As of today, the process of Western civilization embracing the spirit of “political correctness” had reached its logical conclusion, when it is only the matter of very short time, before men will be forbidden from referring to women as actually women, but something like “representatives of vaginal group”. Nowadays, it became a commonplace practice for women to work as police officers, and for male “white collars” to be increasingly preoccupied with having their fingernails nicely polished, as one of their lives’ foremost priorities. However, it would be wrong to think of ever-decreased levels of gender differentiation within Western societies as essentially beneficial socio-political phenomenon, as the hawks of “tolerance” would like us to believe. On the contrary – it is because more and more men and women find themselves being increasingly incapable of perceiving their existential potential through the lenses of biological functionality, which explains the feeling of sexual ambiguity, on their part.
The reading of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises”, confirms the theoretical validity of such our suggestion with utter exactness, because in it, author had succeed in exposing main characters’ (Jake, Cohn and Brett) inability to attain marital happiness as a direct result of their bio-psychological inadequacy, even though it was far from his original intention. In this paper, we will strive to substantiate the validity of this thesis even further, while simultaneously aiming to reveal what accounts for the fundamental difference between male and female sexualities, during a process.
The history of Western civilization is the history of metaphysical manliness affecting the course of historical events – this continues to be the case even today, despite the process of Western societies becoming increasingly “feminized”. Such manliness has been traditionally associated with masculine virtues of rationale, courage, physical strength, and will-power. The foremost psychological difference between men and women is that men are expected to be capable of suppressing their animalistic urges, to be able to act “as necessary”, as opposed to women’s tendency to act “as it feels like”. Therefore; whereas, physically attractive women inspire passion in men’s hearts by their mere existence, it is namely men’s deeds and the strength of their individuality, which account for their value in the eyes of women.
However, the beginning of 20th century had marked the emergence of a new generation of men, the representatives of which were deprived of those psychological qualities that allowed their ancestors to build and to maintain civilization. While remaining undoubtly intellectual, these men were becoming increasingly incapable of associating their lives with any particular purpose, whatsoever. Slowly but surely, they were becoming reduced into the crowd of degenerates, solely preoccupied with seeking cheep thrills, just as it was the case with physically and mentally corrupted Romans, in time of Roman Empire’s decline. It was during first part of 20th century that the degenerative doctrine of Marxism had attained a status of legitimate political theory, that the sub-products of people’s mental illness began to be discussed in terms of “art”, and that the representatives of world’s Plutocracy had found themselves in position of ruining the economies of whole countries, thus instigating the beginning of both: WW1 and WW2.
Therefore, it was not due to Bill Gorton’s intellectual maliciousness that he used to continuously refer to Jake as decadent: “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” (Hemingway Ch. XII, p. 115). However, these words do not seem to only apply to Jake, but to most Hemingway’s characters, as well – all they seemed to be concerned about is drinking and posing as “sophisticates”.
For example, throughout novel’s entirety, Cohn never ceases to provide others with his “valuable” opinions on issues he could not possibly comprehend. This caused others to others to get annoyed with him to ever-increasing extent: “He’s got this Jewish superiority so strong that he thinks the only emotion he’ll get out of the fight will be being bored” (Hemingway Ch. XV, p. 162). In its turn, this explains the particularities of a relationship between Brett and novel’s other male characters, such as Jake, Cohn, Mike, Pedro and Count Mippipopolous while being an intelligent woman, Brett never ceased seeking for namely those psychological qualities in her male partners that she felt she lacked. The irony lays in the fact that, even though it was the narrator, with whom Brett felt the most comfortable, in psychological sense of this word, she could not seriously consider the possibility of marrying him, due to Jake being an impotent.
The following exchange of remarks between Brett and Jake provide us with the insight onto the latter as being utterly naïve individual: “It’s funny,’ I said. ‘It’s very funny. And it’s a lot of fun, too, to be in love’. ‘Do you think so?’ her eyes looked flat again. ‘I don’t mean fun that way. In a way it’s an enjoyable feeling’. ‘No’, she said. ‘I think it’s hell on earth” (Hemingway Ch. IV, p. 27). Women cannot enjoy platonic love as “thing in itself” due to particularities of their physiology – unlike men; women cannot mentally detach themselves from their genitals.
Otto Weininger’s famous book “Sex and Character” contains a particularly valuable observation, in regards to what constitute a foremost difference between male and female existential modes: “The female is always sexual, the male is sexual only intermittently. The sexual instinct is always active in woman, whilst in man it is at rest from time to time. And thus it happens that the sexual impulse of the male is eruptive in character and so appears stronger. The real difference between the sexes is that in the male the desire is periodical, in the female continuous” (Weininger Ch. II, p. 54). We can say that woman’s whole body functions as one big sexual organ, which explains why women get easily aroused, as the result of even such “non-sexual” parts of their bodies as hands being touched.
Therefore, it was not simply a coincident that, every time Brett had found herself in the company of men, her mere presence would create a strongly-defined sexual tension within such a company. It is the same as it has always been the case with women – they actively seek to create such a tension, because it is only through becoming the object of men’s sexual desire that they can realize their true worth. In the same book from which we have already quoted, Weininger states: “The love of a man for whom she does not care is only a gratification of the vanity of a woman, or an awakening and rousing of slumbering desires. A woman extends her claims equally to all men on Earth” (Weininger Ch. IX, p. 140). Throughout novel’s entirety, Brett actively flirted with just about anyone who happened to come across her path. Therefore, by telling Cohn that he should have stopped pursuing Brett: “Why do you follow Brett around like a poor bloody steer? Don’t you know you’re not wanted?” (Hemingway Ch. XIII, p. 142), Mike had simply proven himself being completely unaware of how women’s psychology works – being followed around by as many men as possible is exactly what Brett subconsciously strived for.
Whereas, men think of love as emotionally inspirational experience, which adds value to their otherwise mechanistic existence, women think of their ability to inspire love in men as simply a tool of gaining social prominence. In its turn, this explains why Brett seemed to be emotionally comfortable with Count Mippipopolous, just as much as it used to be the case between her and Jake, even though she did not even know this Greek aristocrat very well. All she knew is that, unlike her other lovers, Count was not affected by any mental insecurities and, what is the most important – he could well afford supplying her with money: “He just brought me here now. Offered me ten thousand dollars to go to Biarritz with him. How much is that in pounds?” (Hemingway Ch. IV, p. 33). This brings us to discussion of another important sex-related theme, contained in Hemingway’s novel – namely, the effects of Brett’s genetically predetermined nymphomania on her behavior.
Throughout the novel, author never ceases bringing readers’ attention to particularities of Brett’s “feminist” physical appearance: “Her hair was brushed back like a boy’s” (Hemingway Ch. III, p. 22). As we are all well aware of, the most famous promoters of feminist cause have traditionally been known for particularly masculine aspects of their physical appearance. It is not only that feminist women like wearing men’s clothing, but they are often being forced to deal with essentially “masculine” physiological issues, such as the excessive growth of hair on their faces and legs. Moreover, “liberated” feminists have also been known for their rather ravenous sexual appetites. Why would this be the case? This is because such women’s blood contains excessive amounts of testosterone – the hormone of sex and aggression. There is a plenty of subtly defined evidence as to the fact that Brett had plenty of testosterone running through her veins, which is why in her relations with men, she would often take sexual initiative.
For example, Brett thought it was quite appropriate on her part, to ask Jake to set her up with Pedro, so that she could have sex with him, while being honest enough to admit her animalistic urges as such that never ceased defining her behavior: “I do feel such a bitch”. ‘Well,’ I said. ‘My God!’ said Brett, ‘the things a woman goes through’. ‘Yes?’. ‘Oh, I do feel such a bitch” (Hemingway Ch. XVI, p. 184). What Brett used to refer to as her “bitchiness” is now being referred to as “emancipation”. In “Sex and Character”, Weininger states: “A woman’s demand for emancipation and her qualification for it are in direct proportion to the amount of maleness in her… The desire for freedom and equality with man occurs only in masculine women, the inductive conclusion follows that the female principle is not conscious of a necessity for emancipation” (Weininger Ch. VI, p. 42). Therefore, we can say that how Hemingway goes about exploring the theme of sexual ambiguity in his novel, is being concerned with Brett acting as “male”, on one hand, and with Jake, Cohn and Mike acting as “females”, on the other. For us to explain the true essence of this behavioral phenomenon, we will have to outline the conceptual premise, upon which the “theory of three generations” is being based.
The history of Western civilization can be thought of as the continuous succession of generations, representatives of which posses specific psychological traits. For example, in Homer’s poems, male characters are being defined almost exclusively by their sheer will-power and physical strength. There is nothing else about them. The history of their lives is read like an epic. Men that belong to “second generation” have both – will-power and intellect. They are the ones who build and conquer, while strengthening the foundation of earlier accomplishments. Martin Luther, Columbus, and Shakespeare, for example, are the typical representatives of “second generation”. As history progresses, men slowly loose their strength and all that there is remaining is their intellect. The psychological introspect onto the characters of Jake, Cohn and Mike leave no doubt as to their strong affiliation with “third generation”. This explains the effects of these characters’ war-experiences on their behaviour.
Again and again, Jake stresses out the fact that he has been hurt by war, in psychological more then in strictly physical sense of this word: “I got hurt in the war,’ I said. ‘Oh, that dirty war” (Hemingway Ch. III, p. 16). At the same time, novel’s only representative of “second generation”, Count Mippipopolous, was able to retain his existential cheerfulness, despite his war experiences being so much more extensive as compared to that of Jake’s: “I have been in seven wars and four revolutions,’ the Count said” (Hemingway Ch. VII, p. 60). Brett’s reaction to these Count’s words strengthen our earlier suggestion as to her psychological manliness: “I told you he was one of us. Didn’t I?’ Brett turned to me. ‘I love you, Count. You’re a darling” (Hemingway Ch. VII, p. 60). It is important to understand that a phenomenon of a so-called “combat fatigue”, on the part of soldiers that have had participated in war, cannot be thought of as being objectively defined.
The reason why it was namely during 20th century that many former soldiers would end up experiencing a variety of mental anxieties, associated with their time in trenches, is because they belonged to a “third generation”. It was not war that made mental wrecks out of them (before WW1, the phenomenon of “combat fatigue” simply did not exist), but historical dialectics. Mentally stable individual can never get tired of war, just as one can never get tired of life, because life is best discussed in terms of never-ending struggle of everybody against everybody.
In its turn, this allows us to suggest that it was not solely due to Jake’s sexual impotence, which prevented him from eloping with Brett, but also due to effeminate qualities of his character – Brett could simply never bring herself to respect Jake. In her article “Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”, Jacqueline Bradley provides us with the insight on why Jake could never inspire respect on women’s hearts: “Jake is the peacemaker… Jake presents himself as being in complete agreement with those he respects – whether he agrees with them or not” (Bradley 2006, p. 231). Why is it that the majority of White women usually decide in favour of leaving their Black boyfriends and husbands, after having lived with them for some time? It is certainly not due to these men’s inability to satisfy White women sexually, but because, in terms of psychology, Black males do not differentiate much from White/Black females. It appears that Brett had realized that the offer of “niceness”, on Jake’s part, simply reflected his perceptional infantilism. And, such infantilism is the behavioural trait of women, which explains why they enjoy so much working with kids. Brett did not want to end up being married to a “grown up boy”, who besides being an impotent and alcoholic, also appeared as particularly annoying individual, who simply strived to appease those he did not like, instead of trying to confront them openly.
Thus, we can say that the aura of sexual ambiguity, which appears being ever-present throughout Hemingway’s novel, derives out of the fact that the relationships between novel’s male and female characters are being marked by a low degree of gender differentiation. After all – what is the fundamental difference between Brett and most of novel’s male characters? They are all being equally committed to drinking, indulging in seemingly sophisticate but utterly meaningless conversations, and seeking emotionally-charged forms of entertainment: “Romero’s bull-fighting gave real emotion, because he kept the absolute purity of line in his movements and always quietly and calmly let the horns pass him close each time” (Hemingway Ch. XV, p. 168). Real men do not seek “real emotions” but mental excitement, which they usually derive out of participating in variety of intellectual and physical activities.
Therefore, the fact that Brett and the bunch of “steers” around her had found themselves so attracted to watching a spectacle of bulls being killed by bullfighters in particularly cruel manner, simply reflected these people’s existential decadence. And, as we are all aware of – decadents cannot be endowed with genuine emotions, which cause them to continuously seek for emotional surrogates. Decadents cannot truly love, which is why they confuse love with sex. Decadents cannot be concerned about anything but satisfaction of their animalistic instincts. All decadents care about, when it comes to experiencing sensual emotions, is these emotions’ “intensity”, rather then “genuineness”.
When being asked whether he would be able to stand bloody sight of Spanish bullfight, the hook-nosed “expert on tolerance” Cohn replies: “I’m not worried about how I’ll stand it. I’m only afraid I may be bored” (Hemingway Ch. XV, p. 162). Therefore, it appears that in author’s eyes, Jake’s inability to have sex had deeply metaphorical significance, because it symbolised existential impotence, on the part of just about all of his degenerate friends. In her book “Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: A Casebook”, Linda Wagner-Martin makes a perfectly good point while stating: “Jake has come to inhabit the demi-monde, the world of the outcast, the lost, the homosexual – the decadent other par excellence… Jake, like the homosexual, is a habitué of cafes, where one ‘does’ very little except talk, and the homosexual, the female, and the Jew are constructed as overly discursive” (Wagner-Martin 2002, p. 74). Sexual ambiguity only begins to affect people’s lives when these people go about actively opposing the objective laws of nature. When women become overly masculine and when men become overly effeminate – this represents transgression against the laws of nature. And, there can be only price for such a transgression – degradation and death.
At the time when “The Sun Also Rises” was published for the first time in 1926, the number of White people accounted for 20-25% of world’s population. As of today, it barely reaches 5%. Nowadays, we have a whole class of White “yuppies” (men and women), who are being solemnly concerned about pursuing professional careers at the expense of neglecting their biological duty as potential mothers and fathers. Those of them who eventually decide to get married, often realise themselves being incapable to conceive children. On the other hand, during last forty years, the population of Ethiopia had tripled, despite being affected by never-ending civil war and famine, and even though Medicare in this country simply does not exist. What accounts for such an amazing strength of sexual libido among Ethiopians? It is the fact that these people never had a chance to learn what the concept of “libido” stands for. They have never been taught by “progressive” individuals like Cohn to think about degenerates among themselves as worthy to be admired. Such our idea corresponds rather well to this paper’s initial thesis – it is namely because Hemingway novel’s characters (except Pedro Romero and Count Mippipopolous) were deprived of their existential wholesomeness, which prompted them to indulge in variety of degenerate activities. In its turn, this resulted in these individuals eventually beginning to experience sexual ambiguity.
Bibliography
Bradley, J. (2006). Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’. The Explicator, 64 (4): 231-234.
Hemingway, E. (1926) 1995. The Sun also Rises. London: Scribner.
Wagner-Martin, L. (2002). Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’: A Casebook. NY: Oxford University Press.
Weininger, O. (1906) 2003. Sex and Character. Authorized Translation from the Sixth German Edition. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.