Hemingways Heroe Essay Research Paper Hemingway

Hemingways Heroe Essay, Research Paper

Hemingway’s depiction of the traditional hero The Hemingway

Hero Prevalent among many of Ernest Hemingway’s novels is

the concept popularly known as the “Hemingway hero”, an

ideal character readily accepted by American readers as a

“man’s man”. In The Sun Also Rises, four different men are

compared and contrasted as they engage in some form of

relationship with Lady Brett Ashley, a near-nymphomaniac

Englishwoman who indulges in her passion for sex and

control. Brett plans to marry her fiancee for superficial

reasons, completely ruins one man emotionally and spiritually,

separates from another to preserve the idea of their

short-lived affair and to avoid self-destruction, and denies and

disgraces the only man whom she loves most dearly. All her

relationships occur in a period of months, as Brett either

accepts or rejects certain values or traits of each man. Brett,

as a dynamic and self-controlled woman, and her four love

interests help demonstrate Hemingway’s standard definition

of a man and/or masculinity. Each man Brett has a

relationship with in the novel possesses distinct qualities that

enable Hemingway to explore what it is to truly be a man. The

Hemingway man thus presented is a man of action, of

self-discipline and self-reliance, and of strength and courage

to confront all weaknesses, fears, failures, and even death.

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. You

must know. I can’t stand it, that’s all. Oh darling, please

understand!’, ‘Don’t you love me?’, ‘Love you? I simply turn all

to jelly when you touch me’” (26, Ch. 4). This scene is

indicative of their relationship as Jake and Brett hopelessly

desire each other but realize the futility of further endeavors.

Together, they have both tried to defy reality, but failed. Jake

is frustrated by Brett’s reappearance into his life and her

confession that she is miserably unhappy. Jake asks Brett to

go off with him to the country for bit: “‘Couldn’t we go off in the

country for a while?’, ‘It wouldn’t be any good. I’ll go if you

like. But I couldn’t live quietly in the country. Not with my own

true love’, ‘I know’, ‘Isn’t it rotten? There isn’t any use my

telling you I love you’, ‘You know I love you’, ‘Let’s not talk.

Talking’s all bilge’” (55, Ch. 7). Brett declines Jake’s pointless

attempt at being together. Both Brett and Jake know that any

relationship beyond a friendship cannot be pursued. Jake is

still adjusting to his impotence while Brett will not sacrifice a

sexual relationship for the man she loves. Since Jake can

never be Brett’s lover, they are forced to create a new

relationship for themselves, perhaps one far more dangerous

than that of mere lovers – they have become best friends. This

presents a great difficulty for Jake, because Brett’s presence

is both pleasurable and agonizing for him. Brett constantly

reminds him of his handicap and thus Jake is challenged as a

man in the deepest, most personal sense possible. After the

departure of their first meeting, Jake feels miserable: “This

was Brett, that I had felt like crying about. Then I thought of

her walking up the street and of course in a little while I felt

like hell again” (34, Ch. 4). Lady Brett Ashley serves as a

challenge to a weakness Jake must confront. Since his war

experience, Jake has attempted to reshape the man he is and

the first step in doing this is to accept his impotence. Despite

Brett’s undeniable love for Jake, she is engaged to marry

another. Mike Campbell is Brett’s fiancee, her next planned

marriage after two already failed ones. Mike is ridiculously in

love with Brett and though she knows this she still decides to

marry him. In fact, Brett is only to marry Mike because she is

tired of drifting and simply needs an anchor. Mike loves Brett

but is not dependent on her affection. Moreover, he knows

about and accepts Brett’s brief affairs with other men: “‘Mark

you. Brett’s had affairs with men before. She tells me all about

everything’” (143, Ch. 13). Mike appreciates Brett’s beauty,

as do all the other males in the novel, but perhaps this is as

deep as his love for her goes. In his first scene in the novel,

Mike cannot stop commenting and eliciting comments on

Brett’s beauty: “‘I say Brett, you are a lovely piece. Don’t you

think she’s beautiful?’” (79, Ch. 8). He repeatedly proposes

similar questions but does not make any observant or

profound comments on his wife-to-be. In fact, throughout the

entirety of the novel, Mike continues this pattern, once

referring to Brett as “just a lovely, healthy wench” as his most

observant remark. Furthermore, Mike exhibits no self-control

when he becomes drunk, making insensitive statements that

show his lack of regard for Brett and others. After Brett shows

interest in Pedro Romero, the bullfighter, Mike rudely yells:

“Tell him bulls have no balls! Tell him Brett wants to see him

put on those green pants. Tell him Brett is dying to know how

he can get into those pants!” (176, Ch. 16). In addition, Mike

cannot contemplate the complexities of Brett and her

relationships: “‘Brett’s got a bull-fighter. She had a Jew

named Cohn, but he turned out badly. Brett’s got a

bull-fighter. A beautiful, bloody bull-fighter’” (206, Ch. 18).

Despite Brett’s brief affair with the bullfighter, she will

eventually return to Mike who will no doubt openly welcome

her again. Brett is a strong woman, who can control most

men, and Mike is no exception. She vaguely simplifies their

relationship when she explains to Jake that she plans to

return to him: “‘He’s so damned nice and he’s so awful. He’s

my sort of thing’” (243, Ch. 19). Mike is not complex enough

to challenge Brett, but she does go on and decide to accept

his simplicity anyways. Furthermore, despite his engagement

with Brett, Mike betrays Hemingway’s ideal man. Although he

is self-reliant, Mike possesses little self-control or dignity.

Engaged to one man and in love with another, Brett

demonstrates her disregard for the 1920’s double standards.

Very early in the beginning of the novel, she reveals to Jake

that she had invited Robert Cohn to go with her on a trip to

San Sebastian. Cohn, a Jewish, middle-aged writer

disillusioned with his life in Paris, wants to escape to South

America where he envisions meeting the ebony princesses he

romanticized from a book. However, he cannot persuade Jake

to accompany him and then completely forgets about this idea

upon meeting Brett. Cohn is immediately enamored with her

beauty and falls in love with her: “‘There’s a certain quality

about her, a certain fineness. She seems to be absolutely fine