The Sun Also Rises: A look into post-war masculinity

 The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, details the affairs of a number of characters in post-war France and pre-war Spain, but it also looks into themes such as masculinity. I want to focus on how Jake defines masculinity after his injury, through the different settings we see. In France, I believe Jake's idea of masculinity is tarnished by the war. Everything is hardened to him; France has undergone a number of changes in its society post-war, such as many veterans living there now, and bringing their ideas of what the world should be to France. We see this with Jake's judgement of Cohn, about how he isn't manly enough by just being the middleweight boxing champion of Princeton University, or he isn't masculine enough to Jake's standards. This also brings to question, does Jake see anyone who has not fought in a war or battle masculine at all? Count Mippipopolous, a man who has seen many battles and wars is someone Jake deems perfectly fine masculinity wise; he has no quarrels with him whatsoever and seems to respect him. Robert Cohn has not seen war. Jake does not fully respect him. There seems to be a pattern here that is only apparent in France, as when we get to Spain things seem to change.

In Spain we meet Pedro Romero, a bullfighter. Spain has not seen a war on the scale that Jake has yet, so why should Jake respect Romero? This is where the pattern starts to shift. As Spain has not experienced this war, neither have the people. The people there are not full of the war's trauma, and this leads to the new kind of masculinity we see in the novel. The stoic man, the savior, the hero type of guy, is Romero. He doesn't need to have fought in a war, he exemplifies what it means to be masculine without needing years and years of battle. Jake respects masculinity in different ways in different scenarios, and Romero happens to be the version of masculinity he respects, maybe even wishes to be like.

Comments

  1. AyaNovember 17, 2022 at 8:09 PM

    Really interesting post! Jake and other veterans are frequently irritated by Robert Cohn's traditional and flamboyant masculinity. There are some parallels between Robert Cohn's behavior and the "honorable war hero" ideals that permeate society. It's makes total sense that Jake would be fed up with it after experiencing the horrors and brutality of actual combat. I also agree that Jake changes in Spain, exemplified by his love of bullfighting.

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  2. KathrynNovember 18, 2022 at 12:33 PM

    I totally agree! One thing that I thought was interesting about masculinity in the book was that Brett is portrayed as having the kind of masculinity that Jake respects. She was involved in the war even if she didn't fight, she drinks heavily, and she's described as looking androgynous. Maybe Jake's perception of post-war masculinity is part of the reason Jake respects her so much.

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  3. Luke YouNovember 18, 2022 at 8:15 PM

    Yeah! Jake's definition of masculinity does seem to have changed slightly throughout the novel. Romero has never served in the war. But in a sense, he is still a lot like those who have. He risks his life every day, fighting his own battles in the bullring. By doing so, he shows Jake a new kind of masculinity.

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  4. Navid TajkhorshidNovember 19, 2022 at 12:24 AM

    I really like this post, and I hadn't noticed how Jack seems to change his standards. One potential explanation is Jake respects Romero as an older, more traditional example of masculinity--I mean, bull-fighting is a particularly traditional practice: Visiting Spain is kind of like going back in time, and so do the standards of masculinity. Another reason may be that Romero is putting himself in the ring voluntarily, which gives him a kind of superiority to those who were drafted in the war.

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