E Ernest Hemingway uses a male perspective to reflect his narrative throughout "The Sun Also Rises". For the most part this novel centers on masculinity and the perfect male hero of the after-war period. Even though it is hard to see the "Hemingway hero" in the protagonist alone, the supporting characters bring out what Hemingway considers the "man's man" qualities.
             L Lady Brett Ashley, the primary reason for the rivalry between three ex-patriots, Jake Barnes; Robert Cohn; Mike Campbell; and a bull-fighter, Pedro Romero. This woman brings out the true masculinity in every man she meets. In fact, her four love interests demonstrate Hemingway's standard definition of a man and masculinity. She indulges in her passion for sex and control, "'she turns men into swine'" (Hemingway 144), and Cohn calls her Circe – a Greek goddess from the stories of Odyssey. Each man Brett has a relationship with in the novel possesses distinct qualities that enable Hemingway to explore what it is to be truly a man. The "Hemingway hero" thus is presented as a man of action; of self-discipline and of self-reliance; and of strength and courage to confront all weaknesses, fears, failures, and even death.
             Some characters in the novel are emasculated, but still carry great male traits. Jake is one of them. He was wounded in the World War I and is physically impotent as a result. Despite his mental struggle with society, Jake accomplishes successfully Hemingway's quest to present the reader with attributes of an absolute man. Jake's way to present himself to the world as well as his actions are very masculine, yet a reader can feel his sensitivity throughout the story. When he went to a cathedral in Bayonne he started to pray:
             I knelt and started to pray and prayed for everybody I thought of, Brett and
             Mike and Bill and Robert Cohn and myself, and all the bull-fig...