Jake Barnes In The Sun Also Rises

The novel The Sun Also Rises (1954) by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) is told from the perspective of Jake Barnes, the protagonist, who suffered an impactful penile injury from World War I.

World War I generates a significant impact on Jake because he suffers physical and psychological trauma which causes him to have penis envy. Jake endures a penile injury from the war which later causes his immense penis envy. While in the hospital, a lovely young woman, Brett, tended to him as her patient. Over the years, they developed confused feelings for each other. Although Brett later moved on from man to man after several failed marriages, Jake continued to have a deep romantic interest in her. Robert, one of Jake’s friends, revealed that he had

In the novel Sun Also Rises, Hemingway uses metaphors to show that Jake has enough control over his emotions to conquer his feelings for Brett. After arriving in San Sebastian from his vacation with several companions, Jake goes for a swim at the beach: I swam out, trying to swim through the rollers, but having to dive sometimes. Then in the quiet water I turned and floated... I swam back to the surf and coasted in, face down, on a big roller, then turned and swam, trying to keep in the trough and not have a wave break over me. It made me tired, swimming in the trough, and I turned and swam out to the raft... After a while I stood up, gripped with my toes on the edge of the raft as it tipped with my weight, and dove cleanly and deeply, to come up through the lightening water, blew the salt water out of my head, and swam slowly and steadily into shore. (Hemingway

At the end of the novel, Jake goes to Madrid to support Brett after yet another one of her unsuccessful affairs. Jake takes her out to the bar for a meal and drinks, “The bottles came. I poured a little in my glass, then a glass for Brett, then filled my glass. We touched glasses” (Hemingway 250). The bottle is a phallic symbol that generally symbolizes power. Since Jake is pouring the bottle of wine, he has the power in this situation. He pours “a little in [his own] glass, then a glass for Brett.” This shows that he prioritizes himself before Brett, showing he no longer thinks she is as important. He then fills his glass once more before touching their glasses together. Comparatively, Jake had to clean up the mess the count created when opening a champagne bottle while he and Brett were visiting; Jake had no power and was obliged to follow the orders of the count who, consequently, was holding the bottle. Furthermore, after Jake takes Brett out to the bar, they get in a cab to ride around