Steers are essential to bull-fighting because it is their job to calm the bulls, but they don’t contribute anything significant to the excitement of the show. The Lost Generation played a major role in society through their war efforts, yet they find themselves useless to society. In fact, impotent is the word used to describe expatriates and the Lost Generation, by Bill in the in the previous chapter. Hemingway portrays all of the characters as having traits of both steers and bulls, but each individual identifies with one over the other. Jake can be identified as a steer, because he was physically emasculated and he is seen as the ringleader of the group. He seems to be the only one in the group that rationally thinks things through, and longs for a healthy way to cope with his PTSD, but this has a lot to do with the fact that he is the narrator. He can be described in the novel as the lead steer, because he is the only character shown repeatedly keeping the group in check.
Steers are essential to bull-fighting because it is their job to calm the bulls, but they don’t contribute anything significant to the excitement of the show. The Lost Generation played a major role in society through their war efforts, yet they find themselves useless to society. In fact, impotent is the word used to describe expatriates and the Lost Generation, by Bill in the in the previous chapter. Hemingway portrays all of the characters as having traits of both steers and bulls, but each individual identifies with one over the other. Jake can be identified as a steer, because he was physically emasculated and he is seen as the ringleader of the group. He seems to be the only one in the group that rationally thinks things through, and longs for a healthy way to cope with his PTSD, but this has a lot to do with the fact that he is the narrator. He can be described in the novel as the lead steer, because he is the only character shown repeatedly keeping the group in check.