Ernest Hemingway's Use of the Code Hero concept in The Sun Also Rises Essay

Ernest Hemingway's Use of the Code Hero concept in The Sun Also Rises - Essay Example Obviously, the message that the author wishes to impart is that the values of such ideals are not in their definition but in the manner that one would live and die while trying to uphold and apply them. As Philip Young would describe, â€Å"the code hero, then, offers up and exemplifies certain principles of honor, courage, and endurance which in a life of tension and pain make a man a man, as we say, and enable him to conduct himself well in the losing battle that is life.† (11) At the end of The Sun Also Rises, Barnes clearly fails to get what he wants, which means that cannot claim victory in the struggle to promote his own principles. Barnes, however, is not the stereotypical hero, one with only strengths being highlighted by the author. This is because Hemingway’s code hero has his own frailties, an important element so that the reader can relate himself or herself to the character. In fact, in Barnes is obviously still on the process of strengthening his principle s as he observes the weaknesses and strengths of the other people that surround him. This means that he too is in the process of determining which ideals he must uphold and which human tendencies that he must avoid. At the beginning of the story, Barnes does not show anything that proves his tight grasp on his ideals.