The Construction Of Manliness In The Sun Also Rises

In the 20^th century,hegemonic masculinity had profound effect on how American young men constructed their male identity.Wealth,power and virility were regarded as the basic elements of a masculine persona.However,this type of masculinity met with the unprecedented challenge after World War I.In The Sun Also Rises,Hemingway portrays a group of young people who cannot sustain the performance of the hegemonic masculinity.Thus,this thesis aims to probe into the main reasons for masculinity crisis in the novel and elucidate the way that the protagonist,Jake,realizes the construction of a new type of manliness from the perspective of "manliness theory"put forward by H.C.Mansfield and R.W.Cornell.It can be found that the trauma of the First World War,the appearance of new women and the impact of consumerism are three main causes of the masculinity crisis.Jake’s impotence rules him out of hegemonic masculinity and leads to his turn from a dominant position to a subordinate position.The heroine,Brett,as a representative of new women,is also defined as a threat to male superiority.In addition,the pursuit of materialism challenges the traditional value and results in people’s alienation.It also suggests that Hemingway depicts the character,Jake,to imply a possibility of a new type of manliness.Firstly,Jake achieves identity remodeling by improving his inner personality and virtue.Secondly,Jake breaks the model of binary opposition between male and female and attains the equality of gender relationship.Thirdly,he connects his manliness with the harmonious relationship between male and the world.This thesis reflects various defects of the mainstream masculinity,and also enlightens readers with a new type of manhood.