Examining Hemingway's Psychological State

            Recently, we read the book The Sun Also Rises. This Earnest Hemingway book challenges modern (read:20^th century) ideas in a complex way. The 1920’s was a liberated, yet sobered time. As society’s grasp on reality decreased, the amount of booze consumed skyrocketed. In the setting of the story, Paris, this culture is even more prevalent. As we follow the pragmatic narrator of the story, Jake, around Paris, an interesting character development arises.

            To start, Hemingway created a plot line with characters very different than what people traditionally accepted at the time. Traditionally, stories had domineering male figures and simple women’s characters. However, this book has a strong female character, Lady Brett, and weak male characters (such as Jake). The “gender switcharoo” is peculiar, as Hemingway tried to play the role of “manly man” throughout his adult life. Given what we know about Jake and what we know about Hemingway, the puzzling thing to me is why Hemingway would portray a character similar to himself in such a negative light. Given what we know about Hemingway, basing Brett off his mother subconsciously, it would be a rational conclusion to assume that he also subconsciously made Jake similar to himself. This makes the situation even more confusing. If Hemingway is providing negative commentary on himself through Jake, why continue the “tough guy” persona if subconsciously Hemingway knows it leads Jake to so many issues? Is the “tough guy” persona just a front, similar to the way Samuel Clemens uses Mark Twain?

            I think to answer these questions, one must dive even further into Hemingway’s personal life. Hemingway himself was injured in the war, and when asked about his injuries, he provided a terse statement that his condition was “fine”. His defensive reaction reveals an emotional wound which left a scar resembling a Napoleonic complex. The parallels are remarkably similar. Both Napoleon and Hemingway had emotional damage from something they could not control, ultimately leading to hyper-masculinity. It is easy to see where Hemingway (and Jake) get their sense of superiority and intense masculinity from. However, one key connection is still missing. Hemingway’s inability to see the plight of his actions after writing essentially about himself still remains a mystery. Perhaps Hemingway’s twisted view of himself ultimately led to him supposedly committing suicide in 1961. Regardless, debates about Hemingway’s psychological state will continue for years to come.

An Addendum of my Thoughts on Post-War Culture

After the last blog post, I figured I was finished talking about Septimus Smith, PTSD, shell shock, and war in general. Unfortunately, in The Sun Also Rises, we are introduced to another veteran with a complex past that makes us take an honest look at war and the effects it has on some of the soldiers.

Jake Barnes is a US Soldier working in France as a reporter after the war. We find from his opening dialogue to be awfully condescending and extremely defensive of his manhood. WIthout any context, he sound like an egotistical jerk. However, the more we find out about his injury, the more we understand the reasons for his actions. Because his injury is something we can’t visibly see (such as a missing a limb or leg), he doesn’t receive the sympathy that other wounded veterans would. However, his injury affects his “manhood” even more than losing an arm or leg ever could. We see this effect with him and Brett. Given their complicated relationship, certainly it would be a lot more defined without his injury.

In a broader context, the comparisons between Jake and Septimus might appear to be surface level, but they show distinct parallels that reveal the realities of the post war 1920s. The first similarity between them is that both their wounds are “invisible” to the naked eye. Although it sounds rather unimportant, the “invisible wounds” frame a slightly more nuanced situation than somebody who may have a more visible injury. In addition, both experienced some sort of psychological trauma, with Septimus having PTSD and Jake suffering something less diagnosable, yet equally as affecting. However, the biggest difference I would like to talk about is how they both handle their trauma. As I said before, Septimus stuffs his issues so deep inside he begins to feel numb. Meanwhile, Jake puts on a front as if it seemingly does not affect him, yet we find out it has a much greater psychological effect than it appears. The main takeaway from this is the breadth of issues that wounded veterans unfortunately had to suffer. It didn’t matter what reactive means they tried to use, they could never escape the trauma. The intense masculine culture could mask some of the issues in public, yet we find the issues exploded onto the conscious when they were alone. The term “Lost Generation” often refers to those who lost their lives in WWI. However, the greater impact may have been the diminished psychological state of those who survived.

The Curious Case of Septimus Smith

            In the novel Ms. Dalloway, one of the most dramatic and introspective characters is a veteran named Septimus Smith. In the story, Virginia Woolf uses Septimus to provide commentary on post WWI ideas. Wolf does this by providing the reader with the juxtaposition of Septimus’ psyche before and after the war. We initially find out he once possessed an idealized sense of confidence when he decides to depart from his house at 14, chasing his dreams of being a poet. This type of brash confidence often leads to either a path of artistic immortality or a path of self-destruction. Unfortunately, Septimus found that the path to artistic immortality was more treacherous than he envisioned. Seeking a newfound sense of manliness, he enlisted in the army.

            During the war, Septimus becomes close with a higher ranking officer, Evans, who tragically dies in front of Septimus’s eyes. Septimus becomes detached from the world, and becomes a hollow version of himself (from what we now call PTSD). However, rather than a Disney-esque journey to rediscover himself, Woolf shows us the hope for Septimus is fading.

Now this begs the question of what happened to Septimus’s psyche. His transformation from an ambitious poet to a shell of himself after the war I believe has largely to do with the “suck it up” culture of post WWI England. In fact, the reason he went to war in the first place was due to his "lack of masculinity" according to his own boss. When Evans was killed, Septimus wanted to grieve. However, toxic post-war culture led Septimus to bury his grief so deep inside his subconscious, he became unable to feel anything whatsoever.

To put Septimus’s narrative in a broader context, Woolf clearly put him in the story to provide commentary on a greater narrative during the Post-War era. “Shell Shock” (later PTSD) was finally becoming destigmatized as she was writing the book. However, I think the message is even broader. Perhaps her criticism is more emblematic of the suffocation of normal human emotion by masculine culture. By not allowing men to grieve, society forced men into a metaphorical Hell on earth, being able to communicate with others but being unable to have any sort of emotional feeling. An arm or leg may never grow back, but it won’t touch your spirit. Severe psychological damage arguably has a much farther lasting impact. Septimus shows that perhaps the greatest wounds in war are the ones we can’t see.