The Sun Also Rises Masculinity Analysis

In the book the Sun Also Rises the author, Ernest Hemingway, uses style to demonstrate how a man who has lost his masculinity can never truly be happy with a woman. Hemingway uses main characters Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley to make this point. Jake and Brett had a brief relationship that caused them to fall in love with each other. Unfortunately, during the war, Jake had a life changing injury. This injury made it so that Jake can never have sex with a woman. To Hemingway not being able to have sex is the equivalent of a man losing his masculinity. Consequently, Brett’s and Jake’s short affair ended because Brett would never be with a man who cannot have sex. Even though they want to be together, and even flirt with the idea of living together, it would never work because Brett would cheat on Jake.

During the book, when Brett and Jake’s friend Robert Cohn are out of town, Jake has the idea that “Brett was gone, I was not bothered by Cohn’s troubles, I rather enjoyed not having to play tennis”(75). Jake’s thoughts when he is away from Brett tend to be more positive in contrast to Jake’s thoughts when he is around Brett. When Jake is around Brett his thoughts are depressing. For example, after Brett leaves Jake’s apartment, Jake starts thinking about her and he thinks that “I was thinking about Brett and my mind stopped jumping around and started to go in sort of smooth waves and then all of the sudden I started to cry” (39). This is one of many moments when Jake is crying due to him not being able to be with Brett. Hemingway shifts the tone of Jake’s thoughts to be negative because Hemingway believes that without masculinity Jake can never be happy with Brett, or with any woman. Hemingway thinks masculinity is everything when it comes to being a happy with a woman and uses his style of writing to show it through Jake and Brett’s depressing