Masculinity and the Jazz Age
Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises watches several expatriates struggle with love and relationships, while maintaining nonchalant 1920s personas. The narrator, Jake, presents only a tailored version of himself to the reader, and hides most of his vulnerability within his thoughts and at night, when the audience to his story holds fewer watching eyes. His masculinity and capacity for emotion is the focus of the novel as he navigates a post WWI Europe.
In 1920s Europe, sexual liberation and rights for women were the furthest developed for the time, and often considered completely equal. Women had taken up wartime jobs -although not to the extent as seen in WWII- as nurses, clerks, radio operators, truck drivers or other previously male-dominated occupations (Gilkison, 9). In The Sun Also Rises, we learn that Lady Brett Ashley had worked as a nurse in the war, and tended to the soldiers (Hemingway, 46). This was incredibly masculine and new - a woman working in a man's realm. When women returned from their jobs, a new rise in female liberation took over. As Estelle Freedman puts it in “The New Woman: Changing Views of Women in the 1920’s”, “Before the war, a lady did not set foot in a saloon; after the war, she entered into a speakeasy as thoughtlessly as she would go to a railroad station” (Freedman, 373). Brett is exactly “The New Woman”, with her hair worn like a boy’s and going from bar to bar, partying endlessly in Paris and hanging out with gay men, (Hemingway, 28, 30). This new period of liberation took down old notions of masculinity, and questioned sexuality and previously concrete norms. What did masculinity really mean?
“Masculinity is not feminine, not ethnic, and not homosexual.” - Lynne Segal, "Changing Masculinities, Changing Men"
This 1997 evaluation of Jazz Age masculinity holds true in Jake’s struggle for identity. We find him rejecting homosexuality and femininity. He strongly alludes to there being gay men with Brett at a bar, describing them as dancing “big-hippily” with wavy hair (Hemingway, 28). He is angered by their femininity and homosexuality but seems to act more tolerant around Brett. He acknowledges the growing acceptance, but openly rejects those traits, masculinizing himself to the reader and to Brett. We also see his different interpretations of masculinity contrasted with the laidback American and the brave Torero (Hemingway, 136-7). The two ethnicities have different interpretations of the ideal male presentation, yet Jake strives to achieve both. He is proud of being an Aficionado and having the passion of masculine Spaniards, while striving for the laissez-faire American persona.
“Men proved themselves to be ‘manly’ through war, but also had to secure their masculinity even further in the 1920s because of the sexual revolution that was taking place.” - Taylor Gilkison, "The Transformation of Gender and Sexuality in 1920s America: A Literary Interpretation"
Along with an understanding of the cultural context and climate in the 1920s liberated Jazz age, it is clear why Jake is burdened with the requirement of more evidence to prove his masculinity. His outstanding issue, however, is his war injury - what he believes to be the physical representation of manliness that outclasses the new flimsy definitions of masculinity (Hemingway, 38). Without it, he must prove himself as a man through other directions. Although he proved himself as a man fighting the war, he must go to further levels because of his injury. Once looked at through a historical lens of the struggle of masculinity during the decade, it makes sense as to why he strives to present manliness in all ways. With his injury and the changing male identity at the time, he has no choice but to check as many boxes as possible to prove he is a man.
Hemingway, Ernest, The Sun Also Rises, New York: Scribner, 2006.
Estelle B. Freedman, “The New Woman: Changing Views of Women in the 1920’s,” The Journal of American History, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Sep., 1974), pp. 372-393, Published by: Oxford University Press on Behalf of Organization of American Historians, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1903945, pg. 373.
SEGAL, Lynne (1997) Slow Motion. Changing Masculinities. Changing Men, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N. J.
Gilkison, Taylor, "The Transformation of Gender and Sexuality in 1920s America: A Literary Interpretation" (2017).Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 682, http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/682
Hi Diza,
ReplyDeleteYour post made me think more about the role of masculinity in the book. It's interesting you mention Brett having more masculine traits for the time because you would think Jake would feel threatened by her as he strongly disliked other characters that do not follow gender norms. It seems a bit ironic that Jake as proved himself as a man by going to war, which ended in his injury. I also find it interesting, that Romero is presented as a pure and masculine character, yet he is always referred to as a boy. Romero also expects Brett to become more feminine for him, but she refuses. This is funny because she refuses to become more feminine, but rejects Jake due to his injury, which he seems to view as a lack of masculinity.
Hey Diza! I liked the emphasis on the time period, and your explanation as to why the characters in the book act the way they do due to social norms of the time period. The outside sources and information complemented the post well. Although Hemingway doesn't describe the 'new woman' movement very much, as Brett is the only main female character, we can see the flip side of it for Jake. Femininity is being defined in new ways, so he tries to maintain an idea of his own masculinity too. Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt's quite interesting how you present Jake as having to "check off boxes" to prove his masculinity after his injury. I wonder if also being around Brett who appears to be a more "masculine" women may also add inadvertently to his need to prove himself by setting himself as more masculine than even Brett. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteVery unique and well-written blog! I find it very interesting that, as you have written, Jake strove to embody a variety of masculine personas that he respected and found worthy, but I also found it interesting that his contempt for "less masculine" gay men is not followed up with contempt for "less feminine" women like Brett seems to be as well. So it seems that his contempt is not for straying from typical gender norms, but rather a lack of masculinity only. Also in his approval and disapproval of Brett's suitors, we can see that he is fonder of the more masculine, bull-fighting man that Brett has chosen and is disgusted by her other "less masculine" choices. Great post!
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