Lost Generation Essay, Research Paper

Ernest Hemingway is a renowned American

author of the Twentieth century who centers his novels around personal

experiences and affections. He is one of the authors named “The Lost Generation.”

He could not cope with post-war America, and therefore he introduced a

new type of character in writing called the “code hero”. Hemingway is known

to focus his novels around code heroes who struggle with the mixture of

their tragic faults and the surrounding environment. Traits of a typical

Hemingway Code Hero are a love of good times, stimulating surroundings,

and strict moral rules, including honesty. The Code Hero always exhibits

some form of a physical wound that serves as his tragic flaw and the weakness

of his character. In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises Jake Barnes

is the character who maintains the typical Code Hero qualities; while Robert

Cohn provides the antithesis of a Code Hero.

Jake Barnes, the narrator and main character

of The Sun Also Rises, is left impotent by an ambiguous accident during

World War I. Jake’s wound is the first of many code hero traits that he

features. This physical wound, however, transcends into an emotional one

by preventing Jake from ever consummating his love with Lady Brett Ashley.

Emotional suffering can take its toll on the Code Hero as it did with Jake

Barnes. Despite the deep love between Jake and Lady Brett, Jake is forced

to keep the relationship strictly platonic and stand watch as different

men float in and out of Lady Ashley’s life and bed. No one other than Jake

and Brett themselves ever learn the complexity of their relationship because

Jake’s hopeless love for Brett and the agony it entails are restricted

to scenes known to themselves alone. Therefore, Jake suffers in silence

because he has learned to trust and rely only upon himself, which is conducive

to the Hemingway Code as well.

Jake is an American who travels to Europe

to satiate his appetite for exotic landscapes and to escape his pain. Jake

tries to live his life to the fullest with drinking, partying, and sporting

with friends. With these pastimes, Jake hopes to hide from his fault and

get on with the life he has been made to suffer. Watching and participating

in sports help accentuate the Code Hero’s masculinity and provide the sense

of pride Jake has lost. This gain of pride is essential in the Hemingway

Code. Jake attends fishing trips with friends, he visits Pamplona, Spain

to witness the running of the bulls, and he acts as a mediator between

arguing friends. These characteristics reveal his strong character built

of courage and grace. Jake, as with any Code Hero, is a man of action who

spends more time achieving goals than talking about them.

Jake’s friend, Robert Cohn violates everything

a Hemingway Code Hero represents. He is rich, gifted, and skillful and

is ready to discuss his emotions in detail. Robert refuses to admit defeat

when Brett rejects him repeatedly. Unlike Jake, when Cohn is hurt, he insists

on complaining to everyone instead of suffering in silence. Cohn does nothing

to assert his masculinity, either. He allows people, especially women to

ridicule him and knock down his self esteem. Cohn obviously can not stand

up for himself and does not take action when he should. Consequently, Robert

has no self control. When a matador sleeps with Brett, whom Cohn is in

love with, he takes out his jealousy by beating him repeatedly. Although

a man of action, Jake, the quintessential Hemingway Hero, knows when to

control himself, Robert Cohn does not.

On the whole, Jake Barnes strictly adheres

to the qualities of the typical Hemingway Code Hero. He relies solely on

himself, utilizes his assets, enjoys bullfights and other honorable activities.

He is an individual of action and speaks not of what he believes; rather

he just does what he believes to be right subtlety without any fanfare.

Jake has lived with disappointment and frustration all his life, yet he

overcomes it and uses the lesson to his advantage. On the other hand, Robert

Cohn, who has had the easy life is the perpetual loser. He allows people

to walk all over him and continually feels sorry for himself. Robert Cohn

is the false knight, who, in theory should be the victorious protagonist

but will always turn out to be a shallow person who lives on the fringes

of life. In the end, the person who does not possess the Code Hero qualities

can never discover himself, and therefore never truly be happy.