46 pages • 1 hour read
Ernest HemingwayThe Garden of Eden
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 1, Chapter 1 Summary
American writer David Bourne honeymoons in the south of France with his new wife Catherine. They stay at a Mediterranean hotel, where they swim nude in the sea, ride bicycles, and fish together in the “cheerful and friendly town” (4). They eat often but seem always hungry. They have sex, eat, sleep, talk, and plan their days.
After breakfast one day, David goes fishing. He hooks a strong fish and, as he struggles to reel it in, a crowd gathers to watch. When he finally lands the fish, the men in the crowd congratulate him. Catherine runs to him and kisses him. A waiter named Andre praises David for catching the sea bass, as “no one has ever caught such a fish on such tackle” (9). Though the fish is strikingly beautiful when pulled from the water, its luster quickly fades. The fish is too big to eat, so the couple sell it at the market.
As they eat lunch, Catherine teases David about a “big surprise” (10) but refuses to give any details. As they lay in bed later that afternoon, she mentions that she is “going to be changed” (11) but still refuses to share details. Later, while he sits in a café, David reflects on the three weeks they have spent in France since their wedding. David has forgotten about any potential problems in his marriage and rarely thinks about his writing. He sips a glass of brandy, deciding that he is truly happy, although he is slightly perturbed by Catherine’s promised surprise.
That afternoon, Catherine finds him in the café. Her surprise is a new haircut, “cropped as short as a boy’s” (13). She reveals that she is now both a boy and a girl, so she can “do anything and anything and anything” (13). She no longer wants to live by other people’s rules. David assures Catherine that he likes her surprise. As they sit and drink in the café, people from the town compliment Catherine’s haircut. That night, David sees Catherine as he has never seen her before, and her face is “heartbreaking” (15). As they go to bed, she asks him to love and understand her. Catherine touches David and tells him that they are blending into an inseparable, single person.
Book 1, Chapter 2 Summary
The next day, David and Catherine visit a secluded beach. As Catherine sleeps, David thinks about the previous night and the ways his wife is changing. In the morning, she assured him that she is his “good girl come back again” (18). David is worried about how his wife seems to have changed in a fast and dangerous way. However, he assures himself that he will be happy if she is happy and that he is lucky to have a wife like Catherine. She wakes up and they go into the sea together. After, David applies sun cream to Catherine’s skin, and she jokes that they “don’t look very much like brothers” (19). She tells David that he does not have to worry about her changes, as she will confine them to the nighttime.
When they return to the hotel, David receives letters from his publisher in America. He reads the letters alone in the café and is pleased by the positive reviews for his latest novel and the “cheerful and guardedly optimistic” notes from his publisher (19). As he looks through the clippings, most of the reviews praise his work although several are negative. David works out how much money he is likely to make from his successful novel’s second print run. Catherine arrives and reads the clippings. She does not like the reviews and wonders how they can ever measure up to the public image of David who appears in the reviews. She turns to her letters; she tells David that her bank has deposited two large checks in her account so that neither of them “will have to worry about balances for a while” (21). Catherine mentions her plans to enjoy herself and the money while they are still young. David says that he needs to write, but he agrees to delay his writing so that they can continue to have fun together, at least for a while.
Book 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Later that night, David and Catherine lay in bed. Catherine mentions going to Africa or Spain, but David says the season is not right. Catherine agrees to stay in France because she wants to continue her sun tanning. She wants to “get darker” (24); she believes that the darkening of their skin will differentiate them from other people. As Catherine sleeps, David worries that he might not be able to write for some time. He assures himself that he does not need to worry about money and that they can enjoy themselves at least “for a time” (25).
Book 1 Analysis
The novel opens with a description of David and Catherine on their honeymoon in the south of France. They drink, eat, sleep, have sex, and entertain themselves. Their world is carefree and privileged; their relaxation and fun seem unending, and the cost is irrelevant. However, their good times are shadowed by a sense of foreboding. They are struggling to deal with hidden, unfathomable issues in their relationship. This issue is symbolized by David’s fishing trip. He takes his fishing rod and stands alone on the seashore, spending his day doing very little. When he hooks a fish, he is suddenly caught in a battle with a force he cannot see or understand. He spends hours trying to reel in the fish as a crowd gathers on the dock to watch him. David battles against the unseen fish in the same way that he will battle against Catherine later in the novel. David cannot perceive or understand the problems that afflict Catherine or motivate her to challenge or antagonize him. Other characters will be curious bystanders to the spectacular collapse of a marriage. Though David eventually triumphs over the fish to the adoration of the crowd, he is left with a situation he does not want or understand. The fallout of his conflict with Catherine will be–like the fish that he sells at the market–too much for one couple to manage.
Catherine tests the boundaries of her relationship with David. She tests his patience, acting in a manner that she knows will not please him for her entertainment. She knows that he does not understand her desire to be a boy and that he is displeased by her derisive remarks about his work. David dismisses Catherine’s behavior in the same way that she dismisses his work. Her combative interrogation of their marriage is, for David, just another part of their honeymoon experience. He initially hopes that they will leave her behavior behind. He hopes that he can leave this version of Catherine behind in the same way they move to the next bar, beach, or town. Rather than tell her that he is displeased or annoyed, he smiles and assures her that everything is fine. The attitudes of both David and Catherine suggest that neither understands the other. David does not understand Catherine’s desire to change. Catherine does not understand David’s stoicism.
Catherine and David seem to occupy different worlds. He is awake while she is asleep; he works while she does nothing; and he is stoic and conservative while she wishes to express herself and challenge society. When they are in bed together, David pays close attention to Catherine’s body and to where she ends and he begins. Separation is important for David, who likes to divide and compartmentalize his life. He has a specific room and time for writing, a place to drink, and a place to swim. For Catherine, by contrast, these divisions only exist to be challenged. She tries to blur all aspects of their life. She obscures the traditional boundaries and definitions of gender, not only for herself but for David as well. She refers to herself as a boy and to David as a girl, while David remains silent. She blurs their bodies and their lives, combining them into a single narrative, while David would prefer to maintain the divisions. The contrast between their desires, between their preferences for division or unification, sets their relationship on a course toward an inevitable end.
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By Ernest Hemingway
