Effects Of Masculinity And Aimlessness In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

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The novel, “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway is about the life of protagonist Jake Barnes, Lady Brett Ashley and other characters like Robert Cohn, Bill, Mike and Pedro Romero. In the story Hemingway showcases the effects of the war on the characters which causes them to experience a life of aimlessness. The characters in the story are so lost that they can be called as a lost generation. They experience the effects of Masculinity and Aimlessness which contributes a change in them like distraction due to drinking or attempting to hide reality. Nature however has a different impact on some of the characters by making them aware to be one with their surroundings and experiencing happiness. Protagonist Jake Barnes is living a happy but miserable life. He is emasculated during the war which makes him the primary character with weak masculinity. Jake is not very affected by his own masculinity except that he cannot comply to the wishes of Brett, …show more content…

They can sense happiness by sinking themselves in the moment. Nature is the only form of truth where some characters experience pure sensations like happiness. Here, they are away from the fakery of a cosmopolitan society which lacks community and values. Jake and Bill spend peaceful time fishing, swimming, and drinking sparingly. In Burguete, they feel calm and enjoy freedom just the way fish live carefree in their world. They like this life which is free from sex and drinking and feel harmony with their inner selves. The pure form of nature helps them absorb positive energy and experience natural sensations like happiness. This same sense of contentment is experienced by Romero while bullfighting in Pamplona. Romero being extremely passionate about bullfighting obtains a feeling of victory over the forces in nature when he kills a bull. When Romero kills a bull he loses himself with the bull. Hemingway

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