Gender roles with Jake and Brett

In Ernest Hemingway’s first major novel, The Sun Also Rises, he meticulously illustrates the rapid lifestyle of the roaring twenties with his sharp signature prose. The two central protagonists in this novel are Jake and Brett. Hemingway explores the evolving gender roles of the “Lost Generation” with theses two characters. One, Jake, being a wounded WWI veteran, and the other, Brett, being a loose woman, trying to define herself in a decade where a woman’s roles were significantly altered.

Jake, the narrator of the novel, is, from all appearances, a man’s man. He knows his boxing, loves to fish, and always keeps up on the latest bullfighting news. He’s a good and reliable friend, and well to do, except for one flaw, Brett. From their first conversation, where she cautions, “Don’t touch me” in the cab, to the time Romero took a “final look to ask if it were understood. It was understood alright,” acknowledging to the famed bullfighter it was all right for him to take Brett for the time being. In doing this Jake alienated Mike, and most of the aficionados in town. Jake seems unable to shake this bad habit of Brett up until the end of the novel when she complains “we could have had such a damned good time together” and he simply replies, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” subsequently ending the book and possibly his inability to shake free from Brett. The issue in their relationship stretches deeper than simply some “game” they play. Jake’s war wound is the loss of his genitalia, and the effects it seems to have on his personality. Brett’s shared knowledge of this situation inverts the roles in the relationship for almost all of their interactions in the novel. She can’t be with him, claiming, “It’s my fault, Jake. It’s the way I’m made,” because he can’t satisfy her. When it comes to Jake’s war wound he becomes less of a reliable narrator and often shies away from directly discussing the matter, making light of the situation, then quickly changing the subject.

Brett is the love interest of this novel in the most literal sense, as she is the love interest of nearly every male character in the book. Her and Jake seem to share a deep emotional connection, yet are separated by his wound and her promiscuity. Her character consistently lines up with the identity of the new, loose women of the 1920’s. She sleeps with who she wants, smokes, dances, and lives life to the fullest. This became the case for many women at that time as the morals of the general population were shifting to a more tolerant, urban lifestyle. In comparison to characters such as May Welland from The Age of Innocence one can see how drastic these changes were.

In addition to the new freedoms of women, there are the habits they borrowed from the traditional masculine stereotype. This is what makes gender roles so prevalent in this novel. Brett will swear, and “aggressively expresses her sexual desires while her lovers wait to be chosen.” (Finnegan) Jake, and her other various lovers in this novel, all gladly accept the role they are assigned by her. So beyond a boy’s haircut, and a man’s hat, it’s obvious Brett changes the rules in a time-piece novel, plainly exploring a rapidly changing culture.

Works Cited

Finnegan, Jim. The Sun Also Rises (1926) Lecture Notes. 25 9 2009

http://www2.english.uiuc.edu/finnegan/English%20251/SunRises.html

Gender roles with Jake and Brett

In Ernest Hemingway’s first major novel, The Sun Also Rises, he meticulously illustrates the rapid lifestyle of the roaring twenties with his sharp signature prose. The two central protagonists in this novel are Jake and Brett. Hemingway explores the evolving gender roles of the “Lost Generation” with theses two characters. One, Jake, being a wounded WWI veteran, and the other, Brett, being a loose woman, trying to define herself in a decade where a woman’s roles were significantly altered.

Jake, the narrator of the novel, is, from all appearances, a man’s man. He knows his boxing, loves to fish, and always keeps up on the latest bullfighting news. He’s a good and reliable friend, and well to do, except for one flaw, Brett. From their first conversation, where she cautions, “Don’t touch me” in the cab, to the time Romero took a “final look to ask if it were understood. It was understood alright,” acknowledging to the famed bullfighter it was all right for him to take Brett for the time being. In doing this Jake alienated Mike, and most of the aficionados in town. Jake seems unable to shake this bad habit of Brett up until the end of the novel when she complains “we could have had such a damned good time together” and he simply replies, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” subsequently ending the book and possibly his inability to shake free from Brett. The issue in their relationship stretches deeper than simply some “game” they play. Jake’s war wound is the loss of his genitalia, and the effects it seems to have on his personality. Brett’s shared knowledge of this situation inverts the roles in the relationship for almost all of their interactions in the novel. She can’t be with him, claiming, “It’s my fault, Jake. It’s the way I’m made,” because he can’t satisfy her. When it comes to Jake’s war wound he becomes less of a reliable narrator and often shies away from directly discussing the matter, making light of the situation, then quickly changing the subject.

Brett is the love interest of this novel in the most literal sense, as she is the love interest of nearly every male character in the book. Her and Jake seem to share a deep emotional connection, yet are separated by his wound and her promiscuity. Her character consistently lines up with the identity of the new, loose women of the 1920’s. She sleeps with who she wants, smokes, dances, and lives life to the fullest. This became the case for many women at that time as the morals of the general population were shifting to a more tolerant, urban lifestyle. In comparison to characters such as May Welland from The Age of Innocence one can see how drastic these changes were.

In addition to the new freedoms of women, there are the habits they borrowed from the traditional masculine stereotype. This is what makes gender roles so prevalent in this novel. Brett will swear, and “aggressively expresses her sexual desires while her lovers wait to be chosen.” (Finnegan) Jake, and her other various lovers in this novel, all gladly accept the role they are assigned by her. So beyond a boy’s haircut, and a man’s hat, it’s obvious Brett changes the rules in a time-piece novel, plainly exploring a rapidly changing culture.

Works Cited

Finnegan, Jim. The Sun Also Rises (1926) Lecture Notes. 25 9 2009 .

9/4 - The Scarlet Letter

In our class discussions preceding the Scarlet Letter we went over the differences between romanticism and realism as writing forms. The Scarlet Letter mostly falls under the romantic category, but you can see Hawthorne edging towards realist writing qualities many times in the novel. His strong, but flawed, characters form the basic shape for the future American novel heroes.

Some of the most immediate forms of romanticism show up in the initial setting of the story. The narrator sets up the book as the shy author of a story he stumbles upon in the customs house he works at, rewriting it 200 years after the original event takes place. Setting a book in a shroud of mystery in the distant, but relevant, past is an important part of romantic writing. The settlement’s wild forests add exoticism and to the general shroud of mystery of the setting.

The characters in the Scarlet Letter have many romantic qualities, while simultaneously shying away from the general hero character of most romantic novels. The romantic qualities of the main characters vary. For example Roger Chillingworth is a medicinal man, and carries a supernatural undertones to all of his vocational activities. He also serves as the clearly defined evil character, obsessed with vengeance against those who did him wrong. In addition to his evil characteristics he is also physically deformed, described as having twisted shoulders. (Hammerberg, 2009) Pearl is another great example of a romantic character, consistently being described as an elf-child and having supernatural traits, as well as always asking poignant questions, which make many of the other main characters around her uncomfortable. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are the two trickier main characters. One is tormented by guilt for the ultimate sin and the other bears a mark admitting her guilt, and being constantly judged by society for it. Both characters are able to evoke sympathy, while not being your typical heroes of the time. We discussed in class at length the different ways you could take apart these two characters and came to no solid conclusion because Hawthorne presents them objectively and lets the reader personally explore the characters through their actions. I believe Hawthorne wanted to take these characters ever further towards the realism hero, but because of the audience of the time these characters and the ending of the book go for the more traditional romantic style.

A major romantic writing tool Hawthorne utilizes in the book is how his characters often travel to the wild and exotic woods to discuss the most intimate of topics, giving us glances into what they’re actually thinking. Another tool Hawthorne used often was the supernatural. (Hammerberg, 2009) There is many times where a “devil” character or mysterious event occurs. For example Chillingworth physically progresses to have an actual evil appearance. There is also the scene where Dimmesdale sees an “A” form in the sky with clouds.

You can see how Hawthorne maintains a traditional romantic writing core, while pushing towards a more progressive “realism” movement in writing throughout the Scarlet Letter, and does a fantastic job of honoring both. It’s easy to see how this book has remained an effective upper-education teaching tool over the decades with its significance of being a turning point in the way American’s wrote literature.

Works Cited

Hammerberg. (2009, 6 27). ROMANTICISM VERSUS REALISM. Retrieved 9 4, 2009, from Macalaster College: http://www.macalester.edu/~hammarberg/russ251/romreal.html