What does it mean to be a hero? Does one need an awesome super power or fierce body armor? No, not always. Sometimes what constitutes a hero is someone who is simply courageous or not afraid to fight in the face of danger. When it comes to the book “The Sun Also Rises”, Hemingway describes a hero with certain characteristics. The characteristics under which Hemingway describe a hero are; being stoic, grace and courage in the face of death, seeks the ‘rewards’ of life and does not feel ashamed of it, loyal to a smaller group of people, and self-reliance. Some characters throughout the novel exhibit Hemingway’s depiction of a hero, while others blatantly do not. One character that is quite literally a Hemingway hero would be Pedro Romero. He exhibits each and every one of Hemingway’s characteristics of a hero. Romero is so on point of Hemingway’s depiction that it almost seems like Hemingway created his vision of a hero around the character of Pedro Romero. The ways in which Romero is a hero is the fact that because he is a bull fighter, and puts himself in danger, he is able to show his ability to use grace and courage in the face of death. Also, he shows his heroism because when he was knocked down by the bull, he got back up, not showing any weakness. Romero is indeed self-reliant and loyal to a small group of people while also enjoying the ‘rewards’ of life without feeling guilty. Of course when you talk about the ‘rewards’ of life, one is talking about gluttony, sex, and pleasure. Romero does not feel bad about enjoying such things and feels they should be enjoyed. On the other hand, Jake Barnes is the complete opposite of Pedro Romero. Romero is manly, keeps it together, dignified, and doesn’t feel bad about gluttony while Jake falls short of heroism. Jake tries to be stoic but is not always successful, he sometimes complains and cries, he stay out all night to avoid his varying problems, he is not self-reliant, he depends on his group of friends, and he stays with the group for Brett. Jake never really faces a situation where he is needed to be graceful and courageous in the face of death, unless drinking and feeling sorry about Brett not being with him is somehow a life or death situation. Among the others that are not Hemingway heroes are Mike and Robert Cohn. Mike is simply not a Hemingway hero because he is a lousy drunk and can not hold his liquor, he frequently complains and cries, and since he is not a character that pops up a lot in the book, never exhibits grace or courage in the face of danger. Robert Cohn much like Mike and Jake is not a hero. I think of all the characters in the book, he is the least likely to be a hero. The character of Robert Cohn is very childlike (being uncomfortable by the bull fights); he depends on both the group and Frances, and is not in any way self-reliant (hence not wanting to go to South America by himself). Cohn is not manly, stoic and does not face death. He makes attempts at being a hero but in the end it just does not work out. Of all the characters, the only other one that could be considered a hero would be Brett. Brett is indeed bothered by the bull fights, in fact she’s fascinated by them, she really just acts for herself, she would be the most likely to seek the rewards of life and she certainly does. Also, with the way Brett acts and dresses, she is quite manly and very androgynous. One more fact is that she is easily nice to men, as a friend, than to women since guys always are falling for her beauty it tends to bring the jealousy out of women.
