Analyze the gender roles in The Sun Also Rises.

In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway explores the complexity of gender roles in modern society. Like in many of his stories, he focuses in particular on masculinity.

The men in the novel participate in many activities that have stereotypically been considered masculine, such as bullfighting and fishing. They also spend time with a female prostitute and compete for one woman’s affection. Yet even though they perform stereotypical masculinity, they do not succeed in actually embodying idealized masculinity.

For instance, Jake Barnes is impotent and can thus never be with the woman he loves. The men in the book seem to face impenetrable obstacles to what they want, which makes them representative of the disillusioned generation of young Americans in post–World War I society. Society celebrated the heroism and courage of men who fought in World War I, but these male characters show that the war really only brought men physical and emotional harm.

Hemingway also explores changing gender roles in this text. Recall how Brett Ashley, the woman that so many men in the novel desire, possesses many “masculine” qualities. She has her hair cut short and “brushed back like a boy’s,” and she is sexually promiscuous in a way that was only really associated with men at the time. In this way, she opposes the roles women were expected to play. She is openly unfaithful to Mike and refuses to be tied down by any man, even though so many men want to be with her. She is portrayed as self-centered and insincere, and she repeatedly hurts the men who are in love with her. This depiction of Brett helps Hemingway comment on modern relationships as hopeless and inauthentic.

It is interesting to note that the only man in the novel who is able to truly satisfy Brett, albeit for a short time, is Pedro Romero, the young bullfighter she meets in Pamplona. Pedro is in a way the only truly “manly” character in the text, even though he is young. After she begins her affair with him, she tells Jake, “I feel altogether changed … You have no idea.” Pedro’s ability to please Brett seems to speak to the power of traditional forms of masculinity. Yet the fact that she still leaves him because she know she can never change reinforces Hemingway’s main point about the hopeless, superficial quality of modern relationships.

What are the gender roles in The Sun Also Rises?

The Sun Also Rises offers Ernest Hemingway’s insights into changes in gender roles after World War I. He focuses primarily on men and masculinity but also includes a central female character who challenges conventional social roles.

The triangular relationship among Brett Ashley, Jake Barnes, and Robert Cohn provides a framework for addressing salient features of gender roles, including friendships and sexual liaisons. The author reveals considerable continuity in traditional roles while also highlighting transformations that arose in the 1920s. Hemingway further complicates this triangle, however, by introducing the character of Romero, a Spanish bullfighter with whom Brett has another affair. The temporary character of Brett’s exploration is highlighted through her ultimate decision to marry Michael.

The intimate connections between psychological problems and physical sexuality form a significant component of Hemingway’s text. Jake’s impotence, though it is attributed to his war injuries, is revealed to be an emotional burden that he believes is responsible for his inability to connect deeply with women.

The war’s damage is shown as affecting women through Brett. Left widowed by the war, she has become emotionally cautious but sexually adventurous. Male characters are presented as inherently competitive over women, which may strain or destroy male friendships. The Spanish cultural tradition of bullfighting and the men who practice it, such as Romero, form the central symbol of idealized masculine behavior.