A Hard Days Night Searching Fo
A Hard Day's Knight: Searching for a Hero in The Sun Also Rises
Unlike many of the books published before the 1920s, in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises there is a distinct lack of the stereotypical nineteenth-century hero figure. In looking for such a hero, the reader expects one character to stand out as the champion of a moral truth or of a standard above mere human existence. Though all of the main characters exhibit the characteristics of a classic noble protagonist at one time or another throughout the narrative, limitations prevent each from exhibiting the consistency innate in the classic hero figure. There isn't one character that stands out enough, or for any significant period of ...
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in this novel, it is Jake's war injury that most often comes to mind first. It is appropriate, though, that this is the case, because in Jake, we find the character most often given the chance at being the hero. Hemingway evokes immediate compassion for Jake at the suggestion of Jake's sexually incapacitating war wound. By appealing to the male reader's sense of machismo (and subsequent fear of sexual inadequacy) and the female reader's sense of sympathy, Jake's plight is given a tragic, but character enhancing, perspective. He can be immediately seen as brave and strong for living a "normal life" despite his serious misfortune. His association with Brett further reinforces this image. Despite his injury, he is able maintain a relationship with a woman who, as Hemingway goes to great lengths to show, loves him. Their exchange on pages 26-27 displays quite clearly how Jake and Brett feel about each other, but given the circumstances, that love is, says Brett, "hell on earth.� ...
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resolve conflict rather than initiate it, Brett does not seem a likely candidate for that role. She is promiscuous, a drunk, and seems utterly unfazed by the difficulties that she causes the rest of the group. She also displays little or no sympathy for Cohn as he attempts to communicate his "crush" on her. This wanton behavior and careless disregard for the feelings of others seems to leave no opportunity for Lady Brett Ashley to assume the part of a hero.
Hemingway asks the reader to disregard this conduct, however, and temporarily elevates Brett's status at the end of the story. By giving Brett the strength to leave Romero at the conclusion, Hemingway places her in a position ...
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"A Hard Days Night Searching Fo." Essayworld.com. November 5, 2006. Accessed November 30, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Hard-Days-Night-Searching-Fo/55062.
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