“Battle of the Sexes”: the Anti-Heroic Mode and a Shift in the Meaning

Antiheroes in the “Battle of the Sexes”: The Anti-heroic Mode and a Shift in the Meaning of Hegemonic Masculinity in World War I Fiction Sani Chartudomdej A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2017 Reading Committee: Sydney Kaplan, Chair Joseph Butwin Carolyn Allen Program Authorized to Offer Degree: English ©Copyright 2017 Sani Chartudomdej University of Washington Abstract Antiheroes in the “Battle of the Sexes”: The Anti-heroic Mode and a Shift in the Meaning of Hegemonic Masculinity in World War I Fiction Sani Chartudomdej Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Sydney Kaplan Department of English This dissertation explores the connection between anti-heroism and an important change in the meaning of hegemonic masculinity in World War I fiction. Its main goal is to illustrate that the anti-heroic mode, which became widespread in the period during and after the war, is a type of adaptation literature underwent in response to this transformative historical event. The dissertation argues that the change from the heroic to the anti-heroic mode was heavily influenced by post-war disillusionment, which entailed a reevaluation of traditional value systems, including gender roles and expectations. By investigating selected works written by male and female authors, both British and American, through the lens of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, this dissertation affirms that the anti-heroic mode marks a remarkable cross not only between the traditional hero and the radical antihero, but also between the hero and heroine themselves. Using Gilbert and Gubar’s framework, this dissertation validates that literary anti-heroism was a product of what is called the “sexual battles,” which suggests the struggle for power in literary space that male and female authors of the war period experienced. In such a battle, the heroic mode gave way to the anti-heroic, resulting in male protagonists becoming morally lax, making it increasingly difficult to differentiate between the virtuous and the villainous. Also, the hero, in the process of becoming the antihero, undertakes a metaphorical “sexchange,” in that he becomes sexually fluid, harboring traits traditionally associated with femininity, such as inactivity, indecision, and passivity. Most importantly, the different ways in which male and female authors treat anti-heroic characters are investigated in order to validate the hypothesis that the Great War affected men and women dissimilarly. While male authors employ anti-heroic characters to portray war anxiety that plagued their manliness, women writers utilize such characters to highlight the increasing sense of confidence and power women obtained through the same war. This whole phenomenon signifies the process of modification that hegemonic masculinity underwent in order to thrive in such a shattering war experience—an experience that emasculated the majority of men, while liberating and empowering a great number of women. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1 14 War and the Antihero’s Crisis of Masculinity: Robert Graves and Richard Aldington Chapter 2 57 The Antihero Under Threat of the New Woman: Ernest Hemingway Chapter 3 106 The New Woman as the New Heroine: Rebecca West, May Sinclair, and Virginia Woolf Conclusion 160 Works Cited 171 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for all the support I have received from everyone who has made this dissertation possible, especially my committee members Professor Sydney Kaplan, Joseph Butwin, and Carolyn Allen. Also, I would like to extend my gratitude to the English Department at the University of Washington, the English Writing Program (EWP), the Interdisciplinary Writing Program (IWP), Kathy Mork, Jennifer Siembor, Sophia Chen, Ungsan Kim, Taeyun Lim, Debs Gardner, my friends, my cohorts, my colleagues, my Thai community in Seattle, my family, my spiritual mentors, and my students. 1 INTRODUCTION Antiheroes in the “Battle of the Sexes”: The Anti-heroic Mode and a Shift in the Meaning of Hegemonic Masculinity in World War I Fiction This dissertation stems from my fascination with weak, awkward, and anxious men we see in abundance both in fiction and on screen. With all their unredeemable flaws and moral ambiguities, these radical protagonists are at the same time so real and so human. I am curious as to why it has become increasingly difficult for modern audiences like us to identify ourselves and empathize with the perfect hero: why Batman and Wolverine are way more appealing and interesting to us than the impeccable-yet-boring Superman; why works featuring drug dealers, gangsters, imps, or even serial killers, such as Walter White of Breaking Bad, Tyrion Lannister of Game of Thrones, and Dexter Morgan of Dexter, are on the rise, while classical perfect heroes such as King Arthur and Beowulf are losing our interest. In short, I wonder why the hero has lost his charm while the antihero is gaining a new fandom. But, what exactly is the hero? And what differentiates him from the antihero? By definition, the hero is associated with ideal qualities, such as nobility and courage. He is characterized by self-sacrifice, idealism, altruism, and integrity, and can manifest them even in times of adversity. His actions are driven by a strong desire to improve the fate of the society in which he lives. Originally, the hero is also equipped with great martial skills and/or moral qualities. He is also an exemplar of the masculine ideal. In literature, this refers to a central character who possesses such qualities, thus allowing the reader to sympathize with him. 2 The hero has evolved over time. Examples of men who exhibit these archetypal qualities are numerous in literature. From classical warriors and adventurers such as Beowulf and Odysseus, who underwent great danger to save their people at the cost and risk of their own lives; to tragic-yet-noble men of the Renaissance, such as Hamlet and Doctor Fautus, who were faced with ultimate moral dilemmas; to Victorian men of humble birth but who committed some honorable deeds worthy of praise, such as Jude and Pip. The antihero, on the other hand, is marked by the absence of those aforementioned traits associated with traditional heroes, and by the rejection of conventional values and ideals. Plagued by their vulnerability and lack of control, antiheroes are overwhelmed with a sense of alienation. Usually, there is nothing particularly admirable about them, but somehow modern readers like us can identify with their imperfections more easily and also find some of their characteristics utterly human and worthy of our sympathy. Though far removed from any ideals, these antiheroes are oftentimes capable of striking strength, steadfastness and (sometimes) deep- seated optimism. Most of the time, it is their sense of stoicism, the ability to struggle, and willingness to survive on a daily basis amidst the shattering experience of modernity. Even though it has predominantly become a contemporary trend, anti-heroism is by no means a new phenomenon. It can be traced back throughout literary history, from Achilles, Milton’s Satan, Victor Frankenstein, Hamlet, Heathcliff, Sherlock Holmes, to Deadpool, among others. However, antiheroes started to occupy more and more literary space in the twentieth century, when fiction clearly swarmed with numerous weak, awkward, helpless, and cynical individuals marked with crippling irony and distrust of conventional values. So I started to ask these simple-yet-fundamental questions regarding the popularization of the anti-heroic mode: ● What prompted the shift from the traditional heroic to the radical anti-heroic mode? 3 ● What made the anti-heroic mode become widely accepted in twentieth century literature? ● Does this shift reflect a fundamental ideological change in social values, morals, and beliefs of the twentieth century? ● How do the archetypical characteristics of the antihero subvert the traditional definition of manhood and manliness? With these questions in mind, this dissertation explores the connection between the anti- heroic mode and an important change in the meaning of hegemonic masculinity (in relation to that of femininity) in literary works written about and during the time of the Great War. It is an attempt to demonstrate that the change from the heroic to the anti-heroic mode was heavily influenced by post-war disillusionment; the cruel realities of the Great War necessitated a reevaluation of the traditional value systems, including of gender roles and expectations. By examining selected works written by both male and female / British and American authors, this dissertation validates the idea that the popularization of the anti-heroic mode in the early part of the twentieth century allows us to witness a remarkable cross not only between the traditional hero and the radical antihero—in which it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between the virtuous and the villainous, and the hero has become both protagonist and antagonist—but also between the hero and heroine. The hero, in the process of becoming the antihero, has also grown to be more feminine, in the sense that he characteristically possesses traits traditionally associated with femininity, such as inactivity, indecision, passivity, and restraint. The heroine, on the other hand, has become increasingly masculinized, exhibiting characteristics such as strength, courage, and confidence. 4 To verify the above hypothesis, this dissertation

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