University of Novi Sad

Faculty of Philosophy
Department of English Language and Literature
May, 2016.

Knjievno delo Ernesta Hemingveja

Male characters in the Sun Also Rises

Professor: Student:
Prof. dr Vladislava Gordi-Petkovi Evelin ilvesi
 Male characters in the Sun also Rises

Hemingways The Sun also Rises deals with men, masculinity, and both the bond and
the insecurities they share. It is told from the perspective of Jake Barnes, and recounts moments
of his life spent in France and Spain with his fellow American expatriates. Set after the First
World War, in which most of the characters have been involved, the novel represents the mental
states of the characters and how they deal with trauma. They are all examples of, as Gertrude
Stein named them, The Lost Generation.
Before actually analyzing this novel, we must understand what Hemingway believed a
man should be. Most of his works have a code hero which signifies the specific traits
Hemingway believed every man should have. He is above all, a man of action. Does not speak
much, is reticent, and rarely shows strong emotions. Following the Greek philosophy of
stoicism, a man must not show that he is in distress or in pain. He keeps his thoughts to himself,
and listens more than he speaks. Even though he is emotional, he keeps it all bottled up inside.
Another element of a code hero is his adherence to a certain code of conduct, in line with the
already aforementioned traits. What is also significant is that the code hero does not really speak
of this code. It seems it is natural to him, and to actually debate and think about the code would
enable him to do, as he would be too preoccupied with think. We should not fail to mention
the stereotypical masculine traits of virility and machismo. A man must know how to fight, how
to drink, and how to manage to obtain as many, female, sexual partners as possible.
Taking into account both the post-wartime context of the novels plot, and the given
definition, we move towards the novel itself, who the characters indeed are, how much have
they been influenced by the war, do they fill the above stated definition of a man, and how they
interact with each other.
 1. First World War, Manliness and Sex

There is little need to mention how the First World War damaged the world physically,
both by the deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and the actual change of the bombed
out and mortared landscapes of military theatres. What is also significant, however, is the mental
damage it has done. Shell shock, now known as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, has destroyed
countless lives, long after the war has ended. Many former soldiers, unable to deal with the
horrors of war, carried scars much deeper than purely physically ones can make. Jake Barnes had
the misfortune of being afflicted with both.
A newspaper writer living in Paris and a former veteran form the Italian front, Jake is the
narrator of this novel. He fits, at first glance, the macho persona quite nicely. He is outwardly
calm, can take a drink, quite stable and enjoys manly activities like fishing and bullfights.
Indeed, he is an immense fan of bullfighting, showing great knowledge of the traits and elements
of the sport and impressive a native of a bullfighting town. He also has a wound from the war
that torments him. Jake Barnes is impotent. Many times referring to the wound as a bad joke, it is
very obvious that it is no laughing matter. It keeps him up at night, souring everything he does.
What makes this so much worse is the fact that he is in love with Lady Brett Ashley who is a
woman with a strong sexuality. It is implied many times, with varying subtlety, that it is the lack
of sex that keeps them from being together.
This creates an identity crisis in Jake, as sexual performance is perhaps the main element
of the stereotypical macho male. As Ira Elliot said in Performance Art: Jake Barnes and
"Masculine" Signification in The Sun Also Rises, on page 80, Boys will be boys only if boys act
like boys; when boys act like girls-that is, do not conform to gender/ed expectations-they are
acting, in public or in private, in ways "not adequate to reality . How can then Jake Barnes be a
boy, his own man, if he cannot act like a boy-in this context, have sex with a woman. What Elliot
also mentions, and indeed elaborates greatly, is Jakes approach towards homosexuals. Disdain of
homosexuality has also been one of the stereotypical, and honestly backward, aspects of
patriarchal masculinity. When in a bar in Paris, Jake sees a group of homosexual men dancing
and drinking, he immediately responds with rage, although, typical of a code hero, it is
contained. Somehow they always made me angry. I know they are supposed to be amusing, and
you should be tolerant, but I wanted to swing on one- the they of this passage from the novel
is directed towards homosexuals (Hemingway, p19).
Going further, what makes the situation worse is that the person a homosexual is dancing
with his Georgette, a prostitute he picked up in Paris and brought to this party. Perhaps the main
reason for all this rage is, as Elliot said on page 5:

What Jake is unable or unwilling to acknowledge (disclose) is that his

relationship to women resembles that of the homosexual. Though for
different reasons, both Jake and the homosexual man do not relate to
women in accordance with the demands of a heterosexual/heterosexist
culture.

And also Although his desire is "normal," his body prevents him from actualizing his
"manhood. His incapability to have sex with a woman equates him, one can say, in his mind to
a homosexual, and at the same time contrasts him with the same. He has the desire, but not the
ability. The homosexual has the ability, but not the desire.
Jake Barnes friends are in a similar situation as he is. They have all taken part in the war.
Mike Campbell is a bankrupt Scotsman who is also constantly drunk. He often mentions the war
and stories from the front. We see him as an alcoholic with a short temper and with no verbal
filter whatsoever. Bill Gorton is also a fellow veteran, but seems relatively adjusted to postwar
life, at least when compared to the other characters. Robert Kohn, if he can indeed be called
Jakes friend, is different than the others. He did not fight in the war.
The ultimate stereotypically manly profession is, indeed, war. The Sun also Rises
deconstructs this quite bluntly by showing all the neuroses and the damage caused by the First
World War. Even if we take all this into account, we still get the sense that the characters are
bullying Kohn. The main reason is that he did not take part in the war, this horrible event that
changed them all. He is not a mans man, and cannot be one of the boys. Indeed, Kohn can be
seen as the anti-code hero. He is very emotional and sentimental. Kohn reads novels that Jake
believes he is too old for, and frequently shows signs of emotional instability. For example, in a
fit of rage and jealousy, he beat up Pedro, Lady Bretts new lover. At times, Kohn is even a
contrast to Jake himself. Kohn is an excellent amateur boxer, though never good enough to
become a professional. This is a sign of a typical macho male, a good fighter, and yet even when
he beats up his rival, he immediately breaks down and cries, as if he lost. He is also dating Lady
Brett, and makes love to her, rubbing salt into Jakes wound. Another aspect of masculinity is not
being obsessed over your appearance. Here Kohn fails to, as do the homosexuals in Jakes eyes as
Elliott mentioned on page 79:

Robert Cohn, is mocked for his excessive barbering (99), the homosexuals
are scorned for their obvious concern with appearance. Rather than exhibit-
ing the reticence and rigidity associated with masculinity, they are overly
and overtly expressive, uninhibited in the use of their bodies and voices.

As Todd Onderdonk, in his article Bitched: Feminization, Identity, and the

Hemingwayesque in "The Sun Also Rises", on page 74, summarized Kohn:

Indeed, Cohn is almost comical as an aspirant to Hemingway's new norms

of masculinity, falling ridiculously, romantically in love with the sexually
itinerant Brett and missing every cue of proper male behavior as a
member of the "herd" of men surrounding her.

Mike, Bill, and of course Jake, are men who are technically masculine, macho,
code heroes, while Robert Kohn is feminine and emotional. The former group are defined
and shaped by the war, and the damage caused by the trauma of the WWI. Kohn never
suffered as they did, and this, in Jakes eyes at least, makes him less of a man. Even the
other male side characters of the novel have some of those macho traits mentioned many
times. Count Mippipopolous is perhaps a positive example. A man who also fought in a
war, and yet is presented as stable and genuinely kind. Pedro Romero, while not a
veteran, is a bullfighter, engages in a sport in which every day his life is on the line. He is
perhaps the best example of masculinity as, even after he gets a beating from Kohn, he
can continue fighting the next day.
2. Male bonding and male relationships

The activities these men participate in are also typically manly. They watch bull fights,
they drink and they fish. Perhaps the only scene in which we see the characters softer sides are in
the fishing scene. In it, Jake and Bill go and fish, and talk and bond. In stark contrast to the Paris,
and the general urban scenes of the novel, here, they finally have a real conversation, in nature.
They have a genuine heart-to-heart conversation surrounded by beautiful, idyllic trees and lakes
and we get the sense that in Hemingways eyes, nature is needed for a man to rejuvenate and heal
himself. Indeed, this is perhaps the only happy scene in the novel. Bill even says to Jake, Listen
you're a hell of a good guy, and I'm fonder of you than any- body on earth., a real warm scene
in the novel (Hemingway p91).
However, even this is slightly colored by male machismo as Bill, who in typical macho
fashion needs to incessantly make jokes, continues the conversation with vulgar remarks such as
I couldn't tell you that in New York. It'd mean I was a faggot. That was what the Civil War was
about. Abraham Lincoln was a faggot. He was in love with General Grant. He just had to hide
and show his insecurity by using that faggot remark. The man are so constrained and broken
that even need to protect themselves from looking weak and feminine when they are completely
alone, with their best friend. (Hemingway p91).
Other examples of them forming relationships are the one between Jake and the
Pamplona inn owner, and between Jake, Bill and Wilson-Harris. Jake and the inn owner,
Montoya, bond, of course, over sports, i.e. their shared passion over bullfighting. Wilson-Harris
is a British war veteran, so that is what makes his intimacy stronger with Jake and Bill.

Conclusion

All these men base their relationships and their identities on war or sports. They are all
broken by their past and by the horrors of war, Jake most of all. Their exclusion of Kohn, their
alcoholism and their coldness masquerading as stoicism are all just coping mechanism with the
atrocities they have witnessed. Even the calm moments are short-lived, leaving only broken men,
expatriates unable to form relationships or stay still.
 References:

1. Elliott, Ira. "Performance Art: Jake Barnes and "Masculine" Signification in The Sun Also
Rises." American Literature 67.1 (1995): 77.

2. Hemingway, E. (1954). The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner.

3. Onderdonk, Todd. "Bitched: Feminization, Identity, and the Hemingwayesque in The Sun
Also Rises." Twentieth-Century Literature52.1 (2006): 61-91.