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
and straight’” (38, Ch. 5). Cohn is immature in his idealization
of Brett’s beauty, as he falls in “love at first sight”.
Furthermore, like an adolescent, he attempts to satisfy his
curiosity about Brett by asking Jake numerous questions
about her. After Cohn and Brett’s short-lived affair in San
Sebastian, Cohn is nervous around Jake: “Cohn had been
rather nervous ever since we had met at Bayone. He did not
know whether we knew Brett had been with him at San
Sebastian, and it made him rather awkward” (94, Ch. 10).
Moreover, Cohn is scared that when Brett appears she will
embarrass him and so he does not have the maturity to
behave appropriately in front of Jake and his friend, Bill
Gorton. Nonetheless, Cohn is proud of his affair with Brett
and believes that this conquest makes him a hero. When Brett
appears with her fiancee Mike, Cohn still believes that they
are destined for an ideal love despite her blatant coldness to
him. However, it is apparent that Brett simply used Cohn to
satisfy her sexual cravings: “‘He behaved rather well’” (83,
Ch. 9). Cohn does not understand the triviality of their trip to
San Sebastian in Brett’s mind and has become dependent on
her attention and affection. In his rampant drunkenness, Mike
blasts Cohn: “‘What if Brett did sleep with you? She’s slept
with lots of better people than you. Tell me Robert,. Why do
you follow Brett around like a poor bloody steer? Don’t you
know you’re not wanted?’” (143, Ch. 13). Cohn is like an
adolescent, as he vainly ignores the truth and continues to
love Brett: “He could not stop looking at Brett. It seemed to
make him happy. It must have been pleasant for him to see
her looking so lovely, and know he had been away with her
and that every one knew it. They couldn’t take that away from
him” (146, Ch. 13). Cohn over-exaggerates the significance of
his affair with Brett. He does not understand that Brett simply
used him and that their brief relationship has no meaning to
her. Moreover, Cohn cannot conduct himself with dignity and
he intrudes upon people and places where he is obviously not
wanted. Naively, Cohn dwells on the fact that he has slept
with Brett and obsesses with her. When Brett begins to show
signs of interest in Pedro Romero, Cohn irrationally
approaches Jake demanding to know Brett’s whereabouts,
punches him in the jaw, and then calls him a pimp (190-91,
Ch. 17). Later that night he encounters Pedro and Brett
together in their hotel room. His actions of knocking Pedro
down repeatedly until he eventually tires demonstrate a
divergence from his character. Cohn for the first time takes
some action in what he feels, rather than merely thinking
about it or complaining about it. However, despite his
persistence, Pedro does not remain down according to Mike:
“‘The bull-fighter fellow was rather good. He didn’t say much,
but he kept getting up and getting knocked down again. Cohn
couldn’t knock him out’” (202, Ch. 17). Eventually, Cohn gives
up on this pursuit, is knocked twice by Pedro, and loses his
battle for Brett. These events show that Cohn’s boxing skills,
a defense mechanism that he once used in college, will no
longer pull him out of rough situations. Cohn fails to show the
strength and courage needed to face the circumstances like a
man. Pedro Romero, on the other hand, comes closest to the
embodiment of Hemingway’s hero. Brett is almost immediately
enchanted by this handsome, nineteen-year-old, a promising
matador. Pedro, a fearless figure who frequently confronts
death in his occupation, is not afraid in the bullring and
controls the bulls like a master. Pedro is the first man since
Jake who causes Brett to lose her self-control: “‘I can’t help it.
I’m a goner now, anyway. Don’t you see the difference? I’ve
got to do something. I’ve got to do something I really want to
do. I’ve lost my self-respect” (183, Ch. 16). In contrast, Pedro
maintains his self-control in his first encounter with Brett: “He
felt there was something between them. He must have felt it
when Brett gave him her hand. He was being very careful”
(185, Ch. 16). Brett falls in love with Pedro as a hero who
promises new excitement. In the scene between Pedro and
Cohn described previously, Pedro demonstrates his
confidence and strong will. Knocked down time and time
again, Pedro rises each time refusing to be beaten. His
controlled and dignified demeanor in an unusual situation
contrast sharply with Cohn’s fear and weakness. Soon Pedro
and Brett run off together but when he demands too much
from her, Brett asks him to leave. “‘He was ashamed of me for
a while, you know. He wanted me to grow my hair out. He
said it would make me more womanly.” In addition, Pedro ”
really wanted to marry” Brett because “‘he wanted to make it
sure [Brett] could never go away from him’” (242, Ch. 19).
Pedro will not compromise his expectations for a woman and
will not accommodate Brett’s character even though he loves
her. In his affair with Brett, he has performed according to his
rules and when he discovers that his ideals are impossible for
Brett to accept, he leaves willingly. Pedro has been left
untainted by Brett, sustaining his strong-willed, correct
behavior. Moreover, Pedro leaves without sulking like Cohn
or whining like Mike. Brett’s acceptance or rejection of
particular qualities in each of the four men she becomes
involved with help define Hemingway’s male hero. Mike is not
dependent on Brett but does not maintain his dignity and
self-discipline in his drunken sloppiness. Cohn is a
complaining, weak, accommodating adolescent who has little
understanding of others or himself. Pedro is the near perfect
embodiment of strength, courage, and confidence. Jake is the
lesser version of this perfection as the hero of the novel.
Hence, Hemingway’s ideal hero is self-controlled, self-reliant,
and fearless. He is a man of action and he does not, under
any circumstances, compromise his beliefs or standards.
Jake, as the supposed hero of the novel, is challenged by his
emasculation in the deepest sense possible, because the
traditional ways in which masculinity are defined are
insufficient and impossible for him. Jake needs the strength
and courage to confront his impotence because he has not
yet adjusted to this weakness. It is ironic that Cohn, a
character least like the Hemingway man, has slept with Brett
while Jake will never be able to accomplish this feat.
However, because Cohn so inadequately fulfills the roles of a
true man, Hemingway implies that the sexual conquest of a
woman does not alone satisfy the definition of masculinity.
Nevertheless, Jake fails to fulfill other requisites of the
Hemingway man as he deviates from his own ethical
standards. Jake sees that Brett is mesmerized by Pedro’s
skillful control and extraordinary handsomeness and
recognizes the possibility of furnishing her carnal desires with
the most perfect specimen of manhood that he can offer in
place of himself. Jake thus betrays the aficionados of
Pamplona and the trust of a long-time friend, Montoya, who
fear that this rising star may be ruined by women. Thus,
regardless of his physical impotence, Jake’s true weakness is
the impotence of his will and the supposed hero of the novel
is flawed due to his failure to adhere to what he believes is
right and wrong. Hemingway thus refrains from presenting a
true hero in his novel. With the absence of a leading male
ideal, Hemingway betrays the larger socio-cultural
assumptions about men and masculinity and questions the
conventional means in which they are defined in his society.