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Haruki men without women6/4/2023 The antiquated gender roles have been reversed. Meanwhile, the men are left to pine and agonise, creating romantic illusions to keep themselves content. It is the women who take the position of power, who are also prone to infidelity and quick to throw away sentiment. In Murakami’s Men Without Women, however, the case is best described as inverted. The gender roles here are clearly defined, the man practical but lacking in empathy, the woman more empathetic but without that functional mode of thought. In Hemmingway’s famous ‘Hills like White Elephants’, contained within his Men Without Women, a couple reflect on their decision to have an abortion. The difference between Hemmingway and Murakami’s collections is the way they deal with their respective gender roles. What at first glance appears to be another straightforward battle of the sexes, however, soon evolves into something far more sweeping in scope. What is signified in the title is not only physical absence of women in men’s lives but also the difficulty of these opposites to live harmoniously due to societal pressures. Sharing its name with an Ernest Hemmingway short story compilation released in 1927, Murakami’s Men without Women, like its titular predecessor, deals not only with isolated masculinity, but also with the delicately balanced equilibrium of heterosexual relationships.
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