Why Jake is the Worst

            So far in The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, the main character Jake Barnes has come across as being a horrible person. So far he’s showed that he’s anti-Semitic, misogynistic, homophobic, and racist. In the very first paragraph of the novel he talks about how Cohn is a Jew and makes fun of him, saying that he only boxed because he was scared and couldn’t emotionally handle anything. He talks about how Cohn’s nose was permanently flattened but that it “certainly improved his nose”.
            Jake also makes fun of Cohn saying that he is controlled by the women in his life and they act stronger than him. He says that this behavior is a bad thing, implying that women shouldn’t be strong in a relationship or they should be more submissive to Cohn. Jake also literally objectifies women, he says that Brett is “built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht,” and by saying this is very much taking away the fact that she’s a person and just defining her by her body.
            In class, we talked about how Paris at the time was one of the safer places for gay men to go out in groups and be recognized as openly gay. From this it makes sense to think that people at the time should be accepting and NOT homophobic. Jake is definitely not accepting and instead talks about how he gets very angry and aggressive when he sees these groups of gay men. He got so angry that he had to leave the bar so that he wouldn’t swing at anyone.
            In our most recent reading we saw Jake, Brett, and the Count all go to a club together. When they entered there was a black drummer and Jake gives a very caricatured description of him saying that he was “all teeth and lips”. At first the reader might think that Jake Barnes is excusable for doing all of these things since the book was set so long ago and people thought differently back then, but this isn’t that long ago. We are even told by Jake that people are supposed to be more accepting and he just isn’t. I’m interested to see if this changes throughout the novel or just gets worse.  

Comments

  1. Nina GalvezSeptember 15, 2017 at 1:15 PM

    I agree with every point made in this post. I am personally not a huge fan of Jake’s character, however, after our discussion today in class, I understand a little more about why Jake becomes extremely angry and condescending around men and objectifies Brett. Jake is clearly insecure about his masculinity, especially with him being injured the way he is. Different types of people express their insecurities in different ways and I believe that Jake projects his onto the people he knows. In this book, Cohn is almost the embodiment of masculinity and it makes sense that Jake feels insecure around him and has the desire to put him down. With the gay men, Jake feels that they are almost “taking advantage of” their masculinity which is something that Jake desperately wants. The situation with Brett was strange however he focuses on her feminine features rather than her masculine ones. He still mentions how her hair is cut like a boy, but he goes into more detail about her curves and eyes. To a certain extent, she embodies a confidence in her “masculine” self, which is the opposite of Jake who is very insecure. He may also be trying to put her down (even though he loves her) because he is jealous of the effortless masculinity and confidence she exhibits.

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    1. DJSeptember 16, 2017 at 4:09 PM

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  2. Tim ChoSeptember 16, 2017 at 3:55 PM

    Is Jake really the worst though? By reading this book through a modern lens, we can certainly see that Jake is as you say "anti-Semitic, misogynistic, homophobic, and racist." This is undebatable. We can't act as if these views were rare during this time period, however. I'm not trying to condone all of this, however one can make an argument that Jake's society itself held anti-Semitic, misogynistic, homophobic, and racist views at this time. After all, entire governments which subscribed to these views would soon arise (Nazi Germany fits this bill). We know Jake is misogynistic and objectifies women. This is born out of his insecurity about his masculinity. I think this insecurity is completely defensible given his injury, and his (literal) objectification of women is therefore a reflection of his subscription to the beliefs of his society. This applies to his other beliefs as well. Jake would have to be quite a progressive figure to not come off as a "horrible person" by our standards.

    You argue that Jake's actions aren't excusable since it "wasn't that long ago." Hemingway wrote this novel in 1926. People definitely thought (way) differently back then (I can go back to my example of something like Nazi Germany arising a few years later in 1933 because many people did indeed subscribe to these values). I think by criticizing Jake, you are criticizing the entire society of this time along with millions of people. As a result, your language of saying Jake is the "worst" comes off as imprecise to me. Hopefully we can look more into this character beyond his subscription to his society's beliefs.

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  3. DJSeptember 16, 2017 at 4:13 PM

    Gloria, fantastic points. However, I think Jake's character is more nuanced. I absolutely agree that Jake says racist, sexist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments. However, in SOME circumstances, I think rather than Jake showing hatred for a group, he uses derrogatory insults as a defense mechanism for his own personal shortfalls. A good example of this is the incident in the bar with the gay men. Given Jake's reaction when they enter, a knee-jerk reaction would say "Jake hates gay men". However, as Nina says above, I think a more rational reaction given the context we know would be "Jake leaves because of his envy of their self-confidence ignites deep feelings of jealousy that could potentially lead to an altercation". In Cohn's case, it would be easy to say "Jake hates Cohn because Cohn is Jewish". However, given what we find out about Jake, I think a better rationale would be "Jake uses Cohn's faith as a mean to be condescending because Jake is envious of Cohn's manliness". Now my point certainly doesn't explain his caricature of the black drummer, but the general premise is it's important to hold judgement on characters and their values without having a better understanding of their past.

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    1. Gloria SunderlandSeptember 18, 2017 at 7:44 PM

      I agree with what you've pointed out, DJ. We've been having a lot of discussions in class and had readings that have revealed deeper levels to Jake's character. Although the things he says are still not super acceptable, they have a deeper level that goes to a lot of his own personal issues. He's not that bad a character, I even feel bad for him sometimes. There could definitely be positive ways to how he portrays Brett, by praising her more masculine qualities which could be jealousy from Jake. Very good points, Jake is not the worst and not that horrible.

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  4. MitchellSeptember 20, 2017 at 8:18 AM

    I don't know how much it really works in his favor, but at least Jake acknowledges, amid his homophobic tirade, that he knows he's "supposed to be tolerant"--and he does keep these feelings to himself (except perhaps for the shared "sympathetic" glance with the policeman at the door).

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