The Sun Also Rises provides a snapshot of Hemingway's world and allows the reader to see for themselves the societal changes that occurred around the time of World War I. At this time, a new class of women, freed from stifling bonds with men, developed, causing a complete redefinition of the relationships between men and women. Members of this “lost generation” rewrote the values ​​of the Victorian era and reestablished a less rigid set of moral values ​​to apply in the modern world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Many critics associate Ernest Hemingway with the idea of ​​antifeminism. However, this opinion is not necessarily based on factual evidence. The Sun Also Rises presents a new type of woman, the independent woman, who is the opposite of anti-feminism. In many ways, this first novel is Hemingway's kiss goodbye to the Victorian ethos in which he was raised (O'Sullivan 81). In this novel, Hemingway created Lady Brett Ashley to embody the liberated, modernist female character. Brett represents the new openly phallic women (Fantina 84). Moving away from the image of an inferior and submissive housewife, the new woman was a free-spirited and outspoken peer, and what's more, a friend. With the creation of Brett Ashley, Hemingway flirted with the idea that the line that previously separated men and women had become blurred, or in some cases completely absent. Around the time of the Great War, women's behavior began to change. Women were seen as beginning to “act like men.” Instead of grace, many women had adopted an affectation of manliness, as evidenced by their hats, jackets, long strides, and healthy swing of arms as they walked. More radical behaviors included smoking, drinking alcohol, living alone, and sexual activity (O'Sullivan 78). Brett Ashley is the embodiment of this idea of ​​the new woman. “She is a drunk,” Hemingway wrote of Brett (38). “She wore a jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed like a boy’s” (Hemingway 30). She drinks to get drunk. She smokes cigars. She has light, no-strings-attached sex with men other than her fiancée. She does what “good” women shouldn’t do. However, through this debauchery of tradition, Hemingway reaches new heights for the female character. Brett is neither a wife nor a prostitute (O'Sullivan 83). She breaks the stereotypical molds that society has been conditioned to place women in. However, the genius of Brett Ashley lies not in Hemingway's ability to create the Great American female dog, but rather in his ability to create an idea of ​​a woman as a friend (O'Sullivan 81). Especially where Jake is concerned, the idea of ​​women as solely romantic or sexual interests is erased and replaced with friendship, something previously thought impossible to achieve between members of the opposite sex. Jake's war injury prevents him from consummating his love with Brett. With the possibility of physical love thus made impossible, one might wonder what holds this relationship together. It seems that Brett and Jake seem to have a legitimate sympathy for each other; something that goes beyond the purely physical realm. With this in mind, Brett and Jake share a relationship very similar to that which might exist between two men. The lines have blurred and Jake is able to see through the sexual cloud surrounding Brett andto see her as a person. Jake and Brett are equals. More than that, they are friends. In many ways, Jake's friendship with Brett is very similar to his friendship with Bill Gorton. Although frequently separated, the two are immediately able to reconnect when they reunite. When Bill visits Paris, he and Jake exchange stories about the past. Bill shares stories from his time in Vienna. He admits that it wasn't such a good time and it seemed better than it was (Hemingway76). He attributes this to his four-day drinking binge. Later in the novel, the two converse again, but this time in more depth. From their conversation in the countryside, the connection between the two is obvious. The men freely discuss topics such as religion, literature, and personal problems, and even talk about Jake's impotence (O'Sullivan 88). Bill even goes so far as to express his love for Jake. "You're a damn good guy, and I love you more than anyone on earth. I could only tell you that in New York. That would mean I was a faggot" (Hemingway 121). The significance of Jake's friendship with Bill is that it bears striking similarities to his friendship with Brett. The idea that Jake might have comparable—but nonphysical—relationships with a man and a woman reinforces the gender blur in The Sun Also Rises. Jake and Bill and Jake and Brett are able to accept each other's downfalls and jaded pasts and see each other for who they truly are. The idea that Brett and Bill can both affect Jake in the same way again emphasizes that the new female and the new male are not different at all. Many considered this new platonic relationship disastrous and directly attributed to the death of romantic love. However, instead of reading The Sun Also Rises as a story about the death of love, we can read it as a story about the cautious belief in the survival of the two most fundamental elements of every human relationship: love and friendship. This can be seen as the unification of two distinct 19th century sexual spheres and a break with the moral imperatives of the Victorian era, while also demonstrating the possibility of love's survival in a more realistic but nihilistic 20th century ( O'Sullivan 76). While there's no doubt that there is substantial love between Jake and Brett, it's not what defines their entire relationship. Unlike Brett's affairs with other men, his relationship with Jake is not based on lust and animalistic sexual desire. Brett can count on Jake for his love, help and support. When Brett realizes she has fallen in love with Romero, she experiences a form of emotional shock. She repeatedly exclaims to Jake that “I’m [she] done” (Hemingway 187). However, despite her overly dramatized performance, Jake stays with her and listens to her. When Brett finally asks, “Oh honey, please stay by my side and help me through this,” Jake offers the response without hesitation, “Of course” (Hemingway 188). Jake comes to Brett's aid again after she decides her relationship with Romero isn't in either of them's best interests. Broke and stranded in Madrid, she turns to the only person she can undoubtedly count on, Jake Barnes. After receiving a message from Brett, Jake abandons his plan to be by his side. When he arrives, Brett tells him about his ordeal with the child bullfighter. Throughout it all, Jake is there, listening and being a friend. "I saw that she was crying. I could feel her crying as I held her close. Trembling and crying. I put my arms around her" (Hemingway 247). There is no hint of sexual desire between the two in any of these aforementioned scenes. Brett and Jake give each other a glimpse into their souls.They are honest about their personal failures and shortcomings. Although imperfect, their friendship is imbued with the survival mechanisms of honesty, a shared history, and serious love (O'Sullivan 87). Jake knows that, despite his love for her, nothing will change their relationship. However, he accepts her as she is, and for this, the relationship between the two becomes lasting and lasting. The change in the male-female relationship at this time was not simply brought about by the birth of the new woman. The role of men also began to change, favoring the disappearance of romantic love and the establishment of a new idea of ​​the possibility of friendship between the sexes. Hemingway uses characters such as Jake Barnes and Robert Cohn to represent these changes, and also to show why romantic love and the chivalrous man have no place in a post-World War I environment. Jake's war wound is representative of the loss of traditional manhood. Without the use of the penis, much of the masculine identity disappears; it represents the authority that men have over women. After the war, with the appearance of the injury, Jake becomes a representative of the decline of male power. He can no longer represent the traditional male, because he is impotent (O'Sullivan 87). War divided the old world from the new; old Jake from new Jake. As women became more virile, it was difficult for men to be men; the injury had cut them off from the anatomical source of their incontestable virility (Forter 26). The penis was previously differentiated hierarchically between men and women. It was a symbol of male power over women (Forter 26). Jake's injury robs him of his manhood and the root of masculine social power. Jake's interaction with society shows that his new role as a man is not necessarily negative. Because of his impotence, Jake cannot continue to define himself based on his sexual abilities. He can't prove himself to Brett by what he can do for her sexually. Instead, he is forced to develop other facets of his personality. Although he can't be with her physically and romantically, something still brings them together. This reinforces the concept of friendship rather than sexual love. Metaphorically, Jake's injury is necessary. For the new woman to gain power, the new man must give it up. This change is accentuated by the lack of transformation in other men. Men like Cohn and Romero do not accept Brett and the evolving woman. Because Jake accepts Brett and the idea of ​​the new woman, he is able to maintain a relationship. Brett says, "It was kind of a shame to be ashamed of me. He was ashamed of me for a while, you know... They told [Romero] about me at the coffee shop, I guess. He wanted me grow up. I, with long hair, would look like hell” (Hemingway 246). In this situation, Romero cannot give up his outdated ideas about a woman's appearance. Although it is ultimately Brett's realization that his corruption of young Romero will ruin him that causes the relationship to deteriorate, it is entirely plausible that his and Cohn's inability to abandon old-fashioned ideals plays a role. also a role in dissolution. of the relationship. Robert Cohn represents the Victorian values ​​of the past: “He believed in romance – the romance of distant and exotic places, romantically described in turgid, romantic prose – as well as in the romance of mutually fulfilling loves” (Forter 27 ). He is the only sentient character in a completely desensitized world. For this reason,..