Homophobia In Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

writing style, as it means “to be unfeeling, callous, coldhearted, cynical, rough, obdurate, unemotional, without sentiment” (Hallengren), which perfectly describes characters’ difficulty coming to terms with the emotions left by World War I, opting instead to live in the mind-numbing blur of alcohol. The entire novel is devoid of any sort of emotional modifiers (or any modifiers, for that matter), with the conversations among the members of The Lost Generation hiding true feelings behind a mask of good naturedness and civility. One of the only characters in The Sun Also Rises that is truly candid about his emotions is Robert Cohn, much to the vexation of his supposed “friends.” Since Cohn is the only member of the novel’s Lost Generation

The most obvious instance would be when Brett is first introduced to the reader, and Jake sees her with a group of homosexual men in a club. “And with them was Brett. I was very angry. Somehow they always made me angry. I know they are supposed to be amusing, and you should be tolerant, but I wanted to swing on one, any one, anything to shatter that superior, simpering composure” (Hemingway 22). Jake is so insecure about his own masculinity and sexual identification that he is actually threatened by these men that have current Brett’s attention and shows hostility towards them in

While sharing their food with the three quasi-cowboys, the male workers eyed “Blevins [sitting] there with his bare legs stretched out before him…” (McCarthy 74). They try to trade cakes of wax in exchange for Blevins, and even though it is never explicitly stated that they would want him for sexual purposes, it is heavily implied. This naturally makes John Grady uncomfortable, and he says that they didn 't “look evil, but it was no comfort to him” (McCarthy 75). Even though John Grady is only protecting his younger friend and he isn’t necessarily doing anything homophobic, the fact that homosexual tendencies equates “evil” in his mind just goes to illustrate the anti-gay, anti-effeminate mentality of the