Chris Shea
ENG 343
Professor Robert Dowling
09/27/16
Essay on The Sun Also Rises
On the surface, Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises seems to just follow the daily life of narrator and protagonist Jake Barnes and his friends. However through a closer reading, one would become able to see its many modernist traits en route to become one of America’s greatest modernist novels. Through its many themes and motifs there are three main modernist themes which would stick out the most throughout the novel. These themes are: the ‘lost generation’ of the U.S. and Europe, the insecurity of masculinity after WWI, and the destructive nature of sexual relationships.
The first of the major themes of the novel is the ‘lost generation’ of the U.S. and Europe of the 1920s. Throughout all three books of the novel, Jake, Lady Brett, Mike, Robert, and other characters tend to wander between France and Spain while not mentioning of any homes they may have (coincidentally, Robert is mentioned as expatriates from the U.S. in chapter 1 (Hemingway 4-5)). This tended to be normal in the 1920s especially in Europe. In the wake of WWI, cultural and traditional identities were stripped and the people were essentially aimlessly wandering trying to find a purpose in their
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The first time Jake and Brett meet is mentioned in the first book of the novel, flashing back to when Jake was a soldier and Brett was a nurse in WWI. However in chapter 4, it is explained that Jake literally ‘lost his masculinity’ as Brett was nursing him; he was neutered. Although Jake says “‘Besides, what happened to me is supposed to be funny. I never think about it.’” (Hemingway 22), it still continues to hamper him throughout the novel. This can be a literal interpretation of the male insecurity of the 1920s. After all the death witnessed in the war employed by trench warfare, a soldier cannot be too much of a man
Throughout the novel, Lady Brett has many types of relationships with a variety of people, most of whom are men. Some of these men include Jake Barnes, the narrator of the story, Mike Campbell, her supposed husband, and Pedro Romero. Lady Brett’s laid back, independent, and rather promiscuous lifestyle creates many foil relationships with the various men she has affairs with. Brett’s foil relationships sometimes bring out the best qualities in people and other times unfortunately brings out the worst qualities. Throughout the book, Lady Brett’s foil relationship with Robert Cohn brings out Cohn’s unpopularity, immaturity, and his possessive and obsessive control over Brett.
Throughout The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway paints a tragic picture of young adults being haunted by the lasting effects of post traumatic stress disorder onset by their participation in World War I and the restrictions it placed on their ability to construct relationships.
Hemingway is shown to forge his own methodology in The Sun Also Rises that creates a melancholy tone that brings about feelings of love and devastation in the reader.. The Iceberg Theory, a theory that portrays meaning to a character without directly stating what the reader should be, adapts Hemingway’s complexity and messages into the novel. This technique is used for the portrayal of Jake Barnes, the foremost example being when Barnes acknowledges his wound. After Georgette asks, "What's the matter, you sick?", Barnes replies with a simple, "Everybody's sick. I'm sick, too,” (Hemingway 23). This allows the reader to sense the scope of Barnes’ dilemma, as well as the psychological pain that Barnes is stricken with.. Barnes must also find a way to live in a world where he can create a personal order that is “neither based on an abstraction nor belied by experience” (Civello). This brings in the moral sense of the novel, portrayed by all characters in the novel. The characters are continuously unable to lessen their individual pains, resulting in the inability to find morality in American Culture. Hemingway's ethos and the stoic condition of Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley allows him to illustrate the dark view of morality. The Sun Also Rises shows us the good, the bad, and the misunderstood of the lost generation, with the help of
Once again, Jake and his group of friend’s lifestyle is an example of them trying to conforming to society. Jake has a conversation with Cohn and he says, “I can't stand it to think my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it." (Hemingway, 13). With Jake responding, "nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters.” (Hemingway, 13). Both are having trouble with conforming to normal life in Paris after World War 1. After being in the war and thrown back out to “normal” life, these guys do not know what to do, as if they are lost right now in the world. They are all trying figure out what is best for them in their current situation, how to conform back to society with the trauma in
In the novel The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, the lost generation is discussed. After the WWI, many were affected in different ways. This post-war generation is described by discrimination, lack of religion, escapism and inability to act.
It’s known that in some areas of the world, girls as young as 14 years old can get a child. This fact, although it’s disturbing, can become meaningful according to the setting of a story. The locations, the culture and the historical context can sometimes clarify some events that have taken place in a book. It’s the case in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini and published in 2007 in which the setting clearly impacts the plot and the characters. First of all, let’s take a look to the setting itself.
Jake feels that the war took away his manhood because he is unable to sleep with Brett as a result of an injury. Although he wants to have a relationship with Brett, and spends most of his time trying to pursue her, she rejects him because he cannot have a physical relationship with her. At several points in the novel, Brett and Jake imagine what their lives could have been like together, had he not been injured during the war. Thus, his physical injury gives him emotional distress because he cannot have a relationship with the woman he always wanted. The traditional American perception of masculinity was a heroic, strong soldier who showed no fear during war....
At the beginning of the novel, Jake Barnes is a typical spokesperson for the members of the lost generation. His experience in World War I damaged most of his beliefs in love and manhood, which made him live aimlessly, being content with being unhappy with life, thinking that you can never change it. The war had left Jake impotent, which also caused him to become insecure about his masculinity. Jake reminisced on the time the liaison colonel came to visit him in the hospital...
...g with two of her lovers which were Pedro and Robert. He takes on a role of a female character when he is there for Brett after each affair of hers fails. Even when Robert attacks Jake over Brett he is unable to fight back and stand up for himself which questions his masculinity. Jake still ends up talking to Cohn and compromising his pride when Robert asks for his forgiveness. Although Jake simply replies with “sure”, it is clear that he seems to have lost all sense of self and his masculinity depreciates. Jake feels connected to bull fighting and sees it as the best means to live life. “I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it. Nobody ever lives their life all the way except bull fighters” (Hemmingway 18). The underlying meaning Hemingway is trying to reveal to his readers is that Jake feels envious of the macho lifestyle the
Jake Barnes, as the narrator and supposed hero of the novel, fell in love with Brett some years ago and is still powerfully and uncontrollably in love with her. However, Jake is unfortunately a casualty of the war, having been emasculated in a freak accident. Still adjusting to his impotence at the beginning of the novel, Jake has lost all power and desire to have sex. Because of this, Jake and Brett cannot be lovers and all attempts at a relationship that is sexually fulfilling are simply futile. Brett is a passionate, lustful woman who is driven by the most intimate and loving act two may share, something that Jake just cannot provide her with. Jake's emasculation only puts the two in a grandly ironic situation. Brett is an extremely passionate woman but is denied the first man she feels true love and admiration for. Jake has loved Brett for years and cannot have her because of his inability to have sex. It is obvious that their love is mutual when Jake tries to kiss Brett in their cab ride home: "'You mustn't.
Hemingway's characters in the story represent the stereotypical male and female in the real world, to some extent. The American is the typical masculine, testosterone-crazed male who just ...
Hemingway often depicts nature as a pastoral paradise within the novel, and the fishing trip serves as his epitome of such, entirely free from the corruptions of city life and women. Doing away with modern modes of transportation, they walk many miles gladly to reach the Irati River. While fishing, Jake and Bill are able to communicate freely with each other, unbound by the social confines of American and European society. The men also enjoy the camaraderie of English Veteran, Harris. This is quite different from the competitive relationships that can develop between men in the presence of women. Bill is able to express his fondness for Jake openly without it “mean[ing] [he] was a faggot,” (VIII), and Jake has no qualms over his fish being smaller than Bill’s, in what could be interpreted as an admission of lesser sexual virility.
The American Dream and the decay of American values has been one of the most popular topics in American fiction in the 20th century. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises create a full picture of American failure and pursue its ideals after the end of World War I by portraying the main characters as outsiders and describing the transportation in a symbolic way. Putting the aimless journeys for material life foreground, Fitzgerald and Hemingway skillfully link West and men and associate East to not only money but women. As American modernists, Hemingway utilizes his simple and dialog-oriented writing to appeal to readers and Fitzgerald ambiguously portrays Gatsby through a narrator, Nick, to cynically describe American virtue and corruption, which substantially contribute to modernism in literature.
The pivotal character of Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises is Jake Barnes. He is a man of complex personality--compelling, powerful, restrained, bitter, pathetic, extraordinarily ordinary yet totally human. His character swings from one end of the psychological spectrum to the other end. He has complex personality, a World War I veteran turned writer, living in Paris. To the world, he is the epitome of self-control but breaks down easily when alone, plagued by self-doubt and fears of inadequacy. He is at home in the company of friends in the society where he belongs, but he sees himself as someone from the outside looking in. He is not alone, yet he is lonely. He strikes people as confident, ambitious, careful, practical, quiet and straightforward. In reality, he is full of self-doubt, afraid and vulnerable.
Now Jake may seem like he has a great life because he is a journalist living in Paris, but really he still has many struggles that he is constantly faced with daily. The first struggle that he is faced with is that while in war he had a serious injury which made him feel a lack of justice and a lack of morality. This cause him to not believe in the best of people because he know that it will not always work for him, he thinks that because something bad happened to him then that means something bad will happen to everyone. Another issue that he has is the fact that he is in love with Brett and she is also in love with him, but she refuses to enter relationship with him. This is because ever since Jake had the accident in the war it has rendered him incapable of having sex, and Brett explained that she just could not do that because that is too important for her. "Do you think so?" her eyes looked flat again. I don’t mean fun that way. In a way it’s an enjoyable feeling. No, she said. "I think it’s hell on earth." (Hemingway, 35) This is always a issue for Jake because all he wants to do is have a relationship with her but she does not want one with him, this leads to Jake always being a mediator between Brett and all the guys that are in love with her. Another issue that Jake has is the fact that he is always mean to people due to the fact that he cannot find anyone who will love him. This is a major issue because he refuses to be nice to people which is just going to lead to him not having anyone just is just going to make him even more mad, this is just the vicious cycle that he is in, an the one that he will stay in until he is able to figure out what he is doing and get out of