preview

Gender Roles In The Sun Also Rises

Better Essays

Gender Identification in The Sun Also Rises
An outstanding virtue of American character is self-reliance, or dependence on one’s own individualism and intellect for success. In many mediums of art, and specifically in American literature, the self infuses the myth of romantic ideals to construct moral beliefs and work towards this overarching theme of self-reliance. In Ernest Hemingway’s timeless novel The Sun Also Rises the protagonist struggles with the formation of self precisely through his gender identity and need to find affirmation and embodiment of masculinity. The character Jake infuses romantic ideals of masculinity in his personal conception of himself by comparing gender identities and representations of others in his life. In many ways, Jake’s character seeks out masculinity, and affirmation of himself, through his astute narration of others, (with limited …show more content…

Jake specifically psychoanalyzes his two closest friends Brett and Cohn in their heteronormative gender roles by superimposing constructs of femininity onto both of them. As the female identity opposes his struggle for masculinity in the story, he observes this gender as extremely threatening to his status and demoralizing to his romanticized ideal of self. This causes him to loathe the position of women and the way they manipulate him, while still lusting after them. This inner dialectic operates through different motifs of Hemingway’s writing throughout the narrative, ultimately leading the reader to interpret the subtle misogyny underlying the text. A textual analysis of dialogical syntax and character roles in The Sun Also Rises will demonstrate how Hemingway’s crafting of Jake’s struggle for masculinity exploits the female position and reveals a broader sense of

Get Access