The Sun also rises
Ernest Hemming made a name for himself after the publication of this book in 1926. This book is a reflection of life just after the First World War. The novel describes the experiences of his generation who spent their time in the war. The book defines a lost generation whose morality is questionable. This is shaped by their exposure to the war and the life they live after the war. The setting of the story is in Paris where the writer describes there is great freedom in art expression than United States. There is no strict adherence to religion as their spirituality is based on their experiences after the war. The rich appear to idle as they spend most of their time in social gatherings. The sun also rises is an interesting read that covers a variety of themes including love and sexuality.
The sun also rises focuses on the main character Jake Barnes. He is an American journalist who lives Paris. He had earlier suffered a deep wound he acquired in the War, which left him impotent. Jake met an English woman whom he fell in love with. The English woman named Brett Ashley had numerous love affairs and had been twice divorced. She claimed that she loved Jake who had sexual disability. She met Jake with a prostitute and felt jealous about it.
This behavior illustrates that there was much sexual freedom in Nineteen Twenties. Brett becomes the centre of attention among Jake and his friends. She has an affair with Jake’s college friend Cohn while she is engaged to an English man called Mike. Jake introduce her to Romero whom she seduces causing jealousy among the other men (Bloom and Ernest 27). They engage in a fistfight and Cohn beats up Romero who continues to perform well in the bullfight. Romero had been hurt in the fistfight but impressed many people in bull fighting.
After their long stay in Pamplona, they all decide to leave and go elsewhere. Jake decided that he would go to northern Spain in the town of San Sebastian. He received a message from Brett who had since left with Romero. He was living with him in a cheap Spanish hotel. She had spent all her money and wanted Jake to help her go back to her fiancé Mike. Jake decided to help her and paid her travelling expenses where she wanted to go.
The characters in the Sun also rises seem to be lost in direction as far as their morality is concerned. The friends that Jake had in France were all wealthy, but lacked better things to do with their money. They travelled around Europe, and the world with no intended purpose of business venture (Bloom and Ernest 49). The lost generation refers to Jake and his friend who are disillusioned and bored. They had been morally battered, but were seen to gain a sense of direction in the end. This is witnessed when Brett decided to go back to her fiancé Mike whom they had parted ways.
The morality of the characters has been greatly exposed and covered widely in the story. The experiences Jake had made him look for sanity in an immoral world. The friends he had around him were bored rich men who had everything going for them. The writer wrote the book based on the decadence of the society he lived in. The characters shared a lot in their behavior and had been affected by the War.
Jake could not satisfy Brett sexually because he was maimed in the War. He only gave her love, but not sexual satisfaction. Jake and Brett’s love story is a representative of the story of Romeo and Juliet at that time. It exposes the frustration and disillusion of the whole generation. Jake had become accustomed to the lifestyle of Paris to a point that he forgot his American values.
The prostitutes portrayed in the novel were people who just want to make a living. Brett’s behavior represents a lost generation who had been living on inherited wealth. Jake is seen to pay bills all the time with the little money he works for while the other who have it do not pay. This describes the selfishness of Jake’s friends who have money, but do not spend it for their friend’s benefit. The friends around Jake are morally decayed. This is because they do not pay their bills.
American values are seen to have greatly declined judging by the events in the novel. Jake is seen as the hero in the novel though he does not have much money and he is impotent. Jake is the center of good morals in the story, as he is just the opposite of his friends. He works hard to be paid while his friends are always idle having nothing to offer him. Jake’s lifestyle is genuine and straightforward and can easily be a role model.
The character of Brett represented the new independent woman in the years of Nineteen Twenties. During this time, Paris was accustomed to rampant divorce cases. Brett had been married twice and was divorced twice. She is one woman who loved the night lifestyle of Paris and was equally promiscuous. She did not take time to think about the people that she had been involved with in Paris.
She openly seduced a young bullfighter in the presence of men with whom she had affairs. This sparked violence among then men where the bullfighter got hurt. She has a complicated character that is not easily understandable by the men she is with at all times. She easily forgives and vulnerable at the same time (Hemingway and Alexander 54). Men easily take advantage of her independence to get through to her feelings. Her relationship with Jake does not yield much fruit.
She loves Jake, but she goes ahead and sleeps with other men. Jake’s friendship Cohn is destroyed due to her thoughtlessness. She loves Jake but he can only give her love without sex. Brett gave Jake her love but got nothing in return. Jake demonstrated responsibility when he paid Brett’s train fare when she went to rejoin her fiancé. Jake eventually feels love for Brett when it is too late. This is when she announces that she would go back to Mike. Jake loses her love in the end.
He has also lost faith and honor. His good reputation had been tarnished while he was in Pamplona. This made him lose hope for he had worked hard to have the Spaniards trust him. Jake and his friends reacted differently to the bull fighting culture. He views the bullfighting events as authentic compared to the Parisian way of life. His friends do not understand the significance of the bull fighting events. Brett sees the young bullfighter as a hero dancing in the bullring and decides to seduce him.
His friend Cohn appears bored throughout the event. A hotelkeeper named Montoya is seen to be spiritual as he is seen to be concerned about his faith. Romero is a young man that is innocent of Brett’s manipulation and seen to be perfect (Hemingway and Alexander 63). He could have left Brett because she lacked most of the womanly qualities he wanted. Jake views the bullring as a Warzone with accurate rules between enemies.
He compares this with his experience of the real War that has no rules. This makes Romero an honorable character for sticking to the rules of the War zone. Jake and Bill took a fishing trip as they were travelling to Pamplona. This is a representation of an American lifestyle that Jake still upheld even as he was away in Europe. The fishing scene is a transition after the fiesta and bull fighting scenes.
All the characters in the story are alcoholics who drink heavily. This is seen throughout the story as the characters show signs of alcoholic behaviors. These signs include anxiety, lack of sexual satisfaction and depression. Jake drunk to get over his feelings for Brett. Brett’s behavior could not be controlled as she was always under the influence of excessive drinking. There was some form of racial discrimination when Jake’s friends avoided Cohn for being a Jew. Everyone had an authentic background and Cohn was the only one who was not adequately presented in the story.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold, and Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway’s the Sun Also Rises. New York, NY: Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2007. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest, and Alexander Adams. The Sun Also Rises. Newport Beach, CA: Books on Tape, 1989. Internet resource.
