“Much Sense – the starkest Madness”: Schizoid Personality in Hemingway’s “The Garden of Eden”

Abstract

Th is paper offers an analysis of two characters, David and Catherine Bourne, in Ernest Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden. The characters are analysed through R.D. Laing’s concept of ontological insecurity. The aim is to show that both these characters exhibit schizoid personality traits, as defined by Laing, however, it is only Catherine who is represented as mad due to her gender reversals. David, on the other hand, despite being involved in their gender reversals, remains “sane” because aft er getting involved in the sexual/gender experiments with Catherine, he succumbs to the demands of the dominant sexual politics.