Deconstructing Socially-Entrenched Ideals of Masculinity in Fight Club, The Sun Also Rises, and Giovanni’s Room

This poster examines the psychological attributes of the masculine gender role, analyzing three literary texts: Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (1996), Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926), and James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room (1956). Each of these texts portrays the pernicious influence of masculine gender role demands. Fight Club demonstrates the connection between norms of occupational success and violence; the narrator creates fight club in response to career frustrations. The Sun Also Rises illustrates the effect of sexual disability on masculine identity: Jake Barnes’s genital wound causes him to question his worth as a man. Giovanni’s Room portrays the way that internalized homophobia can create a fragmented sense of identity for David, a homosexual man who has internalized the homophobic norms of his society. In these texts, adherence to the masculine gender role leads to a loss of identity, destroying both the self and others in its wake.