strong women, as demonstrated by his negative attitude towards his mother. His failed marriages pushed him to develop ideas about what a woman should be rather than how she could be. By privileging women's weak traits so that men could take control, Hemingway began to form his masculine ideal by neglecting the feminine approach. This resulted in his inaccurate portrayals of women. Catherine Barkly's simplistic features demonstrate that Hemingway did not yet know how to create a true female character. Recla states, “Hemingway had not yet developed the vision of the feminine that he needed to truly create a complex characterization of Catherine Barkley” (Recla 15). His use of generalized roles and flat submissive features shows that Hemingway did not yet know how to portray a woman. Instead, he used the company's representation since he could not develop his own. However, this social vision ended up making Catherine fragile and submissive. He was unable to create a complete and strong character because he did not appreciate the female view which led to a negative portrayal of Catherine Barkley. Hemingway used his masculine ideas of the ideal woman to create Catherine because he did not yet understand the female perspective. In summary, Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms 45879., 2002