Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises has his male characters struggling with what it means to be a man in the post-war world. With this struggle one the major themes in the novel emits, masculine identity. Many of these “Lost Generation” men returned from that war in dissatisfaction with their life, the main characters of Hemingway’s novel are found among them. His main characters find themselves drifting, roaming around France and Spain, at a loss for something meaningful in their lives. The characters relate to each other in completely shallow ways, often ambiguously saying one thing, while meaning another. The Sun Also Rises first person narration offers few clues to the real meaning of his characters’ interactions with each other. The reader must instead collect evidence from the indirect hints that Hemingway gives through his narrator, Jake Barnes. The theme of masculinity, though prevalent in the novel, is masked in this way. Jake war wound, Jake and Robert Cohn’s relationship, and the bull-fighting scene show the theme of masculinity.
The principal exploration of this theme derives from the revelation of Jake’s war wound. It is never openly stated, but is rather implied that a certain war injury has taken either his “masculinity” by him to being able to perform sexually. Jake’s self-consciousness of his issue is seen when he undressed himself and looked in the mirror. “Undressing, I looked at myself in the mirror of the big armoire beside the bed…. of all the ways to be wounded. I suppose it was funny,” (Hemingway 38). Jake is ashamed to have this wound and the wound creates a grand injury in his masculinity. His wound though his never revealed to the reader, so only Jakes thoughts, words, and actions led to the conclusio...
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... that he cannot satisfy Brett’s unquenchable needs, and Brett acknowledges this as well. Jake lack of masculinity brings him any empty life, filling him with alcohol and other insufficient objects that can never truly satisfy him.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print.
Leland, Jacob Michael. "Yes, that is a roll of bills in my pocket: the economy of masculinity in The Sun Also Rises." The Hemingway Review 23.2 (2004): 37+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
Strychacz, Thomas. "Dramatizations of Manhood in In Our Time and The Sun Also Rises." Hemingway's Theaters of Masculinity. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003. 53-86. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 162. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
For example, she taunts pure people like Romero, who is probably still a virgin because he does not “mix that stuff” (Hemingway, 90), for Romero, bullfighting always comes first , and there is Jake who is impotent. Although, between the lines, Brett thinks about all “the hell [she] put chaps through...[she is] paying for it all now” (Hemingway, 14). Brett is not necessarily thinking about these men, instead she is punishing herself for all that she has put men through by being involved with people who can not match up with her sexually. Likewise, Hemingway shines light on the relationships that Brett has destroyed between men to punish herself. For instance, after Cohn begun to like Brett, Jake was enraged to where he even said, “to hell with Cohn, (Hemingway, 117) damaging their friendship. Additionally, Brett’s interaction with Jake caused Mike to lose control of himself and become “a bad drunk” (Hemingway, 78) and become “unpleasant after he passed a certain point,” (Hemingway, 78) and throughout the trip, he was constantly passing this
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
Throughout the novel, Lady Brett has many types of relationships with a variety of people, most of whom are men. Some of these men include Jake Barnes, the narrator of the story, Mike Campbell, her supposed husband, and Pedro Romero. Lady Brett’s laid back, independent, and rather promiscuous lifestyle creates many foil relationships with the various men she has affairs with. Brett’s foil relationships sometimes bring out the best qualities in people and other times unfortunately brings out the worst qualities. Throughout the book, Lady Brett’s foil relationship with Robert Cohn brings out Cohn’s unpopularity, immaturity, and his possessive and obsessive control over Brett.
Hemingway deals with the effects of war on the male desire for women in many of his novels and short stories, notably in his novel, The Sun Also Rises. In this novel, the main character Jake, is impotent because of an injury received in World War I. Jakes situation is reminiscent of our main character Krebs. Both characters have been damaged by World War I; the only difference is Jake’s issue is physical, while Krebs issue is mental. Krebs inwardly cannot handle female companionship. Although Krebs still enjoys watching girls from his porch and he “vaguely wanted a girl but did not want to have to work to get her” (167). Krebs found courting “not worth it” (168). The girls symbolize what World War I stripped from our main character, a desire that is natural for men, the desire for women.
One observation that can be made on Hemingway’s narrative technique as shown in his short stories is his clipped, spare style, which aims to produce a sense of objectivity through highly selected details. Hemingway refuses to romanticize his characters. Being “tough” people, such as boxers, bullfighters, gangsters, and soldiers, they are depicted as leading a life more or less without thought. The world is full of s...
Hemingway often depicts nature as a pastoral paradise within the novel, and the fishing trip serves as his epitome of such, entirely free from the corruptions of city life and women. Doing away with modern modes of transportation, they walk many miles gladly to reach the Irati River. While fishing, Jake and Bill are able to communicate freely with each other, unbound by the social confines of American and European society. The men also enjoy the camaraderie of English Veteran, Harris. This is quite different from the competitive relationships that can develop between men in the presence of women. Bill is able to express his fondness for Jake openly without it “mean[ing] [he] was a faggot,” (VIII), and Jake has no qualms over his fish being smaller than Bill’s, in what could be interpreted as an admission of lesser sexual virility.
Eby, Carl P. "Hemingway's Fetishism: Psychoanalysis and the Mirror of Manhood. Albany: State University of New York Press. As Rpt. in Bauer, Margaret D. "Forget the Legend and Read the Work: Teaching Two Stories by Ernest Hemingway. College Literature, 30 (3) (Summer 2003): 124-37. EBSCOhost.
Juniper Ellis’ “Gendering Melville” argues that not enough attention has been paid to masculinity in relation to other major features in nineteenth century America, including femininity, race, and class....
In The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume II. Edited by Paul Lauter et al. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1991: 1208-1209. Hemingway, Ernest. A.
Waldhorn, Arthur. Ernest Hemingway: A Collection of Criticism (Contemporary Studies in Literature). Chicago: Syracuse University Press, 1978.
The writing expertise of Hemingway and Faulkner, commonly referred to as Hemingwayesque and Faulknerian, are both styles that seem to parallel off of one another. One of the best ways to understand Hemingway is to read Faulkner, and vice versa. The obscurantism of Faulkner and the attentiveness of Hemingway foster their syntax and diction, as well as their similarities and differences. Faulkner displays Gothic remnants in Absalom, Absalom!, while Hemingway creates a more minimalist prose. Hemingway and Faulkner, as seen in The Sun Also Rises and Absalom Absalom! both possess uniquely different writing styles, while being able to hold the ability to parallel off of eachother's themes and diction.
Jake suffers from the nagging fear of the loss of his sexual prowess as a result of the wounds suffered during the war. Although this condition is not explicitly mentioned in the story, it is nevertheless implied. This physical dilemma brings psychological consequences so that leaves him insecure about his masculinity. Compounding this feeling is the fact that Brett, the love of his life, refuses to have a relationship with her. Once when there were in a taxi, and he tried to kiss her, Brett's response was, "Don't touch me. Please don't touch me" (33). Although Brett says that she loves him, she really doesn't want to deal with what she perceives as related problems. With other women, like in the case of another character Georgette, Jake can be charming and funny, though he seems to get bored with them quickly. Brett's apparent reservations lead Jake to believe that there could never be a sexual rel...
Jake feels that the war took away his manhood because he is unable to sleep with Brett as a result of an injury. Although he wants to have a relationship with Brett, and spends most of his time trying to pursue her, she rejects him because he cannot have a physical relationship with her. At several points in the novel, Brett and Jake imagine what their lives could have been like together, had he not been injured during the war. Thus, his physical injury gives him emotional distress because he cannot have a relationship with the woman he always wanted. The traditional American perception of masculinity was a heroic, strong soldier who showed no fear during war....
Jake Barnes, as the narrator and supposed hero of the novel, fell in love with Brett some years ago and is still powerfully and uncontrollably in love with her. However, Jake is unfortunately a casualty of the war, having been emasculated in a freak accident. Still adjusting to his impotence at the beginning of the novel, Jake has lost all power and desire to have sex. Because of this, Jake and Brett cannot be lovers and all attempts at a relationship that is sexually fulfilling are simply futile. Brett is a passionate, lustful woman who is driven by the most intimate and loving act two may share, something that Jake just cannot provide her with. Jake's emasculation only puts the two in a grandly ironic situation. Brett is an extremely passionate woman but is denied the first man she feels true love and admiration for. Jake has loved Brett for years and cannot have her because of his inability to have sex. It is obvious that their love is mutual when Jake tries to kiss Brett in their cab ride home: "'You mustn't.
...g with two of her lovers which were Pedro and Robert. He takes on a role of a female character when he is there for Brett after each affair of hers fails. Even when Robert attacks Jake over Brett he is unable to fight back and stand up for himself which questions his masculinity. Jake still ends up talking to Cohn and compromising his pride when Robert asks for his forgiveness. Although Jake simply replies with “sure”, it is clear that he seems to have lost all sense of self and his masculinity depreciates. Jake feels connected to bull fighting and sees it as the best means to live life. “I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it. Nobody ever lives their life all the way except bull fighters” (Hemmingway 18). The underlying meaning Hemingway is trying to reveal to his readers is that Jake feels envious of the macho lifestyle the