In Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, his male characters struggle with what it means to be a man in the postwar world . With this struggle emerges one of the major themes of the novel, masculine identity. Many of these men of the “Lost Generation” returned from this war dissatisfied with their lives, among whom are the main characters of Hemingway's novel. Its main characters find themselves adrift, wandering through France and Spain, searching for something meaningful in their lives. Characters interact with each other in a completely superficial manner, often saying one thing ambiguously while meaning another. The Sun Also Rises's first-person narration offers few clues to the real meaning of its characters' interactions with one another. Rather, the reader must gather evidence from the indirect allusions Hemingway gives through his narrator, Jake Barnes. The theme of masculinity, although predominant in the novel, is thus masked. Jake's war injury, the relationship between Jake and Robert Cohn, and the bullfight scene show the theme of masculinity. The main exploration of this theme arises from the revelation of Jake's war injury. It is never stated overtly, but rather implied that some war injury caused his ability to have sex to lose his "masculinity". Jake's awareness of his problem is seen when he undresses and looks in the mirror. “As I undressed, I looked at myself in the mirror of the large wardrobe next to the bed…. of all the ways to be hurt. I guess it was funny” (Hemingway 38). Jake is ashamed of having this injury and the injury creates a great wound in his masculinity. His injury, although his own, was never revealed to the reader, so only Jake's thoughts, words and actions led to the conclusion ... middle of paper ... that he cannot satisfy Brett's unquenchable needs, and Brett recognizes this. Also. Jake's lack of masculinity brings him an empty life, filling him with alcohol and other insufficient objects that can never truly satisfy him. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. The sun is also rising. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print. Leland, Jacob Michael. “Yes, that’s a roll of cash in my pocket: the economics of masculinity in The Sun Also Rises.” The Hemingway Review 23.2 (2004): 37+. Literary Resource Center. Internet. December 7, 2013. Strychacz, Thomas. “Dramatizations of manhood in our time and the sun is also rising.” Hemingway's Theaters of Masculinity. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003. 53-86. Rep. in 20th century literary criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Flight. 162. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Information Resource Center. Internet. December 7. 2013.