Catherine as Transgender: Dreaming Identity in The Garden of Eden

This essay introduces the possibility that the character of Catherine Bourne can be read from a clinical perspective as a transgender individual who exhibits related desires and behavior. While understanding about transgender identity was not developed in the time of Hemingway’s writing, trans-genders certainly existed. Recognizing such an individual struggle within Catherine’s character helps illuminate some of her complex and contradictory behaviors that have thwarted easy explanation by previous critics. Considered as transgender, she is neither signpost nor scapegoat.