Masculinity in The Sun Also Rises

849 Words2 Pages

Charlie Harper sits in his living room, he’s watching the boxing game and is about to call one of his many hookers. Charlie looks at the phone and then at the TV and says, “ This is the life!” This shows that Charlie values two things sports and women. Why? Simple, Women bring sex. Boxing shows a sense of bravery, getting into the ring and willingly putting yourself out there to get beaten up. Charlie Harper is not the only one who values these things but men in the 1920’s do as well. The Sun Also Rises is a story that takes place in the 1920’s and is written by Ernest Hemingway. The novel follows the life of Jake an American war veteran as he and his friends got to Pamplona, where there will be a Fiesta with a lot of bullfighting. These time periods maybe about 90 years apart but they still value the same ideals. In The Sun Also Rises the bullfighting scenes are central to the novel because they demonstrate the importance the characters place on sex and bravery. This characteristic and action personify their obsession with masculinity.
To commence, the bullfights show the heightened value of sex in the novel and how sex or the ability to have sex is a masculine quality. The roles in bullfighting parallel sex. Steers are castrated, they are useful to tame the bull but other than that they are rather pointless and not valued by people as Robert Cohn remarks “It’s no life being a steer” (Hemingway 145) The bull on the other hand is a majestic creature, an untamed savage beast. Everyone cheers for the bulls and are eager to see them. These roles in the bullfighting parallel the characters in The Sun Also Rises as well. Jake and Cohn are steers and Brett is a bull. Jake and Cohn are steers and it is demonstrated not only by thei...

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...e in the bullfighters style, how bullfighters are loved and lauded by their audience, as well as masculinity in being able to watch a whole bull fight.
All in all, the importance of masculinity in the novel is seen through sex and bravery through masculinity in the indispensable bullfighting scenes. As well as demonstrates the social norms in the 1920’s since being masculine made you socially accepted. This masculinity continues to be an important topic today because how masculine you are shows your gender role. Now depending on if a female or male is showing masculine traits, it can either be relatively normal for men or depicted as quite repugnant and not a part of the social norm for women. The amount of masculinity someone displays can show how acknowledged they are in society, and social acceptance continues to be a key value in various people’s lives today.

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