Masculinity In The Sun Also Rises

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes is the main protagonist that lives in Paris after World War I. He works as a newspaperman in Paris (Shanman 1071). He is one the many American and British expatriates who overran the city shortly after the war. He is a Midwestern, middle-class, and a lapsed Catholic. He falls in love with a nurse Lady Brett Ashley with leads to part of his downfall (Bloom 122). Jake Barnes is troubled about his injury from World War I that leaves him impotent; but throughout the novel, he learns that his masculinity does not come from his physical abilities but through his emotional state, and he learns to accept his impotence. Hemingway shows that Jake has an untraditional “code” of masculinity (Jividen 556). Jake’s code of masculinity is different than the traditional thinking of what makes a man. The traditional thinking is that man has to be a physically strong
Jake has a very high admiration for bullfighting. He considered himself as an aficionado of the sport. Jake ultimately wanted to be accept by the elite club of aficionados. His friendship with Montoya is the only reason why Jake is accepted into the exclusive club. The club was one of dignity, devotion, ceremony, and tradition. Jake is not widely accepted by most of the members because he is an American. The Spaniards members of the club believe that no American can share the love of bullfighting as they do. Jake is eventually exiled from the club because of a wrong choice he makes. He gives into Brett’s entreaties and brings her to meet a young bullfighter named Pedro Romero. This action leads to the corruption of the young bullfighter. Montoya disapproves the action that Jake has made and exiles him from the club. Jake breaks his own code by adding to the corruption of the bullfighter. This was a sacred ritual for Jake and it was ruined by the attitudes of his