The Code Hero

The code hero is associated with Earnest Hemingway’s novels. Professor Paul Totah maintains that Hemingway defined the code hero as “a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful.” Again, Phillip Young considers the code hero as an individual who “offers up and exemplify certain principles of honour and courage which, in a life of tension and pain, make a man a man and distinguish him from the people who follow random impulses [...] and are [...] perhaps cowardly, and without inviolable rules for how to live holding tight.”

The concept of the code hero heavily stemmed from the post-World War I disillusionment. The code hero generally adheres to some specific individualistic code or behaviour that significantly controls his decisions and conduct. Such hero has a recurrent presence in Hemingway’s novels. Some of Hemingway’s most memorable code heroes include: Frederick Henry of A Farewell to Arms, Jake Barnes of The Sun Also Rises, Robert Jordan of For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Santiago of The Old Man and the Sea.

The term “Code Hero” was coined by the scholar Phillip Young (1966). Some other terms for defining Hemingway’s heroes include the “Hemingway Code Hero”, and the “Hemingway Man”. But regardless of dissimilar names all of Hemingway’s protagonists display the same characteristics:

• The code hero is courageous and honorable.
• He is righteous and will not comply with evil.
• He is essentially individualistic and free willed.
• The code hero is adventurous and has a predilection for travelling.
• He neither shows emotions nor does he give any commitment to women or social convention lest he becomes weak.
• The role of the code hero is always played by a man.
• He is generally a wounded man, not only physically but also psychologically.
• He is a man of action and never boasts his achievements.
• He does not judge others since he views men objectively.
• He strives hard to break away from the customs of the conventional society, thereby alienating himself from the world.
• He suffers from sleeplessness due to being tormented by his thoughts and ruminations.
• He believes that life is enjoyable and it denotes everything while death is nothing (nada) and thus life after death is nonexistent.
• Death frightens him since it is the end of everything and thus he tries his utmost to avoid death at any cost.
• Night is a difficult time for the code hero because it implies to utter darkness which ultimately reminds him of death. Therefore, most code heroes are either afraid of the dark or avoid night by drinking, partying, or staying awake.
• Although he fights hard in this violent and desolate world to live properly, he is rarely the winner.
• The code hero catches many women’s attention and he sees them nothing but objects of lust and gratification.