Thursday, January 23, 2020
gender changes in the sun also rises Essay example -- essays research
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway is a story of being apart of the â€Å"Lost Generation†in the 1920's. The Great War had changed the ideas of morality, faith and justice and many people began to feel lost. Their traditional values were changed and the morals practically gone. The â€Å"Lost Generation†rejected Victorian ideologies about gender, sex and identity. The main characters, Brett and Jake, redefine masculinity and femininity, drifting away from the Victorian ideals of sexuality and identity.           Lady Brett Ashley is a perfect example of how women in the â€Å"Lost Generation†changed. Brett strives for an individuality that Victorian women would not look for. She also seeks more activity in the social sphere. By doing these things, Brett rejects the Victorian ideals of proper behavior of women and marriage. The time after the Great War is a perfect stage in which Brett can begin to express herself freely. She enters the social scene, which is predominately male, even though she is not socially accepted. She goes to bars and gets drunk, she even goes to bullfights, which are bloody and violent, to try to become accepted by her male counterparts as not just a ‘woman’ but a person equal to them. Brett also uses sex to break free of the traditional Victorian ideals and to explore a new lifestyle where women are free to do as they please. â€Å"Victorianism established clear [emphasis added] sexual boundaries and a single standard of monogamy for men and women that ensured a stable family and allowed for passion within committed relationships. †(White) Brett obviously throws these boundaries out the door. She is characterized as a female unconstrained by sexual repression, going about sleeping with whomever she feels fit, unstoppable by the Victorian ideologies of what women and sex should be. However, her many meaningless, broken relationships with men are repeatedly as tumultuous as the new, modern world in which she lives.      Throughout her many attempts to set herself apart from the traditional world, she still acts uncertainly about what she wants. Lady Brett in many ways is torn between the new modern woman and the idealistic Victorian woman. You can see this in her dependence on men for money, as in her engagem... ... to be with Brett, but he can not because of his accident. Since sex is such a driving force in Brett’s life, she could not stand to be with him. Jake can only be friends with Brett, this gives us the idea of a new kind of relationship between men and women.      In conclusion, Jake and Brett do a very good job of making the transition from Victorian ideas to modern beliefs visible to readers. Not only do they redefine their sexuality, but they seem to go though a sort of role reversal, where females aggressively express their feelings and men cry.      Works Cited Elliott, Ira. â€Å"Performance Art: Jake Barnes and Masculine Signification.†          American Literature Mar. 1995: 1-2 Fulton, Lorie Watkins. â€Å"Reading Around Jake’s Narration: Brett Ashley and           The Sun Also Rises.†Hemingway Review Fall 2004: 20-61 White, Kevin. Sexual Liberation or Sexual License?: The American Revolt           Against Victorian Sexuality. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000.
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