Through-out multiple acclaimed novels in history, the code hero is most surely a male character. Although Ernest Hemingway creates a unique twist to that statement with his character Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises. Brett is one of the main characters who is a free-spirited women with short hair that goes along perfectly with her manly traits. Hemingway uses her aggressive and unapologetically behaviors to build a beautiful women code hero. It is often thought in literature that the role of a code hero is empowering to a character, yet in the case of The Sun Also Rises, it seems to inhibit Brett’s ability to truly be happy.
Lady Brett Ashley relates to multiple different traits from Hemingway’s code hero list. One that distinctly shows is Brett’s inability to be controlled by others. Jake Barnes, the narrator, is madly in love with Brett and tries to persuade her to move in with him when he says “Couldn’t we live together, Brett? Couldn’t we just live together?”. Brett’s response of “I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody. You couldn’t stand it.”(62) portrays her inability to allow others to control her. She doesn’t let her love for Jake overcome her desire for sex. As a result of her strong code hero traits, she doesn’t allow herself to
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He allows Brett to break through many of the common stereotypes placed on women in this time period. Although this is an excellent thought, he set her up for the inability to create her own happiness because of this. Her manly and emotionless code hero traits create a sense of isolation as she has no friends of the same gender and ultimately makes the choice to pick them over her true love. She is often confiding in Jake of how miserable she is because of these actions. The path that Hemingway set Brett on allowed a break through many female stereotypes, but inevitably let to her inability to create true happiness in