Losing Masculinity to Modernism

The results of World War I had a large influence on literature and its ideas, themes, and plots. All of these changes and new styles are shown through the literature written in Modernism, the time period I studied early in English class this year and now have knowledge about as we read various books in class or outside of class. The Sun Also Rises is written in a Modern setting and contains these new ideas brought on by the war and its destruction of those involved physically, mentally, and emotionally. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway involves a group of male characters who all seem to be redefining themselves as men due to their recent involvement in World War I in America. Whether Hemingway directly points to the loss of manhood or indirectly points to such ideas through the narrator, Jake's, descriptions of the characters and the contrast between the men and the main female character Brett, the idea is present. Connections can be are between my research of the Modernist period and the characters actions, thoughts, feelings, dialogue, portrayals, and personal views of themselves. An easy connection to draw however is the large amount of redefining, whether it be the redefinition of tangible things, emotions, or characters, that took place in The Sun Also Rises as well as in Literature transitioning from Realism to Modernism.

Jake, the narrator and a former fighter in the US during World War I, is affected by change due to the war itself and the pure terror it was for those fighting in it. Following the end of the war, John's feelings and confidence seems to be shaken and "feminized" as you can see through his descriptions of other as well as a few points where you can see into his own personal descriptions. Hemingway mentions this loss of John's "manhood" specifically through the loss of his ability to have sex, a setback in his life especially when involving female characters such as Brett. Brett, the female protagonist who is easily defined as an independent woman searching for love that she cannot see to hold on to, is another sign of various male character's loss of masculinity. Robert Cohn in particular, a friend of John's who was not involved in World War I due to his Jewish background and life in Paris instead of America, is affected by his interest in Brett and the actions he take to try and please her. These actions are seen as feminine to Cohn's friends and foes and they weaken him as you can see from Jake's narration of him. Directly, Brett is more obviously made a character who has greater masculinity than all make characters due to her short haircut, boyish name, and the tendency to call herself "chap". Brett being a woman and yet still having greater masculinity than all of the men around her, redefines the typical and previously known beliefs about gender, just as war redefined the literature in the American Modernism period from that of peace, fantasy or joy to that of depression and sorrow.