Character Brett Ashley in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises Essay

The Character Brett Ashley in Ernest Hemingways The Sun Also RisesThere is a common perception among casual readers--who hasnt heard it voiced?--that Ernest Hemingway did not respect women. The purpose of this essay is to examine one work in such a way as to ch anyenge these heinous assumptions. Hemingways persona will be left alone. What will be examined is the role of women, as evidenced by Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises, and what, if anything, it reveals in the way of settling this account of Hemingway as misogynist. Brett Ashley enjoys a unique position of power in the novel--in todays vernacular, she wears the pants in all her relationships. The feminist perspective, no doubt, will find this true, unless rapidly move to the conclusion that Brett Ashleys power over men is Hemingways means of showing what a plain she is. Id like to suggest another possibility. Despite Bretts many faults, she is worth loving, and Jake Barnes does just that. Again, the feminist may say, yes h e loves her, but as an idol, a doll, a pattern admired from afar, as if eternally suspended on a pedestal. I consent that Jake is guilty of this habit, yet he is always there for her, no matter the pain it inflicts on his self-worth. At the end of the book, when Jake thinks the coast is clear, and hes gathering himself at San Sabastian after much revelry in Pamplona, Brett sends a telegram COULD YOU COME TO HOTEL meitnerium MADRIDAM RATHER IN TROUBLE BRETT. (238) Brett has ditched her intended husband Michael, her lover Robert Cohn, and her number one supporter Jake Barnes, in order to do what? To take herself with a nineteen year old hero of the bull ring. To assuage her fears of aging. For wasnt it pleasant dear, to be ... ...it, and respond accordingly. Hemingways gift of these characters says to the reader, Embrace life. That message comes from one who loves people, withal when they insist on games and head-trips and violence. Jake is a hero because he grabs the bull by th e horns (I know, I know). He could be a pitiful mess of a man, but he is not. He is chivalrous, smart, and well-adjusted. He hurts, and has second thoughts, but he is quick to joke about it. The characters in the novel that show signs of male chauvinism are whipped about by events, and are in no way intended to be admired. Hemingway was no sexist. On the contrary, his work championed the womans cause, and in Brett Ashley he has given readers a heroine, hell-bent on liberation. Work Cited Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York Charles Scribners Sons, 1926. Reissued by Collier Books, 1986.