Examples Of Masculinity In The Sun Also Rises By Robert Cohn

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Masculinity Gone Awry: Hemingway’s Robert Cohn in The Sun Also Rises From the beginning, Robert Cohn’s name defines himself－he is essentially a conehead in a society where concealing insecurities and projecting masculinity is paramount. Although he tries in vain to act stereotypically male, Cohn’s submissive attitude and romantic beliefs ultimately do little to cover up the pitiful truth; he is nothing more than a degenerate shadow of masculinity, doomed for isolation by society. In the incriminating eyes of people around him, Cohn is a picture-perfect representation of a failure as a man. Through Cohn, Hemingway delineates not only the complications of attaining virility, but also the reveal of another “lost” generation within the Lost Generation: …show more content…

His fascination with the The Purple Land by William Henry Hudson, which Jake describes as “a very sinister book if read too late in life” (17), is representative of his unpopular pipe dreams and hopes. Spontaneously suggesting “‘Would you like to go to South America, Jake?’” (17), Cohn effectively fails to meet the masculine standard of a grounded, realistic man who has seen the horrors of the world. Instead he is removed from reality, earning him the contempt of many others around him. Within a society of the disillusioned, he himself is illusioned; paradoxically, this may as well make him the disillusioned one among his …show more content…

His absence in the battlefield partly explains his untainted nature and contributes to the implied “unmanly” label he has earned for himself from Jake and the group. Hemingway strips away any semblance of masculinity in Cohn save his boxing talent. This is the extent of his masculinity. Cohn uses boxing to give him a “certain inner comfort in knowing he could knock down anybody who was snooty to him” (11). To combat his insecurity with his masculinity, he relies on boxing. However, Cohn still inevitably and obliviously throws in the towel in the fight of masculinity when Jake remarks that “being a very shy and thoroughly nice boy, he never fought except in the gym” (11). Cohn’s attempt at using the sport as a mechanism for practicing masculinity ultimately

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