Untitled Document

Here all the children pose in order of age in Windmere, 1916, with Marcelline at the back. The picture emphasizes the size of the Hemingway family. She appears as a woman overlooking her siblings, yet she wears white to portray a certain innocence expected of women. Melanie Dawson explains in her article "The Miniaturizing of Girlhood" that girls were often denied a transformation from girlhood to womanhood. She writes "...girlhood nonetheless occupies the odd position of being characterized most completely by ideals that are inseparable from domestic womanhood. Nineteenth-century girlhood thus appears as troublingly indistinct, devoid of a set of characteristics and behaviors entirely its own". Marcelline grew up in the early 20th century, when girl culture was the same way, as childhood is always a repository for past values. [3]

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Marcelline Hemingway
Marcelline was the eldest Hemingway child. Born in 1898, she grew up before cameras were popular enough to thoroughly document her childhood, and so there are few photographs of her as a child. She died in 1963. {Click an image to enlarge it}
In this image, Marcelline as a young woman holds her brother Leicester. As the oldest, she had a responsibility to five younger her siblings, which is depicted by this image. Her clothing is modest and dark, making Leicester the central figure of the photograph. This demonstrates the importance of children, especially male children.	This photograph is from the family's vacation time at Lake Walloon. Marcelline is the figure standing amidst her siblings. She wears a black bathing suit, again modest, and a bathing cap, depicting a womanly reserve.
Here all the children pose in order of age in Windmere, 1916, with Marcelline at the back. The picture emphasizes the size of the Hemingway family. She appears as a woman overlooking her siblings, yet she wears white to portray a certain innocence expected of women. Melanie Dawson explains in her article "The Miniaturizing of Girlhood" that girls were often denied a transformation from girlhood to womanhood. She writes "...girlhood nonetheless occupies the odd position of being characterized most completely by ideals that are inseparable from domestic womanhood. Nineteenth-century girlhood thus appears as troublingly indistinct, devoid of a set of characteristics and behaviors entirely its own". Marcelline grew up in the early 20th century, when girl culture was the same way, as childhood is always a repository for past values. [3] Home