I am re-reading The Sun Also Rises, admiring Hemingway’s “existential hero,” the novel’s protagonist, my hero, Jake Barnes. What does it mean to be an existentialist, like Jake?

You have to have alienation to get started.  You need disillusionment. Hemingway’s “Lost Generation” had those.  Jake is scarred psychologically and physically from World War I.  His war wound has made him impotent, and destroys his relationship with Lady Brett Ashley, whom he loves.  He has to sleep with the light on, to keep out the bad dreams and existential dread.  He has lost religion and traditional values, focusing instead on daily existence, not what its all about and the hereafter.  He says to himself, “its a good world, I just wish I could learn how to live it, figuring out what it is all about afterward.”

He learns how to live it. Jake finds significance in this life in concrete physical sensations and daily existence, walking to work, enjoying morning coffee in the office while reading the paper, having lunch at good cafes with friends, drinking in Montparnasse, going on fishing trips, and following bullfighting in Spain.  Jake is very controlled and has his routines, and is good at his work as a journalist.  He is not like his nihilistic friends, who reject work and drift from bar to bar in meaningless fashion.

Existentialism requires finding alternative significance or meaning in life.  Jake creates this “alternative significance,” maintaining a strong set of friends despite their faults, finding meaning in interpersonal relationships,” including in love.  He finds achievement significance in his work.  He is productive and rational, and his work gives him a sense of order and control over his life. He also finds significance in nature and sport, in fishing and following bullfights.  He could have found alternative meaning in culture, moral causes, or the quest for knowledge, etc., like other existentialists.  Each person finds his own meaning.

Jake understands existentialism is about “freedom.”  Since existence is inherently meaningless, individuals are responsible for giving meaning to their life by imposing an individual value system on themselves and their actions.  Freedom is an opportunity, not a burden.

Jake has developed his own value system or code of behavior: not blaming others or circumstance, doing things well, relying on professional skill in fishing and his work, and in his knowledge of bullfighting.  He displays courage and dignity, i.e. “grace under pressure.”  He exercises great self-control, comes to terms with his injury, and leads his own life, not trying to conform.

Hemingway’s “Code Heroes,” like Jake, substitute the big truths with small ones.  They play by the rules, which means doing things well and honorably, and relying on professional skill in life and sport. In bullfighting, that means not cutting corners, but facing the bull with courage in his territory, delivering the sword over the horns, not faking danger but working close to the horns.  On Safari, it means not leaving a wounded animal to bleed to death in pain, but going in the bush after a wounded lion, or standing up to a charging Cape Buffalo.  It means not shooting from the car or talking about the thrill.  Hemingway uses war, bullfights, and big game hunting as lessons in facing death and proving courage, the only arenas where you can get close to “the moment of truth.”  The code goes back to the primitive “rightness of bravery” idea.  Jake believes in the importance of dignity, honor, and courage.  He also knows that in life, it is important to be a good sport.  Jake is brave, and a good sport.