Ernest Hemingway was an American icon who represented, in his works, masculinity at its highest form. His male protagonists were the epitome of a man's man, who enjoyed bullfighting, boxing, hunting, and fishing, and dared to seek the adventures of war. Coupled with this, Hemingway's depiction of women characters in his short stories and novels forced many critics to view him as a misogynist. This paper discusses Hemingway's portrayal of women in his short stories. Although his main characters were always male and his female characters took the backseat, Hemingway may be called a chauvinist, but never a woman hater. Also, one should not forget that Hemingway, as an author, gave voice to the dilemma, nada, stoicism, and disillusionment of his times.

Hemingway's father, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, was a doctor by profession—a physically fit man with a hawk-like Roman nose and phenomenally farsighted brown eyes. His mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, was a good musician but a frustrated one, who was not able to make big in the field of music because of her defective eyesight and family responsibilities. She was a severely disciplined and religious lady and expected her children to be the same. As a result, Hemingway never had a good relationship with his mother. He once even referred to her as an "all American Bitch."

Hemingway always thought that his mother's dominance played a key role in damaging his father's personality, who, despite being a strong man, meekly surrendered before her. As a result, he considered women a distraction and looked down on a woman-dominated man. He did not even spare his own father and friends like Scott Fitzgerald and Evan Shipman for their dependence on their wives. In his short story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," he views the American women as "the hardest in the world; the hardest, the crudest, the most predatory, and the most attractive, and their men have softened or gone to pieces nervously as they have hardened. Or is it that they pick men they can handle?" (Hemingway, 1987, p. 8), underlining his contempt for women.

American Literature Journal, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, Marital Responsibilities, Financial Destructions, Mindless Subservient Companions, Male Companionship, Traditional Scenarios, Emotional Destructions, Moral Destructions, American Women.