Up in Michigan
Encyclopedia
"Up in Michigan" is a short story by American writer Ernest Hemingway
, written in 1923 and revised in 1938. It is collected in Three Stories and Ten Poems
(1923) and The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
(1938).
"Up In Michigan" appeared in Ernest Hemingway's first published work, Three Stories and Ten Poems
. Three hundred copies were printed in Paris by Robert Almon in 1923. It reappeared in 1938 in The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
and later still in 1997 in The Short Stories, a Scribner Classic Edition. The story is set in Hortons Bay, Michigan, close to where Hemingway spent his adolescent summers.
Jim, a blacksmith, comes to Hortons Bay and buys the blacksmith shop. Liz Coates, who has a crush on Jim, is a young woman who works as a waitress for the Smiths. Jim, D. J. Smith, and Charley Wyman go on a deer-hunting trip. When the hunters return, they have a few drinks to celebrate their kill. After supper and a few more drinks, Jim goes into the kitchen and fondles Liz, and says, "Come on for a walk." They go to the end of the dock where Jim's hands explore Liz's body. She is frightened and begs him to stop. He forces himself upon her and passes out on top of her. She gets out from under him and tries to awaken him, but covers him with her coat. Then she walks home to go to bed.
Objectivity
Isolation
Jim Gilmore
The gender roles in this story are very clearly defined. The final four lines, however, introduce a possible interpretation that Jim is emasculated, curled up in a drunken ball, possibly cold, and Liz takes off her coat and carefully wraps him up, and then she leaves him lying on the dock in the middle of the night.
The story utilizes stereotypical masculine and feminine gender roles, with Jim as not thoughtful yet active, and Liz as more perceptive but passive.
Jim and Liz then go on a walk and Jim starts to fondle Liz’s body, even after Liz tells him to stop. Jim ignores Liz’s request and just proceeds. Liz, scared, tells Jim that he "mustn’t"; however, Jim tells her that "[he's] got to. [He's] going to. You know we got to." Jim, then on top of her, hurts her. With Jim asleep after the act, Liz pushes him away.
According to *Law.com, the legal term for rape is “1) n. the crime of sexual intercourse (with actual penetration of a woman's vagina with the man's penis) without consent and accomplished through force, threat of violence or intimidation (such as a threat to harm a woman's child, husband or boyfriend). What constitutes lack of consent usually includes saying 'no' or being too drunk or drug-influenced for the woman to be able to either resists or consent” (Hill and Hill).
So, according to the legal definition of rape, Jim has raped Liz. She is upset about what has just happened and ends up crying; however, she seems to still show some feelings towards Jim when she leans down and kisses his cheek and covers him with her coat, before going off to bed. With all this stated, a criminal conviction of Jim for sexual assault would be unlikely due to the mitigating circumstances of Liz's prior infatuation with Jim and her caretaking of him after the fact.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, written in 1923 and revised in 1938. It is collected in Three Stories and Ten Poems
Three Stories and Ten Poems
Three Stories and Ten Poems was the first short story collection by Ernest Hemingway; it was also his first published work. The collection was privately published in a run of 300 copies by Robert McAlmon's "Contact Publishing" in Paris, in 1923....
(1923) and The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories is an anthology of writings by Ernest Hemingway published by Scribner's on 14 October 1938....
(1938).
Summary
A young woman's romantic notions of life are crushed over the course of a night."Up In Michigan" appeared in Ernest Hemingway's first published work, Three Stories and Ten Poems
Three Stories and Ten Poems
Three Stories and Ten Poems was the first short story collection by Ernest Hemingway; it was also his first published work. The collection was privately published in a run of 300 copies by Robert McAlmon's "Contact Publishing" in Paris, in 1923....
. Three hundred copies were printed in Paris by Robert Almon in 1923. It reappeared in 1938 in The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories is an anthology of writings by Ernest Hemingway published by Scribner's on 14 October 1938....
and later still in 1997 in The Short Stories, a Scribner Classic Edition. The story is set in Hortons Bay, Michigan, close to where Hemingway spent his adolescent summers.
Jim, a blacksmith, comes to Hortons Bay and buys the blacksmith shop. Liz Coates, who has a crush on Jim, is a young woman who works as a waitress for the Smiths. Jim, D. J. Smith, and Charley Wyman go on a deer-hunting trip. When the hunters return, they have a few drinks to celebrate their kill. After supper and a few more drinks, Jim goes into the kitchen and fondles Liz, and says, "Come on for a walk." They go to the end of the dock where Jim's hands explore Liz's body. She is frightened and begs him to stop. He forces himself upon her and passes out on top of her. She gets out from under him and tries to awaken him, but covers him with her coat. Then she walks home to go to bed.
Point of View
Though there are two main characters, the point of view is strictly Liz's. Jim only speaks five sentences, and readers never get inside his head. Liz has fallen in love with the "things" of Jim—his mustache, his white teeth, his walk—but knows nothing about him as a person. Hemingway sympathetically explores her conflicting emotions. He understands the adolescent fantasies of this naive young woman, even as they lead to a brutal conclusion. Like many young women before and after her, she is surely disillusioned, but she will learn from her painful experience. Jim, on the other hand, will wake up and not remember a thing.Themes
Truth- Hemingway tells his story a lack of wordy fillers. Hemingway's narrator tells the "Up In Michigan" narrative with a black-and-white appeal that purposefully creates little space for misinterpretation. That said, Hemingway's sparse style allows the reader to re-create the "background" of the story, which recalls Hemingway's iceberg theoryIceberg TheoryThe Iceberg Theory is a term used to describe the writing style of American writer Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway is best known for works such as The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea...
. Most of the story's content is actually submerged for the reader to imagine.
Objectivity
- In "Up in Michigan," Hemingway uses his writing styleWriting styleWriting style is the manner in which an author chooses to write to his or her audience. A style reveals both the writer's personality and voice, but it also shows how she or he perceives the audience, and chooses conceptual writing style which reveal those choices by which the writer may change the...
to make his characters and events clear for the reader. He does this by utilizing objectivity -- his way of keeping things in their simplest form and not confusing what is occurring within the story.
Isolation
- The early part of the story establishes that Hortons Bay is isolated in Northern MichiganNorthern MichiganNorthern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan , is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan...
; there are only five houses in the village. For two young people like Liz and Jim, there would likely be pressure to couple from the few people in the community. For example, Mrs. Smith thinks Liz is "neat." Simple proximity could also lead to sexual attractionSexual attractionSexual attractiveness or sex appeal refers to an individual's ability to attract the sexual or erotic interest of another person, and is a factor in sexual selection or mate choice. The attraction can be to the physical or other qualities or traits of a person, or to such qualities in the context...
. This is true for Liz, as she is infatuated with Jim, but not for Jim, as he "never thought about [Liz]" (156).
Analysis of Major Characters
Liz Coates- As a waitress and general worker at D. J. Smith’s restaurant, Liz has taken a liking to Jim, one of the regulars at the restaurant. Hemingway’s narrator describes the teenager-style infatuation Liz has for Jim. Sexually inexperienced even to the point of not having been touched, Liz Coates communicates her desire for Jim in an inartful fashion.
Jim Gilmore
- Jim, originally from Canada, has bought a blacksmith shop in Hortons Bay and is a regular at D. J. Smith’s. He notices Liz’s interest in him, but does not dwell on Liz. The narrator does not offer insight into Jim’s thought processes, making it appear as if Jim is inarticulate and dull—in stark contrast with how Liz perceives Jim (i.e. positively and longingly). After a few shots of whiskey after the successful deer hunt and finding himself alone with Liz, Jim makes sexual advances on Liz despite her demands that he stop. The narrator does not describe Jim as being concerned with what Liz wants; in fact, Jim only stops after he falls asleep on top of her.
Gender Roles
Hemingway writes “Up in Michigan” in his classic masculine prose. His male characters are portrayed as very masculine, although Jim is described as not looking like a blacksmith. There is little dialogue from the males yet a lot of physical description. In fact, one paragraph shows how Liz objectifies Jim sexually, repeating the phrase "she liked it." Liz Coates is described as small, neat, and clean.The gender roles in this story are very clearly defined. The final four lines, however, introduce a possible interpretation that Jim is emasculated, curled up in a drunken ball, possibly cold, and Liz takes off her coat and carefully wraps him up, and then she leaves him lying on the dock in the middle of the night.
The story utilizes stereotypical masculine and feminine gender roles, with Jim as not thoughtful yet active, and Liz as more perceptive but passive.
Legal Debate
In the story "Up in Michigan," Liz has a crush on Jim, liking everything about him physically. Liz never really gets the courage to act on these feelings toward Jim; however, after a hunting trip with the men, and having a few drinks, Jim comes on to Liz, grabbing her and holding her tight as they are alone in the restaurant. According to text, this is what Liz wanted.Jim and Liz then go on a walk and Jim starts to fondle Liz’s body, even after Liz tells him to stop. Jim ignores Liz’s request and just proceeds. Liz, scared, tells Jim that he "mustn’t"; however, Jim tells her that "[he's] got to. [He's] going to. You know we got to." Jim, then on top of her, hurts her. With Jim asleep after the act, Liz pushes him away.
According to *Law.com, the legal term for rape is “1) n. the crime of sexual intercourse (with actual penetration of a woman's vagina with the man's penis) without consent and accomplished through force, threat of violence or intimidation (such as a threat to harm a woman's child, husband or boyfriend). What constitutes lack of consent usually includes saying 'no' or being too drunk or drug-influenced for the woman to be able to either resists or consent” (Hill and Hill).
So, according to the legal definition of rape, Jim has raped Liz. She is upset about what has just happened and ends up crying; however, she seems to still show some feelings towards Jim when she leans down and kisses his cheek and covers him with her coat, before going off to bed. With all this stated, a criminal conviction of Jim for sexual assault would be unlikely due to the mitigating circumstances of Liz's prior infatuation with Jim and her caretaking of him after the fact.