Sex in Modernism

As we have read the selected texts from the Modernism period, it becomes clearer to me the presence of sex. Especially in Hemingway, the societal views of sex are reflected upon his novel. First of all, sex is presented as an objectified function. In the beginning of the novel the reader is introduced to Rinaldi and immediately we get this sense of his reduction of women based on sexual adequacy. Also, most of the times that Catherine discusses her sexual experiences with Frederic, she feels like a whore. That seems like a terrible way to remember such a special moment - however, society has pushed the notion on her that "sex is bad" and that she should really view it in no other way.

For Frederic, sex ruins everything because of the huge changes it brings. Because of his sexual relations with Catherine, she dies. Instead of sex being a good thing (a healthy part of their relationship) it resulted in Catherine's death and the loss of his son. I feel as if Hemingway wrote this way because he internalized society's view of sex as unclean or immoral. After all, free sexual expression was unheard of.

Ultimately, it makes sense to me why the Modernist authors present sex in a negative way. In all of the novels that we have read, sex was not something to be talked about outright. For females especially, they were to be not sexual beings, and there is an evident struggle to define the good that results from sex in the Modernist time.