A hell of a good guy

Transcription

1 BA essay Supervisor: Per Sivefors 15 credits Examiner: Johan Höglund Level: G3 2EN20E A hell of a good guy Homosocial Desire and Ethnicity in The Sun Also Rises Emma Karlsson

2 Abstract The focus of this essay is to investigate homosociality in terms of ethnicity in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. The main method used in the investigative analysis is close reading of the novel, and the essay relates this close reading to theories expressed in a number of critical essays and articles regarding the novel itself and other subjects relevant to the analysis. Furthermore, the relationships between the main character and other male characters are compared. The main findings of this essay are that homosociality is a central theme in Hemingway's novel and that homosocial desire often decides how the main character Jake Barnes reacts to the statements and actions of other characters. Furthermore, the amount of homosocial desire aimed at one character is most often decided by the ethnicity of that character.

3 Contents 1 Introduction Theory and method Analysis Robert Cohn Bill Gorton Count Mippipopolous Pedro Romero Conclusion Works cited... 27

4 1 Introduction Male bonding in Hemingway s works is something that has been thoroughly investigated by many critics. However, there are today not nearly as much existing research on homosociality in Hemingway s novels as there are on male bonding, although male bonding is a concept that exists within the concept of homosociality. This essay will investigate the presence of homosocial desire in Hemingway s The Sun Also Rises and analyze the theme in regards to ethnicity. The Sun Also Rises is a novel filled with male bonding and around some of the main characters is a sphere of homosocial desire in which some characters are central and others consciously and unconsciously excluded by the group within that sphere. One aim of this essay is to investigate who these characters are and what their functions are in, and outside of, the homosocial sphere. Choosing the theme of homosocial desire in the novel enables me to look at all relationships between all male characters. Along with the width of analytical possibilities, I chose the aim of homosociality in The Sun Also Rises as there are few known texts that touch upon this subject in the context of this particular novel and I hope to contribute something new to the discussion. The characters ethnicities will be the primary point of analysis within the concept of homosociality as I will argue that ethnicity has the strongest influence on whether a character is homosocially desirable to the main character. The novel is set in the 1920 s. It is about a group of expatriate Americans who travel across Europe spending most of their time in Paris and later Pamplona, Spain, attending the weeklong San Fermín fiesta, watching the bullfights and partying. The narrator and protagonist, Jake Barnes, suffered an injury in the First World War which made him impotent. His impotence makes a relationship with the love of his life, Lady Brett Ashley, impossible. The novel is both about Jake s physical and emotional journeys, and his learning to accept that letting go of Brett is inevitable. 1

5 Jake s impotence plays an important part in the reasons for Jake s position in the group of male characters and will be connected to some points of analysis in this text. This is one of many reasons for which I have chosen Jake to be the main object of analysis, besides the fact that he is the main character. The analyses of other male characters will all be connected to Jake and his love for Lady Brett Ashley, the only real female character in the novel and the woman Jake can never have. The analyses in this essay will often be connected to Lady Brett Ashley since, as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick puts it in her book, no element of [the pattern of homosociality] can be understood outside of its relation to women and the gender system as a whole (1). Furthermore, the fact that Jake is impotent will be looked at as something that affects his homosocial relationships in both positive and negative ways. The analysis will be divided into different sections, each focusing on one of Jake s relationships to Robert Cohn the annoying hangaround of the homosocial sphere, Bill Gorton Jake s fellow World War I veteran with whom he goes on a long fishing trip in Spain, Count Mippipopolous the Greek count who charms Lady Brett Ashley, and Pedro Romero the young, handsome bullfighter who leaves Pamplona with Brett at the end of the novel. The method used in this essay will be a close reading and analysis conducted through comparing the novel to the theories expressed in different books and articles on The Sun Also Rises, homosocial desire and ethnicity and whether these theories are confirmed in the novel. As there are certain characters that I find especially interesting for my analysis, I will focus on the parts of the novel where they are included. Moreover, I will also pay particular interest to the most eventful sections (e.g. the argument between Frances and Cohn, the first bullfight, when Mike gets violent etc.), when very interesting behavior is displayed by some of the characters. Regarding theory, Sedgwick s book Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire will be used extensively throughout the essay and it is the theory of this author that will be used in regards to homosocial desire in The Sun Also Rises. As said earlier, there are many critical essays and articles touching on the subject of male bonding in Hemingway s novels. Some of them 2

6 will be used in this essay, one of them being the article Men Without Women by Leslie Fiedler as it also contains an interesting analysis of Brett s function as a character, who is very relevant in the context of this essay. I will also analyze the potential of Pedro Romero as the latin lover stereotype along with comparisons of Count Mippipopolous to the stereotypical Greek and Robert Cohn to the stereotypical Jew. The possibility that Jake feels no homosocial desire towards Robert Cohn because he looks down on him as less of a man on account of his being Jewish will also be analyzed. This essay will through the methods previously stated aim to prove that the character Jake Barnes has, because of his impotence and his relationship with Brett Ashley, mixed feelings of homosocial desire and jealousy towards other male characters and that his homosocial desire is strongly influenced by the ethnicity of the object of desire. 2 Theory and method To Sedgwick, and in this essay, it is very important to differentiate between homosocial and homosexual. Homosocial is an adjective that means something that relates to social relationships between people of the same sex while homosexual is an adjective that means sexually attracted to someone of the same sex. Sedgwick emphasizes that homosociality is not a concept that exists within homosexuality. At times they are polar opposites since homosociality is applied to such activites as male bonding, which may... be characterized by intense homophobia, fear and hatred of homosexuality (1). On the other hand, as is seen today, there is a presence of homosociality between homosexual men spending time together in groups as both couples and single men. A third, and relatively new version of homosocial relations is the so-called bromance, defined in Merriam- Webster's Online Dictionary as a close nonsexual relationship between men. These examples show that homosocial desire is an evolving concept which is very much applicable to social relationships today. 3

7 I said before that male bonding is something that exists within homosociality, and I will now elaborate on that. Male bonding is a term that means bonding between males through shared activities excluding females (Merriam-Webster s Online Dictionary). Male bonding, then, is something happening in the present. As previously explained, homosociality refers to structures of relationships, meaning that homosociality is a much wider term. Another reason for my choosing homosocial desire is Lady Brett Ashley. Though the male characters in The Sun Also Rises often engage in the same or similar activities when spending time together, I dare claim that Brett Ashley is present for up to half of that time. This excludes large parts of the novel from a discussion on male bonding, since women are not supposed to be present. Furthermore, there are no degrees of male bonding as there are of homosociality. A big part of my discussion is looking at how homosocially desirable a character is, and this is not possible within the boundaries of male bonding since, in male bonding, a man is either included or excluded. There is nothing in between. Sedgwick explains that she has chosen desire as part of the title of her book since it implies that homosociality is potentially erotic, but also for a second reason. When choosing between homosocial love and homosocial desire the second option was deemed best since love is used to describe emotion and desire not only means physical or social desire but is, in this context, also a word for the structure of homosocial spheres. My interpretation of this structural desire is that homosociality works as an infinite number of magnetic fields, pulling some people towards and others away from each other. My personal take on homosocial desire is very much like Sedgwick's. I view homosocial desire as a scale that exists between a person and all other people of that person's sex. There are people that are found extremely homosocially desirable, people that are found homosocially repugnant, and many people in between. There are also different nuances of the concept. I, being a woman, have many women in my life whom I want to spend time with. Of course, it is not the same kind of homosocial desire that I have towards a friend my own age that I have towards my mother or 4

8 sister, since the relationships are not the same. However, Sedgwick's discussion on homosocial desire is mostly focused on male relationships, as is my analysis of Hemingway's novel, but in regards to the concept itself one must not forget that the term applies to both sexes. Homosocial desire is to me a tool to describe certain relationships between people of the same sex, but it is important not to forget that a relationship has so many more aspects than simply being a homosocial relationship. Relationships are not a square, flat surface or a pie chart but an orb in which countless emotions, common interests and shared memories meet. Since I am analyzing homosocial desire in the novel according to ethnicity, I should also explain what I mean by ethnicity in this essay. According to Merriam-Webster s Online Dictionary, ethnicity comes from the word ethnic which means of or relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background. I have chosen to view Bill s ethnicity as American, Romero s ethnicity as Spanish, the count s as Greek and Cohn s as Jewish. The explanation to why I look at Cohn as Jewish as opposed to American (which he, of course, also is) is partly because he is constantly referred to as Jew, and it is Jewish, not American, that he is viewed as through the whole novel. Another reason for this is that ethnicity decides how homosocially desirable someone is to Jake in regards to how he views that particular ethnicity and how similar that character (or, indeed, that character s ethnicity) is to Jake himself and his ideals. It is clear that Jake views Cohn as someone who is not like him in any way, and it is also safe to say that nothing about Cohn as a character even remotely fits in with Jake s ideals. Bill and Jake are both American and they like each other a lot. In a novel which is filled with travel and different peoples, there is a sense that Bill and Jake take great pride in being American. None of the two like Cohn in the least, and this is a possible reason for them labelling him simply Jewish in doing so they are excluding him from their two-man American club. Furthermore, since my analysis focuses on Jake and his views it feels obvious to look at the ethnicities of the characters in the way 5

9 he views them. I would also like to add a few words regarding the term homoerotic. Homoeroticism will be mentioned quite a few times in this essay and therefore I should explain my take on this particular term. I view homoeroticism as something that any person can feel, regardless of sexuality. Furthermore, I believe that the amount of homoerotic emotion aimed at one person does not have to influence the amount of homosocial desire aimed at that person you can feel attracted to someone without wanting to spend time with them. As I will later discuss the possibility of Jake experiencing homoerotic desire towards some of the characters, the reader should keep in mind that I view homoeroticism as something than can possibly, but not necessarily, change the degree of homosocial desire. Finally, I will explain why I have chosen only certain characters for my analysis. I have chosen Bill because he plays such a big part in the novel, and is present for most of it. He functions as a sort of wingman to Jake, and in the context of homosocial desire in The Sun Also Rises, I think Bill should be included. Count Mippipopolous, Romero and Cohn were chosen because they are arguably the only characters in the novel that at first glance are defined by their ethnicities. All of their names are somewhat obvious indicators of their stereotypical stance. My reason for excluding Mike from my analysis is that he spends too little time with Jake. They seldom speak directly to each other, and this would complicate an analysis of this type. Also, some characters had to be excluded due to the limited space of this paper. 3 Analysis Moving on to homosociality in The Sun Also Rises. Jake's function in the central homosocial group is not immediately clear when reading the novel. At first glance the characters just seem to be a number of people who keep bumping into each other all over Europe. However, my observation is that Jake functions as the hub right in the center of the group. Most of the other characters have 6

10 never met each other before Jake introduces them. Along with being the narrator, he is also a spectator, as expressed by Ira Elliott in his essay Jake Barnes and Masculine Signification in The Sun Also Rises. Elliott claims that the physical battle between male rivals is most overtly expressed in the bullfight, where two [signifiers of the masculine] are the man and the bull. And just as Jake is a spectator at the bullfight rather than a participant, so, too, he can only look on as other men (Robert Cohn, Mike Campbell, Pedro Romero) compete for the affections of Brett Ashley. I agree with this claim, but only to some extent. Jake is often a spectator, but he is also a mediator, peacemaker, and sometimes, someone who has great influence on what happens to the other characters (for example in regards to Brett's and Romero's relationship, which most likely would not have happened if it were not for Jake's involvement). Jake does not only have the position of observer, he also plays a big part in the lives of all the other characters. For example, in her critical essay on the novel, Jacqueline Bradley argues Jake's significance as the novel's only steer. In the bullfighting context, steers are let into the bullring to calm the bulls before the bullfights. Steers are castrated bulls, just like Jake was castrated by the war and now finds himself among other, virile, men with whom he constantly tries to keep a sense of harmony and calm. Bradley claims that Jake functions as peacemaker through not expressing his own opinions. She uses examples where he seems to say nothing that is his own and instead just repeats and affirms the statements previously made by another character. The examples Bradley uses are one conversation with Brett and one with Montoya (Bradley 2). However, I think that this view also fits into the central group of men. Jake is in every sense a steer within the group since he is never one to start an argument or pick sides in anything, other than regarding the eternal exception, Robert Cohn, where Jake is always on the side criticizing him. Nevertheless, this is to be expected as it is the group s most obvious norm never to defend Cohn or his behavior. To summarize these points, Jake s main function is to keep the peace within the group. Still, it is when he spends time with only one or two of the men inside the sphere that the reader really 7

11 gets to know Jake. The following subsections will focus on the different homosocial relationships in The Sun Also Rises and how Jake is affected by them, especially when spending one-on-one time with the characters or in smaller groups. The order of the characters that are discussed will be in accordance to the order in which they are introduced in the novel. 3.1 Robert Cohn Robert Cohn is not an inside part of the central homosocial sphere in The Sun Also Rises, though he is a part of it. The character Robert Cohn has the function of pillar upholding the sphere, from the outside. It is impossible to define light without dark, and neither can the homosocial sphere in The Sun Also Rises be explained without Robert Cohn. He is the first character the reader is introduced to and this is not because he is important as a character. What he is not an inside part of is what is important the tight-knit group of masculine men. One example of Cohn being used in this way is when Bill and Jake joke about him on their first day in Burguete: You have no pity. Say something pitiful. Robert Cohn. (100) The comment seems entertaining to Bill, and this is just one of many examples where the group uses Cohn as a means of closing themselves off from Cohn and the rest of the world, making the group more exclusive. The jokes on Cohn s expense are mostly based on Judaism and the fact that Cohn is Jewish. Moreover, other reasons for Cohn s exclusion are his displays of emotion which are viewed as very feminine. A man of this time was supposed to be collected, calm and not easily shaken by anything and Cohn either ignores this norm or knows about it but finds himself unable to follow it, which I think is the more likely alternative since he tries to be more masculine. Cohn s sense of being inferior and emasculated is one of the first things about him that is mentioned in the novel he started boxing in order to be superior and more masculine, to be able to fight off potential bullies at Princeton (3). This, however, does not change the way he shows emotion. When he has fallen in love with Brett he does nothing to hide it, and when he is rejected he never tries to 8

12 hide his sadness. Cohn's feminine displays of emotion are mirrored by the emotional displays of impotent yet masculine Jake Barnes who only cries when he is alone in bed at night. On page 168, Cohn cries desperately to Jake, wanting his forgiveness for having punched him. They are alone, but not even then is this kind of emotional outburst accepted. By comparison, not once on the many different occasions that Jake and Bill Gorton are alone together on their fishing trip do things get this emotional. Other feminine aspects of Robert Cohn are especially apparent in chapter 17 when he has yet to accept Brett s rejection and is trying to convince Jake and Mike Campbell to tell him where Brett is so he can talk to her (165). He is very persistent and clearly annoying to everyone, which leads to the first actual insult that is not meant as a joke when both Jake and Mike tell him to go to hell. As will be discussed later, insults most often function as inside jokes between the characters, most commonly replied to jokingly with another insult, but here the conversation results in a fist fight. When Jake says oh, go to hell to Cohn on page 34, he does not really mean it. It is a blend of mock insult and a way of saying that Jake no longer wants to talk about Brett. Cohn takes it literally, and gets angry. However, just four pages later Cohn addresses Jake and Harvey Stone with hello, you bums (38). Clearly, Cohn can make mock insults, but not take them. This is another example of Cohn s status as outsider. He has little to no grasp of the jargon within the group. In his essay Bitched: Feminization, Identity and the Hemingwayesque in The Sun Also Rises, Todd Onderdonk writes that in Hemingway's depiction of male homosocial relations, hierarchical differences between men are gendered to accord with a division between males and inauthentic males, where to be less male in any sense is to be like a woman (Onderdonk 70; author's italics). This is completely true regarding Robert Cohn. As mentioned before, many of the personality traits that make Cohn less of a man are viewed as very feminine. The other male characters view Robert Cohn as a person who looks like a man, but is unable to act like one. Instead, he acts like a woman. Cohn is in fact viewed as more of a woman than Brett Ashley, who 9

13 has a kind of false position in the homosocial sphere. Of course, since she is female, she cannot be a real part of it. However, she knows exactly how to act when spending time with the group and she is somewhat accepted as one of them. This is most likely because of her boyish looks and behavior. Brett is a woman acting like a boy, and Cohn is a man acting like a woman. Of the two, Brett is most definitely the preferred semi-member of the homosocial sphere. Another example of Cohn acting womanly is in Pamplona and he is obviously bothered by the horses that are hurt in the bullfights (144). It is also Brett s first time watching a bullfight and not even she, an actual woman, is bothered by the violence of it. This, of course, makes the group once again take advantage of Cohn s behavior and use it to taunt him and emphasize that he is not one of them. In his essay The Sun Also Rises: Mother Brett, William Adair, though not primarily focusing on Cohn, writes something about Cohn s function as a character: in terms of projection, Jake s former friend Cohn is especially important. He is Jake s shadow self, a personification of his painful and humiliating romantic bondage to Brett. Cohn is punished for his romantic delusions, and by bringing Brett and Romero together, Jake is instrumental in Cohn s final humiliation and departure from Pamplona (Adair, Mother Brett 5). I agree with Adair s claim that Cohn is a personification of the pain Brett causes Jake. Adair also says that Jake brings Brett and Romero together. However, I am of a different opinion as Jake does not bring them together as much as he is a pained observer. When Brett tells Jake that she is in love with Romero he stops feeling sorry for himself and encourages her to talk to him. In a sense, Jake realizes that not only is a relationship with Brett impossible for him, but even if Brett changed her mind and considered a sexless relationship (at least in regards to regular intercourse) with Jake, they would both be settling for something less than what they really want. Jake and Brett together like they want to be together can simply never happen. Jake realizes this when Brett confesses her feelings for Romero, which is why he decides to finally let her go. Moreover, I will later argue that Jake s view of Romero also plays a 10

14 big part in Jake s giving Brett away. When looking at Cohn in this light, he does not seem very much of a threat to anyone. By contrast, Cohn is compared to a bull in Bradley s essay. Bradley mentions that Mike refers to Cohn as steer on several occasions in chapter 13 of the novel, but I have said earlier that she thinks that the part of steer is played by Jake. The other male characters are all bulls, which also makes Cohn a bull. This part of Bradley s theory is supported by Jake s comment during the bullfights. He talks to Brett about the bull s horns. He s got a left and a right just like a boxer (121). Since Cohn is the only boxer in the whole novel, this fits in well with what Bradley says. It was likely Hemingway s intention for the reader to consider the characters as bulls, steers, horses or bullfighters in the arena. Robert Cohn s athleticism does not, however, change the fact that he is undeserving of love. That is something that the reader is often reminded of throughout the novel. He is a boxing champion, but since that is the only masculine part of Cohn, it is unimpressive. He is also described as thinking he is better than he is; early in the novel, Jake talks about Cohn s first marriage and the fact that he did not want to leave his wife as it would be too cruel to deprive her of himself (4). Jake explains that this woman became Cohn s wife because she was the first woman who was nice to him (4) after he had graduated from college, and Frances, Cohn s second long-term relationship, only wanted to be near him because she thought his success would rub off on her. A few pages later, Cohn is described as very boastful regarding women and his luck at playing bridge (7). Overall, he is described as an unlikeable and unlovable man. Cohn falls in love with Brett the very first time he sees her, when she walks up to him and Jake at a bar in Paris. A few moments later she disappears with Jake, and when Jake reunites with the group he is told that Cohn has gone home with Frances and that he [looked] awfully down (25). This is arguably because his sudden love for Brett has reminded him of how unhappy he is in his relationship with Frances, and, as Frances later puts it, they probably went home and had a scene. 11

15 Jake s jealousy is clear when Cohn asks about Brett. He speaks very rudely of her, calling her a drunk and says that she married Lord Ashley just when her own true love had... kicked off with the dysentery (34). This can be seen both as Jake s way of letting off steam regarding Brett s many and short relationships (there is, however, no clue in the novel as to whether what he is saying is true) or as a way for Jake to try to make Cohn less interested in Brett. Later Jake says I could feel Cohn wanted to bring up Brett again, but I held him off it (35). Either he could not come up with any more negative things to say about Brett, or he did not want to insult her any more. There are some stereotypical aspects of Robert Cohn. The first is subtly mentioned on the first page. During his boxing years, Cohn had his nose punched in which, according to Jake, was an improvement. It is very likely that Cohn at first has a typical Jewish nose, and having a flat nose, which he receives through boxing, is less typically Jewish. The word Jewish goes hand in hand with bad all throughout the novel. Of course, this was at a time when anti-semitism was growing and spreading across countries. So, often when counting Cohn s bad qualities, Jewish is among them. There is no obvious explanation to why the other characters have these feelings towards the Jewish. Cohn could of course be the only Jew they know, and since he is completely unlikeable they might see this trait as something Jewish, but that is highly unlikely. On the more likely side, however, is that they have all noticed that Cohn is somewhat ashamed of being Jewish. After all, he did start boxing to be less inferior on account of being a Jew at Princeton (boxing also changed his nose to something less Jewish). Since the collective favorite hobby is to bully Cohn, it could be that Jake, Mike, Bill and the others use Cohn s insecurities against him, which is the traditional way when it comes to bullying and making someone feel bad about themselves. The article Jewish Men and the Early Twentieth-Century American Code of Masculinity Through Ethnic Lenses by Dana Mihăilescu is very relevant when analyzing the character Robert Cohn as he is a Jewish, American man in the early twentieth century. Mihăilescu starts off the article by describing some traits that are considered especially masculine; traits that Jewish women look 12

16 for in Jewish men. On her list are self-control, a muscular robust physique, aggressiveness and dominance (Mihăilescu 4). When comparing this list to Cohn, one is able to see that the only point which fits in with this particular character is the physique. As mentioned earlier, Cohn was once a middleweight boxing champion, and he also plays tennis regularly. He has the body for it. However, the body is always easier to change than the mind, and Cohn is a great example of that. The fact that he has no self-control in regards to his emotions is clear, not to mention his lack of aggressiveness. The only aggression he ever shows is in the one section where he resorts to violence. Nor is he ever a dominant person. When Frances makes a scene outside of a restaurant in Paris, Jake asks himself why Cohn just keep[s] on taking it like that, sitting there quiet and not fighting back in the least (45). To summarize, Jake s lack of homosocial desire towards Cohn comes from the way Jake views him. Cohn is less of a man and more of a woman, and when looking at the definition of homosociality from a male perspective it becomes clear that this is a valid reason for Jake s lack of homosocial desire. Jake is a man in a men s club, and Cohn is a Jewish woman. It is how he views Cohn that matters, also when it comes to jealousy. As will be analyzed later, Pedro Romero is a man who deserves Brett Cohn is not. He is overly emotional, mentally weak and pathetic a, to most of the characters, typical Jew. Losing Brett to Cohn would be unbearable for Jake, shameful even, which is why Cohn brings forth such strong emotions in Jake. 3.2 Bill Gorton As mentioned earlier, Jake and some of the other characters often use insults as a kind of inside joke to strengthen camaraderie and fellowship within the group. This is especially common during the fishing trip Jake goes on with Bill Gorton. Already on the first morning after they have arrived at Burguete Jake tells Bill that he is a lazy bum who can go to hell (98-99). This is one aspect of jargon within the homosocial sphere which is used among all of its members, both when spending time with the whole group and when two or three characters meet on their own. 13

17 Bill Gorton is the same as Jake. They are both Americans, they have both participated in the war and they share the same values and philosophies. So, in regards to ethnicity, there is not much to say about Bill that is not already said about Jake in the novel. Of course, it is easy to spend time with friends who have gone through the same things as you have. Between Bill and Jake, there are no cultural differences and they have lead similar lives. Their friendship is easy, which is a big reason for it being so strong. The trip to Burguete is, like Bill and Jake s friendship, an easy trip. Two friends who really like each other go on a trip to do something they both like very much. Another fact which simplifies the trip further is that Jake gets to get away from Brett. Jake gets a break from all of his strong emotions as soon as Brett is out of sight and out of mind. When he is on his way to Pamplona before going on the fishing trip, Jake only thinks about Brett once, and not even then does he want to admit to himself that he is thinking about her: we were going way up close along a hillside, with a valley below and hills stretched off far back toward the sea. You couldn t see the sea. It was too far away. You could see only hills and more hills, and you knew where the sea was (80). My interpretation of this is that the sea is a representation of Brett. For Jake to regain some inner peace he needs to leave the sea behind, but although he leaves it behind he always knows where it is and that he cannot avoid it. This metaphor becomes even clearer when considering the fact that Cohn just some time earlier in the novel joined Brett for a weekend in San Sebastian, which is a coastal city. In a sense, Cohn got to be by the sea, with the sea. Bill, however, has never spent any time alone with Brett. Another point which makes the bond between Bill and Jake so strong is that Bill is not a competitor for Brett s affection. He, like almost all other male characters, comments on Brett s good looks, but he never expresses any attraction towards her specifically. This is obviously calming to Jake who is constantly surrounded by Brett s suitors. As previously mentioned, homophobia plays a big part in some homosocial structures. On page 101, Bill says to Jake you re a hell of a good guy and I m fonder of you than anybody on 14

18 earth. I couldn t tell you that in New York. It d mean I was a faggot. This is a good example of Sedgwick s notion of male bonding: Bill is expressing his platonic love for Jake while strengthening the two of them as friends and as parts of a bigger group of masculine men. Bill adds homophobia to the mix in order to emphasize the fact that his love is in fact platonic. Dana Fore, however, has a different opinion regarding what Bill says. In his essay Life Unworthy of Life? he claims that Bill as an amateur psychotherapist (a theory that will be analyzed later in this section) is not completely successful in helping Jake because of this quasi-erotic interlude (Fore 9). He means that when Bill says how fond he is of Jake it is in fact an invitation for Jake to feel free to express taboo feelings of same-sex desire. If there is eroticism, it is more likely one-sided. Bill never shows clear romantic interest in any one character, so it is possible that he has romantic or sexual feelings for Jake. Whether Bill is gay or straight is unknown, but he expresses an interest in women on page 89 when he talks about his face: every woman ought to be given a copy of this face as she leaves the altar. Mothers should tell their daughters about this face. It is possible that this is a way for Bill to express his heterosexuality, but on the other hand it is just as likely that this is a way for him to try to hide his homosexuality. My interpretation of Jake s attraction towards other characters is that it is expressed through the degree of detail in the descriptions of these characters. The characters that Jake is most attracted to are Brett and, possibly, Romero and Count Mippipopolous. These three are the ones with the most detailed descriptions in the whole novel. Jake never mentions anything about Bill s looks and this is arguably proof that he has no romantic or sexual feelings towards Bill. One might also argue that this is proof of repressed feelings in Jake. However, my opinion is that it is more likely that Jake avoids looking at Bill since Bill is a virile version of himself. They are so much alike, except when it comes to the fact that Jake is impotent. Bill is a constant reminder of what Jake might have been, had he not gotten hurt. Before the paragraph where Bill expresses his fondness for Jake is a sense of worry from Jake when Bill has brought up his impotence. Jake s impotence is what upholds his friendship with 15

19 Lady Brett Ashley. As Fiedler discusses in his article, Lady Brett Ashley leaves her lovers figuratively castrated when she is done with them, and with Jake this damage is already done a fact which enables him to keep her as a part of his life. Jake, however, does not see it this way and is unable to look at the bright side of his condition. This is the reason for his unease when Bill brings it up: You re an expatriate. You ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You re an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes.... You don t work. One group claims women support you. Another group claims you re impotent. No I said. I just had an accident. ( ) Jake is afraid that Bill thinks he has hurt his feelings. This is an interesting paragraph in the novel since it shows the importance of being strong and hiding vulnerability, another aspect of male bonding as showing emotion deemed as feminine (sadness, worry, being in love etc.) is taboo. The lines previously quoted are also mentioned in Fore s essay in which he expresses his view of Bill as an amateur psychotherapist. He mentions several instances in which Bill subtly, through metaphors, tells Jake that a wounded, mutilated or disabled body should also be praised and, although Jake is impotent, he is still a man and should be comfortable in his body. Fore writes that these incidents show that Bill Gorton, like Brett Ashley, is committed to a nontraditional code of behavior allowing him to see value in bodies that the larger society would declare worthless or dead. Furthermore, he claims that [Bill] seems eminently suitable as a friend for Jake: as a self-styled philosopher about what makes life worth living, Bill may be able to help Jake formulate his own principles for survival as a wounded man (Fore 9). This is an interpretation that I fully agree with, and it is through the whole novel clear that Bill functions as a sort of guide to Jake. In The Sun Also Rises, Bill is Jake s best friend. They know each other well before the trip to Burguete, and Jake never 16

20 feels the need to come up with excuses not to see Bill, unlike with Cohn who he mostly wants to avoid. 3.3 Count Mippipopolous In this section, I will argue that the count is more homoerotically desirable to Jake than he is homosocially. The first emotion the count brings forth in Jake is, however, jealousy. When he and Brett first meet Count Mippipopolous, Jake sees how much they enjoy each other s company and leaves, claiming that he has a headache (25). The headache seems to be a lie in order for Jake to get away from the possible budding romance, since he seems to be in no hurry to get home and no physical pain is mentioned for the remainder of that evening. Though Jake s narrative reveals nothing about Jake s impression of the count at this point, there will later come a sense of homoerotic desire towards the count. It is possible that Jake is already aware of this desire, which would be another reason for his sudden hurry to get out of being the third wheel between the count and Brett. When looking at Count Mippipopolous as a stereotype one needs to define the stereotypical Greek. The Greek people are sometimes viewed as hairy, loud and generous people. If looking at these different traits one could say that the count is a representation of the stereotypical Greek. With the count, as with most of the characters in The Sun Also Rises, one is never provided with an outright description of his appearance. However, when Brett and the count come visit Jake in his apartment, Brett convinces the count to show his war wounds. That the count is very hairy becomes clear with Jake s observation of the event. When he has unbuttoned his vest and opened his shirt, the count pull[s] up the undershirt onto his chest and [stands], his chest black, and big stomach muscles bulging under the light (53). His chest is completely covered with black hair and the muscles can only be seen as bulges underneath the hair. This description is unique in the novel, since it is the only description of a naked part of a human body. The fact that Jake describes the muscles underneath the black hair can be viewed as an expression of homoerotic desire. When 17

21 describing Brett, Jake talks about her curves through the description of her sweater. In this chapter, however, Jake gets to see the count s naked chest up close, and describes the count s muscles through the description of his chest hair with eroticism similar to his description of Brett s body. This is arguably the most erotic event in the whole novel. At no other point is Jake confronted with so much bare skin. The count talks a lot and seems to always have something to say, which is of course contrasted by Jake s almost complete silence around the count and Brett. Jake barely says anything in the whole of chapter seven, except for his short, intimate conversation with Brett when they are alone together. Generosity is another trait that fits in well in a description of Count Mippipopolous. One can, however, doubt whether the count s generosity is a part of his personality, or if he just, like so many others, wants to impress Brett. To this question there is no answer in the novel, but his generosity is in any case a fact. Jake s lack of homosocial desire towards the count could very possibly be because of the fact that the count is Greek. Jake does not seem to have any positive or negative feelings towards the Greek people. Furthermore, it is certainly possible to be attracted to someone and not be interested in spending time with that person. This is likely the case for Jake and the count. Jake seems to be very neutral and, at times, a dull conversational partner when he talks to the count. By contrast, when Jake is with Bill (the person bringing forth the greatest homosocial desire in Jake) they have their own jargon and there is always the sense of a strong connection between them. When Jake talks to the count, it is very clear that they do not know each other, nor does Jake seem to be interested in getting to know the count. A possible reason for this is the homoeroticism; it is clear that homosexuality is not accepted within Jake s group of friends, and it is equally clear that he already feels enough of a freak as he is impotent. Another possible reason is that, as mentioned before, Jake is neutral towards the Greek people, a fact which is contrasted by Jake s love for the Spanish people and high degree of homosocial desire towards Romero. This will be discussed 18

22 further in the following section. I think it is important to remember that homoerotic desire does not make Jake homosexual. Neither do I believe that Jake is bisexual. Certainly, Jake is in love with a woman, and not once, but twice does he also display homoerotic desire. However, instead of viewing this as proof for Jake being anything other than heterosexual I view it either as a way for him to deal with the fact that he can never have sex with Brett (i.e. desperately trying to aim his sexual frustration in a different direction) or a way to transform his own jealousy into something, anything, else. Both Romero and Mippipopolous are romantic interests of Brett s. I strongly believe that Jake Barnes is a heterosexual, but sexually confused, man. Elliott seems to share this view as he explores Jake s views on homosexuality in his essay. Elliott claims that Jake is a homophobe. He says that the men who accompany Brett to the dancing club on page 17 are gay. He points to the fact that one of these men refers to another as dear (Elliott 82). He also says that when Jake wants to swing on one (17) of them he wants to physically assault the homosexual man, an act of gay bashing... derive[d] from Jake s... frustration at being unable to categorize the homosexual within the male/female binary (Elliott 83). I agree with Elliott s claim that Jake is frustrated at his being unable to categorize the homosexual. However, I would more easily have accepted the possibility of Jake being an outright homophobe if he had used profanity to express his anger, as all of the men so often do in this novel. In fact, when Bill uses the word faggot on the fishing trip later in the novel, Jake shows no discomfort about it, which leads me to believe that Jake has no trouble using the word himself (101). As will be discussed in the following section, Jake has obvious feelings of homoerotic desire towards Pedro Romero. Had Jake been a gay bashing homophobe, he would have had far more difficulty admitting to himself that he finds Romero the best-looking boy [he has] ever seen (141). 3.4 Pedro Romero In this subsection I will focus on the character Pedro Romero. I will discuss Jake s homoerotic 19

23 feelings towards Romero, the potential of Romero as the stereotypical latin lover and Jake s views on the Spanish people. Pedro Romero is not, unlike Jake and Bill, part of the main group of friends. He is handsome and virile and has not seen the horrors of the war on account of being too young. There is no apparent homosocial desire from the main group aimed at Romero, but they all know about him and admire his talent in the bullfights. However, Mike is very jealous and hateful in the way he talks about Romero when he hears how Brett talks about him. Bill likes Mike, and the reason for the lack of homosocial desire from the group as a whole could be that Bill does not want to argue with Mike, and Jake does not want to argue with anyone. Mike makes racist comments countless times throughout the novel, two examples being when he says that Spaniards are drunk all day and spend all their time beating their poor old mothers (146) and when he tells Jake that he has given Brett a fearful hiding about Jews and bullfighters, and all those sort of people (176). The main group do not display homosocial desire towards Romero. Jake, however, does and there is also a clear sense of homoeroticism. When they are first introduced, Jake describes Romero in just as much detail as when he first describes Brett, the love of his life: The boy stood very straight and unsmiling in his bullfighting clothes. His jacket hung over the back of a chair. They were just finishing winding his sash. His black hair shone under the electric light. He wore a white linen shirt and the sword-handler finished his sash and stood up and stepped back. Pedro Romero nodded, seeming very far away and dignified when we shook hands... He was the best-looking boy I have ever seen. (141) When comparing this to his Jake s description of Brett, there are some things that are very similar: Brett was damned good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy s. She started all that. She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht, and you missed none of it with that wool jersey (19). The attraction Jake has towards both of these characters is clear. When describing their clothing, he indirectly describes their bodies in 20

24 Brett s case through her wool jersey and in Romero s case through the sword-handler wrapping the sash around his torso. Brett and Romero also have similar haircuts. Jake s narrative becomes poetic for moment when he describes how he joins a conversation with Romero and a bullfight critic. His table was beside ours, almost touching (150). That fact that Jake describes the tables as almost touching gives the narrative even more of an erotic undertone. He chooses a word like touch instead of just saying that the tables are right next to each other. Jake also praises Romero s personality traits in his narrative: he was not at all embarrassed [when talking about a bad performance in the bullring]. He talked of his work as something altogether apart from himself. There was nothing conceited or braggartly about him (151). Romero seems to be the only character about whom Jake has only positive things to say, and this is especially evident in this conversation. He had very nice manners is another positive thing Jake has to say about him (152). Romero is, in every sense, the golden boy. Jake may, however, not be aware of his homoerotic desire for Romero. The homoeroticism results in a strengthened homosocial desire, which eventually concludes in Jake giving Brett to Romero. Pedro Romero can very much be viewed as the stereotypical latin lover. When comparing him to Rudolph Valentino s character in the 1922 film Blood and Sand (based on Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's 1919 novel with the same name), there are many similarities. I found that comparing Romero to a Valentino character is very relevant as Valentino was often referred to as the latin lover and his films are viewed by many as the origin of the latin lover stereotype. I chose this particular film as it is about a young and very successful bullfighter who jeopardizes everything he has accomplished when he has an affair. The main character in Blood and Sand is Juan Gallardo, a man who suddenly becomes famous as the next big thing in the bullfighting scene. He is young, handsome and brave, like Pedro Romero. The citizens of his hometown of Seville all adore him, and so do the spectators of all the other towns and cities he visits for bullfighting also like Romero. Similarly to the character in the film, Romero takes a big risk when he starts seeing Brett (after all, 21

25 it is because of Brett that Romero is barely fit to fight on the last day of the fiesta). It is possible that Hemingway was inspired by the film (or novel) when inventing the character of Romero in The Sun Also Rises. William Adair mentions in his article Montoya and Other Father Figures in The Sun Also Rises that Romero was based on the Spanish bullfighter Cayetano Ordoñez, also called El Niño de la Palma (Adair, Montoya 5). This adds up to a possibility of Hemingway building Romero out of inspiration from one actual person and one fictional. As I have previously argued, the level of Jake s homosocial desire towards Pedro Romero is controlled by Jake s homoerotic desires for him. Both of these aspects of Jake s friendship to Romero affect the level of jealousy he feels towards him. Since Jake admires and likes Romero so much, he is not as jealous when it comes to Brett and Romero as with Brett and other male characters. It is, of course, always easier to be jealous of someone who you do not think deserve the person you want for yourself. Jake thinks that Romero is a good man, and though Jake still loves Brett, she deserves to be happy. In his essay, Adair comments that it is significant that after Brett s night with Romero, the next day Jake (who has the rotten habit of imagining his friends bedroom scenes) is pleased to see her radiant and happy (Adair, Montoya 5-6). Here it is important to keep in mind that Jake has homoerotic feelings towards Romero. Perhaps he is, in a sense, living out his own sexual fantasies of Brett through Romero. Also, as said before, Romero and Brett look alike. This is one possible reason for the confusion Jake has regarding his feelings towards Romero. The combination of these two could very well be what results in his helping Brett and Romero get together. Also, the fact that Jake s view of Brett changes throughout the novel makes it even easier for him to let her go at the end he has accepted that they will never be together. As is said in Donald A. Daiker s article Brett Couldn t Hold Him, by the end of the novel [Jake] no longer harbors romantic fantasies about [his and Brett s] marrying or living together (Daiker 10). Daiker also mentions that many commentators believe not only that Brett ends the relationship [with Romero] 22