1. Sexual Language In Novels
Kenette Manalo
Professor Brian Bremen
E 377K American Novel After 1920
#34960
6 April 2015
Paper #3

2. In Gertrude Stein’s first novel, Three Lives, the reader meets Melanctha Herbert, a
wise, sensitive black girl. Stein takes the reader into the story of Melanctha, where she
meets many men and women who teach her about wisdom. In her narrative, Melanctha
takes part in a great deal of “wandering,” which made me wonder how to read Stein’s use
of the word “wander.” At first, I read Stein’s story of Melanctha as a girl who wanders
literally, roaming aimlessly, trying to find her place in the world. After a discussion in
class, it occurred to me that “wander” could substitute for sex, because Melanctha’s tale
explores her romantic and social successes and failures through the different relationships
she acquires in the novel. Ernest Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises, published about
17 years after Three Lives. The Sun Also Rises provides examples where explicit sexual
relations are implied clearly, yet these sexual relations are not written about openly.
Using the explicit sexual relations in The Sun Also Rises to understand how Stein uses
“wander” in “Melanctha,” I was able to clarify how sexual relations could be implied
during a time when they couldn’t be written about explicitly.
Stein prefaces The Sun Also Rises in conversation by stating, “You are all a lost
generation.” Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises explores the generation after World War I,
showcasing Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley’s journey from Paris to Spain. Within the
novel, there are numerous examples where explicit sexual relations and sexuality are
implied clearly, yet they are not written word-perfect in the text. On page 28, Hemingway
describes gay people in hidden, vague language.
At the bar, “[Jake] was very angry. Somehow they always made [Jake] angry. I
know they are supposed to be amusing, and you should be tolerant, but I wanted to swing
on one, any one, anything to shatter that superior, simpering composure … As soon as the

3. music stopped another one of them asked her to dance … I knew then that they would all
dance with her. They are like that” (28).
Hemingway does not describe Brett’s friends as gay, but he categorizes Brett’s gay
friends as “they.” Hemingway’s use of “they” helps declare the idea of separation or
“otherness.” Even with Brett’s friends being overtly gay, Hemingway uses implicit
descriptions to showcase their sexual deviancies.
That instance occurred to me as Hemingway’s choice to give Jake homophobic
tendencies, but it was not until Chapter IV that I encountered more hidden sexual
language. Jake’s relationship with Brett can never be successful, because Jake cannot
sexually satisfy Brett. Hemingway expresses this by Jake’s accident, “What happened to
[Jake] is supposed to be funny. I never think about it” (34). Hemingway’s method of
using vague language to depict what happened to Jake’s genitals highlights the mood of
The Lost Generation. Jake, amongst others, focuses on alcohol to stymie them from
thinking about World War I, so he “never thinks about [his accident].” On page 39, Jake
comments about Brett that “I suppose she only wanted what she couldn’t have,”
furthermore explaining why Jake and Brett cannot be together. Brett’s belief that
romance requires sex with penetration is illustrated through Hemingway’s choice of his
ambiguous sexual language. It was easy for me to understand Hemingway’s meaning of
vague sexual language, because Hemingway writes with the iceberg theory, that there is a
tremendously deeper amount of meaning to the surface level of the text.
Through learning about the lifestyle that Brett and Jake live, I was even able to
deduce Hemingway’s repetition of “one of us.” On page 40, Jake asks Brett, “What’s
[Zizi] like?” and Brett responds, “Just a little, don’t try and make me drunk. The count?
Oh, rather. He’s quite one of us.” By the phrase “one of us,” Hemingway refers to
characters like Brett and Jake, those who are emotionally and physically damaged from
World War I and who have sex with random partners and use alcohol as a form of escape
or self-medication from the traumatic experiences drawn from the war.
I read Three Lives not once thinking about how Stein implied sex through her
repetition of the word, wander. In class discussion, it occurred to me that the word

4. wander could replace as sex, in specific instances of the novel. An epiphany hit me, and I
thought about how Hemingway was able to convey sexual language in a discrete manner,
in order to clarify Stein’s use of wander.
In Three Lives, Melanctha Herbert narrates her journey of acquiring wisdom
through several different relationships. Stein describes Melanctha’s journey of acquiring
wisdom through the repetitive use of the word “wander.” When I first read “Melanctha,”
I did not think of her “wandering” as a metaphor of sex. I read Stein’s use of “wander” as
a literal meaning of the word. It was not until I reread some passages that I saw that
wander could fit into context of sex. On page 55, “Melanctha liked to wander, and to
stand by the railroad yard, and watch the men and the engines and the switches and
everything that was busy there, working” (55). Moreover, in Melanctha’s narrative, she
describes Jane Harden and their relationship. Melanctha explains that, “Jane Harden had
many bad habits. She drank a great deal, and she wandered widely … Melanctha Herbert
soon always wandered with her. Melanctha tried the drinking and some of the other
habits, but she did not find that she cared very much to do them” (59). In context of the
quote, sex in lieu of literal wandering made more sense to me. It occurred to me as well
in context that sex could substitute for wandering, because Melanctha’s quest explores
her endeavors of gaining wisdom and maintaining relationships with people. However
she is unsuccessful; she is unable to meet others’ expectations and finds that status and
sex do not help her romantic and social success in life. Taking the ideas in Hemingway
that explore a similar issue, that Brett defines love needing sex with penetration, I was
able to immerse myself into better understanding of Stein’s use of wander and how
authors were able to convey sexual language in a discrete manner.
Moreover, I did some research and read some articles that told how Hemingway
met Stein in Paris. It was interesting to read how Hemingway met Stein, because it
clarified how Stein’s mentoring and expertise inspired Hemingway. I saw the corollary
how Hemingway uses ambiguous language to express sexuality, just as Stein did.
Expanding on my understanding of Stein’s use of wander, in “Melanctha,” Melanctha
Herbert confronts bitter experiences with love.

5. On page 70, Dr. Campbell expresses, “Why sure no, yes I do Miss Melanctha, I
certainly do believe strong in loving, and in being good to everybody, and trying to
understand what they all need, to help them.” Melanctha retaliates, “But that ain’t the
kind of love I mean when I am talking. I mean real, strong, hot love Dr. Campbell.” To
that statement, Dr. Campbell states, “I don’t know much about that kind of love yet Miss
Melanctha … and that certainly would never suit a man like me.”
Melanctha wanders literally, thirsting for wisdom. The people she meets, she visualizes
herself in relation to those she is around, but she sees that sex and race is incongruent to
social and romantic success. She becomes “blue,” finding herself in despair. It made
more sense to me that wander can replace the idea of sex. In Hemingway, The Sun Also
Rises explores post World War I anxiety. The characters Brett and Jake travel from
France to Spain, still finding themselves drinking and neither really happy. Both novels
share the ideas of sexual exploration in the background of hard times or romantic
struggle. Hemingway, however, is more explicit than Stein in highlighting sexual
language.
Bill to Jake, “You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You are
an expatriate, see? You hang around cafés … You don’t work. One group claims women
support you. Another group claims you’re impotent.” Jake replies, “No, I just had an
accident” (120).
Because Stein was so coy with being more direct than Hemingway in expressing sexual
language in a vague manner, I was able to deduce Stein’s use of the word wander and
highlight how Hemingway’s concreteness in language showcase the hardships of The
Lost Generation.
My journey as a critical reader: As I read Stein’s Three Lives, I disregarded her
use of the word wander until we discussed in class what wandering could substitute as.
Reviewing the novel, I was able to see how wander could substitute for a different word,
and I used Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises, to clarify my understanding of how authors
were able to convey sexual deviancy and sexual liberty during a time where it could not
be written about explicitly. Stein’s effect of making “wander” so inclusive helps to
illustrate what wisdom Melanctha is looking for. Melanctha is looking for romantic
wisdom in order to help her succeed in life, and the use of wander in relation to wisdom

6. highlight the expression for sexual liberty and liberation. Melanctha wanders with both
men and women, seeking what the world has to offer for her. Stein’s package of vague
language representing greater ideas help to advocate the move for sexual liberty and
exploration, gaining wisdom and insight through experience.