A deconstructivist and structuralist depiction of women in Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" and Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"

This analysis of the short stories "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" and "Hills Like White Elephants" is based on a Structuralist and Deconstructivist reading in relation to the female characters. Two stories analyzed, by D.H. Lawrence and Ernest Miller Hemingway, present women in both their life and love affairs. Hemingway's female character will be examined through a Structuralist reading, while Lawrence's female character will be examined through a Deconstructivist reading. Structuralism, as a theoretical orientation that looks for the underlying structure in a society's culture, social institutions, or social relationships in accordance with society as defined in Encyclopaedia of Sex and Gender (C. Ember & M. Ember, 2003, p. 31). In this regard, the language a woman uses may be harmonized accordingly. In this thesis, the relationship between Structuralist reading and Feminism will be discussed regarding female behaviours and language in relation to Structralist reading and Feminism. This work argues that Hemingway's specific female character, is depicted as submissive and silent when she is read through a Structralist reading. This woman who is familiarized with the expectations of society regarding the behavioral and linguistic analysis disregards Feminism, and this female character is willing to serve for the expectations of the male-dominant society. Calvin Thomas in The Lessons in Theory: An Introduction to Theoretical Writing (2013) credits Niall Lucy's definition of Deconstructivism and says ''Deconstructivism begins, as it were, from a refusal of the authority or determining the power of every 'is', or simply from a refusal of authority in general '' (Thomas, 2013, p.205). The woman in Lawrence's short story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" defies the expectations of society through her determination to be self-sustained and authentic. Lawrence's woman is reflected in a setting in which she is enabled to be strong enough to move on, make her own choice, when she has to make an important decision, or to challenge the expectations of society and familiar female behaviours in her love affair with the help of her self-esteem in relation to Feminism. In this, she reflects a strong personality through a Deconstructivist depiction. Finally, this thesis discusses how gender biases define women and how women define themselves socially in relation to Deconstructivist and Structuralist reading. Keywords: Structuralism, Deconstructivism, Feminism, Women, and Society, Hemingway's Women, Lawrence's Women