The Sun Also Rises

Read our detailed notes below on “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway. Our notes cover The Sun Also Rises summary, themes, characters, and literary analysis.

The Sun Also Rises Summary

Chapter I

The narrator and protagonist of the novel is Jake Barnes. Jake Barnes opens the novel by describing Robert Cohn. Corn belongs to a rich Jewish family living in New York. Cohn struggled with anti-Semitism at Princeton. Cohn tossed himself to boxing to avoid the feeling of inferiority and face his shyness. He became a middleweight champion of the university. After graduation, he soon married to rebound his unhappy college experiences. He had three children.

Cohn lost his inheritance of fifty thousand, and his wife also left him after five years when he decided to leave her. Cohn shifted to California after divorce. In California and spent most of his time in literary groups. He started supporting a magazine. Cohn also gets involved with a manipulative status-seeker, Frances Clyne, in California. When the magazine failed to succeed, Frances convinced him to take her to Paris so as to join the expatriates of postwar.

Cohn could only make a few friends in Paris. Jake was one of his few friends. While in Paris, Cohn starts writing and completes a novel. When Frances starts aging and loses her beauty, she starts convincing Cohn to marry her, and her attitude changes from careless manipulation to strongly determined. When Jake dines with Cohn and Frances on the night, he gets to know about France’s attitude.

Jake and Cohn decide on taking a weekend trip. Jake insisted on going to Strasbourg, northwestern France, as he knows a girl there who would show them the place around. Before Jakes notice France’s look of displeasure, Cohn kicks Jake under the table to hint at him. When the dinner is over, Cohn follows Jake to tell him that he should not mention the girl as Frances will not let him go on any trip that involves seeing a girl.

Chapter II

To publish his novel, Cohn travels to New York that winter. Cohn gains new confidence in New York. His novel is praised by different publishers, and many women are interested in and “nice” to him. Cohn also wins a playing bridge of several hundred dollars. Wanderlust infects Cohn because of his success that is combined with the reading of the romantic chronicle of English gentlemen. 

When Cohn returns to Paris, he comes to the office of Jack to convince him to accompany him on the trip to South America. He also offers him to pay on his behalf. Cohn is worried that he is not living his life the way he must live it. To this, Jake replies that only bullfighters have the potential to live their lives to the fullest.

Jake invites Cohn to drink when he gets tired of his annoyance. Jakes knows that it is impossible to get rid of Cohn until he finished his drink. Cohn continues to persuade Jake for the trip outside Paris at the bar. He also says that he is tired of traveling inside Paris and the Latin Quarter. Jake says that “You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another,” asserting that his dissatisfaction has nothing to do with geography.

When the drink is finished, Jake tells him that he needs to go to the office. Cohn asks to sit outside in the waiting room, and John agrees. After Jake finishes his work, he and Cohn watch the Parisian crowd and have a drink.

Chapter III

Jake stays in the café even after Cohn leaves. He meets Georgette, a pretty prostitute. Both of them have a drink together. Jake decides to have dinner. In the cab to the restaurant, when Georgette makes a pass to Jake, he refuses to say that he is sick.

During dinner, Jake tells her that he received a wound in the war that makes it impossible to have a sexual relationship. Georgette protests against the war. However, Jake does not want to talk about it. The group of his friends, including Frances and Cohn, hails from the adjacent table, and he escapes from the conversation. Jake’s friends also invite them to dance.

The club is crowded. In the meanwhile, Lady Brett Ashley also arrives with young men. Jake aggressively reacts to the male friends of Brett. However, Brett says that she can safely move and get drunk around these friends. He comments on them harshly. He states that he knows he must show tolerance, but he cannot help himself. Jake suggested that these men are homosexuals.

Cohn asks Jake to drink, and Bret joins them. Cohn gets infatuated with her and tries to convince him to dance with her but cannot succeed. Brett and Jake leave the club. Before leaving, Jake gives fifty francs with the owner of the club for Georgette if she asks for him. Brett claims that she is miserable once they get into the taxi.

Chapter IV

Jake kisses Brett as they ride through the streets of Paris in the taxi. They love each other, but Brett declines to have any physical relationship as Jake is unable to have intercourse. Brett id lamenting her fate and says that she is paying for the hell she made man tolerate. Jake says that he does not think much about his war wound and finds it funny. They head for the café to drink, and Brett asks Jake to kiss her. They again run into their friends at the café. Zizi introduces them to Count Mippipopolous. He is a Greek man and instantly starts taking an interest in Brett. Before leaving home, Jake and Brett make an appointment to meet the next day.

Jake reaches home and foes to the room after taking his mail from the concierge. He starts thinking about his wound when he gets into bed. He gets the wound while flying a mission on a front in Italy. Other people are more concerned about the wound that he is. He recalls the colonel who visited him in the hospital and commented that Jake gave more to his country than his life. He then thinks that he would not mind his would at all if he never met Brett. Before sleeping, he starts crying.

He wakes up before four in the morning when Brett makes a drunken scene in an attempt to pass the doorkeeper. Outside the door, the count is waiting inside the car. Jake takes her to his room. Brett tells him that the count offers him to go to Biarritz with him for ten thousand dollars, but she has refused to go. She tells Jake to go out with them, but Jake refuses. Jake tries to kiss her and convince her to stay, but Brett declines.

Chapter V

Cohn visits Jake’s office to have lunch with him. Cohn also inquires about Brett. He tells him that she is drunk and going to marry a Scotsman, Mike Campbell. He also tells him that the true love of Brett died during the war because of dysentery. Jake tells him that he met Bret when she was working as a Volunteer Aid Detachment in the hospital, where he was admitted after a war injury.

Cohn appears to be annoyed with Jake as he does not describe Brett in positive terms. Jake tells him to go to hell. Cohn gets angry and threatens him to leave lunch. Jake calms him down and convinces him to take the lunch. Jake gets that Cohn wants to talk about Brett but, at the same time, avoid talking about her.

Chapter VI

Jake goes to visit Brett that evening, but he cannot find her. He looks for her few places and wanders in the streets, and then runs into Harvey Stone, a compulsive gambler. Harvey is bankrupt and asserts that he has not eaten anything for days. Jake helps him by giving him some money. They then go to Cohn. Cohn is waiting for Frances. Harvey calls Cohn moron as he leaves before eating. When Frances comes, she tells Jake that she wants to speak with him in private. She informs him of Cohn’s refusal to marry her. Frances fears that no one will marry her. Jake does not side anyone.

Moreover, Frances also tells him that as she divorced in the quickest way, she will not be getting any alimony from her husband, and no one is going to publish her writings. She then suggests joining Cohn by remaining cheery and bright. Before Cohn, Frances tells Jake that Cohn has given her two hundred pounds to go to England. However, she has to take it out of him. She bitterly describes her unwelcoming visits to her “friends” that she is going to make in England so that Cohn can get rid of her. Moreover, she asserts that Cohn does not want to marry because he wants to tell people that he once had a mistress. Jake excuses and leaves Cohn and Frances alone.

Chapter VII

When Jake reaches home, Count Mippipopolous and Brett come. When Jake asks why she does not show up on her appointment, she tells him that she forgot it because of drunkenness. Jake does not believe this. When Brett offers to send the count away, he tells not to. Brett sends him to get champagne. Jake asks her why she does not live with him; Brett tells him she will cheat on him and makes him unhappy. She also informs him that she is leaving for San Sebastian in Spain.

When the count returns with champagne, he starts describing the philosophy of life. The count was a part of seven wars and four revolutions. He says that he has lived much and is able to enjoy life at the fullest. He proposes that to get to know the secret of life is the secret of living. His values include love. That is why he is always in love. Before going to the club, the three of them dine together. The count asks both of them the reason for not marrying. Both of them give curt and false answers. Brett starts feeling miserable and decides to leave. Jake accompanies her to the hotel. However, she tells him not to accompany her. They kiss several times before she makes him go.

Chapter VIII

For some time, Jake does not meet or see Cohn of Brett. While vacationing in San Sebastian, Brett sends Jake a brief card. Cohn also sends him a letter to inform him that he is gone to the countryside. France is gone to England. Bill Gorton, an American friend of Jake, has come from the States. Jake and Bill plan to go to Spain to attend the fiesta at Pamplona and fish. Bill leaves to visit Budapest and Vienna. When he comes back, he tells Jake that he was too drunk to remember anything from his four day trip to Vienna. While Bill and Jake are looking for a restaurant, they see Brett. Up to this point, Jack does not know that she has come back from San Sebastian.

Bill, Jake, and Brett go to have drunk together. Ultimately Brett leaves to meet Mike Campbell. Bill and Jake stay to eat dinner and dinner. Later they run into Mike and Brett at the café. In a drunken state, Mike continually mentions Brett’s beauty.  Jake and Bill leave them alone and decide to attend a boxing match.

Chapter IX

Jake, the next morning, receives a message from Cohn asking him and Bill to meet when they visit Spain. Jake makes arrangements for the trip. Jake again runs into Brett and Mike at the bar. They ask to join him in Spain. Jake responds as they wish.

When Mike leaves, Brett asks if Cohn is also joining them in Spain. When Jake affirms that he will, Brett says that it will be “rough” for Cohn. Brett explains that she lives with Cohn in San Sebastian. Brett and Jake argue over and eventually decide that Brett must write to Cohn to inform him that she will be in Spain. When Cohn receives the note, he is still persistent in going. This is surprising for them.

Jake makes a plan to meet Brett and Mike in Pamplona. Jake and Bill get on the train to go to Bayonne to meet Cohn. Cohn is waiting at the station when they arrive.

Chapter X

Jake, Bill, and Cohn get a taxi to Pamplona. Cohn feels nervous as he is thinking about if Jake and Bill know him and Brett living together at San Sebastian. To his surprise, Mike and Brett will arrive that night as well. Jake and Bill get irritated by Cohn’s air of superior knowledge. Bill foolishly gambles in anger a hundred pesetas that they will arrive on time. Bell informs him that it is not possible for him to stand in before Cohn when he gets “superior and Jewish.” Jake stops praying at the cathedral after getting his tickets for bullfighting. However, he finds his mind wondering.

Jake goes to the station to receive Brett and Mike with Cohn, just to make him irritated. Jake and Cohn return to the hotel when they do not find Mike and Brett on the train. Jake receives a message from Brett and Mike that Brett is sick, so they have stopped at San Sebastian.

He wants to irritate Cohn and does not hand the telegram. Moreover, he does not inform Bill and Cohn that they are still in San Sebastian. Bill and Jake decide to go fishing to Burgeuet, a small town, on the bus. Cohn chooses to stay at the hotel and wait for Mike and Bret. He also tells Jake that he has written to Brett for having a meeting in San Sebastian. Bill also tells Jake that Cohn has secretly told him about his date with Brett. He tells him that Cohn is nice but awful.

Chapter XI

Jake and Bill get into a crowded bus. The bus is occupied with Basque peasants. They drink wine from wineskins. They also offer them to Jake and Bill. They, in turn, share their bottles. The countryside is very beautiful. Bill and Jake are sitting on the top of the bus, and it is cool. The Basque also makes them learn the proper way of drinking from the wine-bag. Jake and Bill buy some drinks when the bus stops. The passengers also buy some drinks for them. They then engage in a friendly conversation with an English-speaking Basque. When they arrive in the town, the innkeeper charges them a high price. In the hotel, Bill and Jake are only people. They drink several bottles of wine and go to bed.

Chapter XII

Early in the morning, Jake wakes up, dresses, and goes on a walk. Besides the stream, he digs for worms and collects two full tobacco tins. When Jake returns to the hotel, Bill jokes about pity and irony. He makes Jake say ironic or pitiful things. Because Jake is an expatriate, Bill says, he does not know what popular pity or irony is.

Bill also teases Jake saying that expatriates are drunk people only obsessed with sex, and they do not write anything worth publishing. Jake responds to him, saying that he is not worthy and important because he had an accident. They also exchange jokes about a man who also had the same accident on horseback. However, in America, the story includes a bicycle accident.

Bill states that he has become fond of Jake. He also tells him that he cannot make such statements in New York as he would seem like a “faggot.” Bill makes jokes about how the Civil War was about homosexuality.

Jake and Bill pack necessities and head to the river for fishing. They walk together on fields, meadow, and woods. After a long walk, they arrive at the river. In order to chill the wine, they place it in a spring up on the road. Jake fishes with the help of worms. Bill also tries fly-fishing. They catch lots of Fishes. However, Bill’s fishes are much bigger than that of Jake’s.

The jokes about the people and friends they met during and at war at lunchtime. Bill then asks Jake if he loves Brett. Jake says that he was in love with her for a long time. They then take a nap and head back to the hotel. Jake and Bill spend five days in Burguete at fullest and do not get any word from Mike, Brett, and Cohn. 

Chapter XIII

Bill and Jake receive a telegram from Mike informing that Brett had fainted, and they are still in San Sebastian. They will arrive in Pamplona after Wednesday. Cohn has also sent them a telegram that he will join them on Thursday. Bill and Jake give a reply saying that they will be at Pamplona on Wednesday night. Before leaving the town, Bill and Jake say farewell to Wilson-Harris, a British war veteran. The three men developed a great bond. Harris is not happy to part ways with them. Jake invites him to come with them to Spain, Harris refuses.

Harris gives them his address with dozens of flies and says that “I only thought if you fished them some time, it might remind you of what a good time we had.”

When Bill and Jake arrive, the innkeeper tells them that his friends, Mike and Brett, have arrived in the hotel. Montoya, the innkeeper, called Jake as an aficionado and real lover of bullfighting as Jake stays in the same hotel every year to witness the fiesta.

Jake and Bill meet Mike, Brett, and Cohn at Café. Mike entertains them with a story of wartime. He relates how he gave away the medals of another man because he does not have his own. Everyone sees that bulls’ unloading. When the beasts come out of cages, the male bovines try to calm them down so that they do not kill each other. The bovines often get wounded in this process. Jake tells Brett not to look at them; however, Brett watches it anyway.

After the fiesta, they go to have a drink at the café. Mike makes harsh remarks on Cohn following Brett like a steer, a castrated male bovine, by referring to the fact that Brett goes to San Sebastian when Bill and Jake leave for the countryside. Mike also rebukes Cohn for being unable to know that when he is not wanted in a place. Bill hints are Cohn, and things settle down. Mike also says that Brett has been having affairs, but she never had any with a Jew or with the one who kept hanging around. They then share supper.

Chapter XIV

When Jake goes to his room that night, he is very drunk. He also hears Brett and Mike laughing while going to bed. Jake thinks while lying on the bed that women make friends because to be friends with a woman, he has to be in love with her. He also feels that in his friendship with Brett, he is getting something for nothing. And he realizes that he will eventually have to suffer in his friendship.

He concludes that for something good in life, people have to pay for everything and says that “enjoying living was learning to get your money’s worth.” However, he also asserts that in the coming five years, his philosophy will appear to be pointless and useless like his other philosophies. He also struggles with moral questions. He also wishes that Mike does not derogate Cohn. He confesses that he loved it when Mike was doing so. The next few days are spent in preparations for the fiesta.

Chapter XV

On 6th July, Sunday, rockets exploded to announce that fiesta had started. The square is filled with people drinking, shouting, and dancing with the music. The event is for seven days, and everything becomes unreal with nonstop dancing, music, and drinking. Jake observes that everyone takes everything without worrying about consequences. Even money loses its worth at the end of the fiesta for the one who is continuously spending it. 

Jake and his friends are pulled into a dancing circle. They then go to a wine shop. Everyone in the shop is singing and dancing. Brett also learns how to drink from a wineskin. Jake goes to buy two wineskins. When he comes back, he notices that Cohn is not with the. No one cares where Cohn is. However, Jake goes to search for him. He finds Cohn at the back of the shop exhausted. They all then eat dinner. Jake goes to sleep while the rest stays up to party all night.

At six in the morning, a rocket explodes to announce the release of the bull. This wakes up Jake. Jack watches the crowd from the balcony running intensely with the bulls towards the arena. During the first round, Brett, Mike, and Brett are sitting high in the arena, while Bill and Jake take closer seats to the action. When horses go, they warn Brett not to look. 

Cohn asserts that he may get bored. Bill complains to Jake about Cohn’s “Jewish superiority.” The innkeeper, Montoya, introduces Jake to Pedro Romero, a famous bullfighter. Romero is only nineteen years old and is the best looking boy.

At the bullfight, everyone is astonished to watch Romero’s potentials. Brett also wonders at the skills of Romero. Brett has watched the bullfighting out of fascination while Cohn struggles with his spectacle. Mike bitterly taunts him for his weakness. In the next round, Brett and Mike sit with Bill and Jake. The astonishing skills of Romero delight everyone and overshadow the other bullfighters. Afterward, Mike makes fun of Brett, saying that she is falling in love with Romero. Romeo does not fight the following day, and no bullfighting is scheduled after that. However, the action of the fiesta continues.

Chapter XVI

In the morning, rain makes Pamplona dull and foggy. Montoya asks for Jake’s consultation regarding a message from the American ambassador. He has invited Pedro Romero to have dinner/lunch at the Grand Hotel. Montoya is worried that the foreigners will debase Romero. Jake also feels the same and advises Montoya not to deliver him the message. He also tells him that there is an American woman who is collecting bullfighters.

When he leaves Montoya, he finds Mike, Cohn, and Bill having dinner in the dining room. He also sees Romero, who is having dinner with a critic. Jake sits with Romero and discusses bullfighting. Romero is an extremely passionate yet modest man. Jake then introduces his group. Everyone is so drunk that Mike yells, “Tell him that bulls have no balls!”

Brett also starts a private conversation with Romero. When Montoya comes, he does not acknowledge Jake’s presence and sees Romero talking to Bret and drinking Cognac. When Romero leaves, Mike starts insulting Cohn again and shouts at him to go away. To prevent the fight, Jake pulls Mike from the table.

To attend the last day of the fiesta, a group of Americana and English tourists arrives in Pamplona. Mike and Bill go to both the English tourists, Cohn stays at the hotel. However, Bret asks him to get lost as she wants to be alone with Jake. Brett complains to Jake about the behavior of Mike and Cohn’s hanging around her. When Jake defends Mike, she asks him to stop making her feel guilty.

They then go for a walk together. Brett inquires if he still loves, and Jake affirms, Brett then tells him that she is mad about Romero for last night. However, she feels herself like a bitch that has lost her self-respect, and she has to do something. Jake agrees to look for Romero. They enter a café where Romero is with fight critics and other bullfighters. Romero comes to them, and Jake invites him to sit. Romero senses mutual attraction between him and Brett. 

Brett reads Romero’s palm, and they start conversing about bullfighting. Jake acts as a translator. Romero asserts that bulls are his best friends, and he kills them, so they do not kill him. Jake then leaves them alone. As Jake leaves, the bullfighting friend of Romero stares at him with disapproval. When Jake comes back, Romero and Brett have left.

Chapter XVII

At a bar, Jake meets Bill and Mike. A friend of Bill, Edna, has already joined them. Bill and Mike are dashed out of the café for nearly causing a fight among American and English tourists. The group heads to another café. There Cohn comes to Jake and inquires about Brett. Jake does not tell him. However, Mike says that she is gone with Romero. Angry and frustrated, Cohn yells at Jake and calls him a pimp. Jake punches him, and the fistfight starts. Cohn shows his athletic abilities and knocks down Mike and Jake out cold. When Jake returns, Cohn is gone to the hotel, while Mike stays with Edna.

When Jake goes to the hotel, Bill tells him that Cohn wants to see him. Jake goes to see him and finds him lying in bed with face down in tears. Cohn asks him to forgive him by saying that he is his only friend, Jake also gives in, and they shake hands.

The next morning, when Jake wakes up, he learns that Mike and Bill are gone to the stadium. A man is killed when the bulls are released. The crowd ignores the dead body and runs at him to reach the stadium. Jake heads to the café, and there he talks to the waiter about the dead man. The waiter appears to have a view that bullfighting is senseless. He says that a man dies just because of sports and pleasure.

Jack returns to his room and lies in his bed. Mike and Bill show up on his door. They tell him that Cohn sees Romero and Brett together and hits Romero again and again. However, Romero kept himself from getting up and responded. Ultimately when Cohn said that he would not hit him again, Romero got him and hit him really hard. Brett scolds Cohn very severely, and then Cohn begged Romero to patch up, and Romero hit him again.

Afterward, Mike tells Brett how he observed and felt about his relationships with bullfighters and Jews. She responded that she had been made miserable by the British aristocracy. She tells him that Lord Ashley, her husband, threatened to kill her all the time and urges her to sleep with him on the floor. Her husband would sleep with a loaded revolver. Brett would unload that every night. When Bill is leaving, Jake asks him about the dead man who is killed in bullfighting. Bill says he knows nothing regarding it.

Chapter XVIII

Cohn leaves. At the café, Brett meets his friends and tells them Romero is not feeling good after his last night beating. However, he has decided to go bullfighting. Mike morosely remarks that “Brett’s got a bullfighter. She had a Jew named Cohn, but he turned out badly.” Bret takes Jake away from the café as Mike gets out of control.

Brett wants to go to church as she wants to pray for Romero. However, when they enter the church, she becomes nervous and wants to leave. They go back to the hotel. Brett goes to the room of Romero, and Jake goes to check on Mike. He finds Mike failing on his bed, and his room has turned into a mess. Before they meet Brett for the last bullfight on the Fiesta, Bill and Jake eat lunch together.

During the fight, Romero sends his cap for Brett to hold. One of the three fighters, Belmonte, has come to fight. He has a legendary reputation for working close to the bull. The crowd has been expecting more out of him. The crowd taunts him and insults him. However, they love the natural talent and calm and smooth style of Romero. Romero encounters a bull that has killed the man in the street. 

He leads the bull in a graceful manner that greatly appeals to the crowd. He kills the bull and cuts off its notched ear. He gives that ear to Brett. Bill and Jake go to the café for a drink. Jake appears to be upset. Bill forces him to drink three absinthes in a row. In the hotel, he finds Mike sitting in his room in a drunken state. Romero and Brett have to leave Pamplona on the train.

Chapter XIX

Mike, Jake, and Bill hire a car the next day to go to Bayonne. They drink and drive to Saint Jean de Luz to drop off Mike. At the train station in Bayonne, Jake bids Bill farewell. In Bayonne, Jake makes a new friend by tipping generously. To spend some days in relation, he boards on the boarding train to San Sebastian. Soon after his arrival, he received two telegrams from Paris and Pamplona. Both are sent from Brett. She asks him to meet her in Hotel Montana in Madrid as she is in trouble. He instantly makes arrangements to meet her.

When Jake reaches there, Brett kisses her. She wants to leave Romero, but she has no money. Romero offers her money, but she refuses to take it. She tells Jake that Romero was embarrassed by her and wants to grow her hair to look like a woman. Romero also wants to marry her, but she does not want to destroy his life and asks him to leave her. Moreover, she tells him that she wants to be with Mike.

Jake and Brett go to the bar before they have a nice lunch. There Jake indulges three bottles of wine. He then orders more wine. Brett asks him not to drink but assuring him that he will be alright. They book a taxi and drive around the town. Jack and Brett have a good time, and Brett says that they could have had a much better time together. Jake responds that  “Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so?”

Background of the Novel

The Sun Also Rises was written by American novelist Ernest Hemmingway in 1926. The novel deals with British and American emigrants who take a journey from Paris to the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona to witness the bullfights and running of bulls. The Sun Also Rises in an early modernist novel. The novel remains in print till the present day.

The novel was written on the basis of the trip of Hemmingway to Spain in 1925. The setting of the novel is distinctive and memorable. It depicts Paris’s sordid café line and the enthusiasm of the Pamplona festival. The middle section of the novel is dedicated to the fishing trip description of the Pyrenees. Hemmingway exhibits his “Iceberg Theory” of writing in this novel by employing a sparse writing style, along with the controlled use of description.

The characters of the novel are based on the Hemmingway’s circle, and the action of the novel is also based on real events. That is why the novel is called roman à clef. In the novel, Hemmingway illustrates the point that the “Lost Generation” was strong and resilient. “Lost Generation” refers to the dissolute, decadent and irretrievably damaged people affected by World War I. In The Sun Also Rises, Hemmingway deals with the themes of reviving power of nature, love and death, and the notion of masculinity.

Historical Context

The aftereffects of World War I was great. It has greatly transformed Europe. The whole map of the world was redrawn. It also destroyed the Empires such as the Ottoman Empire and The Austro-Hungarian Empire and crushed Europe’s concept of itself as an organized and systematic set of powers that will never get into the war.

World War I changes the understanding of people about war because of the trench and brutalizing machine-based warfare.  Previously people would take the concept of war as something heroic; however, the World War altered this heroic concept of war. Hemmingway also encountered World War I as a soldier. He had suffered physical injuries. The experience at warfare changed his own ideals and thoughts. He also suffered from the torment of realization that those who could not experience war were infused with the romantic ideals of war.

The experiences of the characters in The Sun Also Rises mirror the post-war experiences of Hemmingway. At that time, Hemmingway was living as an expatriate in Paris and worked as a journalist for Toronto Star. He also took various trips across Europe.

Literary Context

There are two quotes in the epigraph of The Sun Also Rises that gives the idea of the influences of Hemmingway. One quote is, “You are all a lost generation” by Gertrude Stein. Hemmingway was greatly influenced by the modernist values and writing style of Gertrude Stein. Stein coined the term “lost generation.” This term was later on used by many writers and became the major theme of the novel of the twentieth century that deals with war and its aftereffects.

The quote in the epigraph is a passage taken from the Bible book of Ecclesiastes. The passage is also the source of the title of the novel as “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down.” This quote deals with the fact that the normal functioning of the earth remains regardless of passing generations. It also offers the note of optimism that a new day always raises, and the lost generation of the war may not be lost forever.

Hemmingway worked and lived with many other expatriates, modernist, American writers in Paris. He was also surrounded by new and bold voices in literature. These writers include James Joyce, Stein, and Ezra Pound. Moreover, he also worked with Pablo Picasso, the cutting edge painter of his time.

The novel The Sun Also Rises is part of works of the modernist period that deals with the sense of post-war, of restlessness and being lost, and of a generation who faced World War I. The other literary works dealing with these themes are F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons, and T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.

A Note on the Epigraph

Gertrude Stein was the experimental poet among the expatriate writers and group of painters living in Paris after World War I ended. Other eminent figures in the circle were the writers Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemmingway and the most eminent painter of the time, Pablo Picasso.

The generation that has experienced World War I and comes of age is called “lost generation” by Gertrude Stein. The phrase was the most accurate description of the post-war people that have faced the war and passed through the verge of adulthood during that time by working, fighting, and dying during the warfare. The term was quickly adopted by the post-war world. The horrors of World War I shattered the faith of this generation in traditional values like bravery, love, womanhood, and manhood. 

The lost generation was unable to find meaning in life without these values. They find their existence as meaningless, aimless, and unfulfilling. In the novel The Sun Also Rises, Hemmingway deals with these men and women of the lost generation. 

Hemmingway quotes a biblical passage from Ecclesiastes and Stein in the epigraph of the novel. The epigraph is about the fleeting nature of humans with the undying survival of nature; for example, the world continues to exist, the sun rises and sets regardless of the human’s passage to death. Hemmingway produces an ambivalent tone by the juxtaposition of two epigraphs. 

Hemmingway, on the one hand, tries to be pessimistic as it hopes to have a new generation after the lost generation that he depicts in The Sun Also Rises. On the other hand, he appears to be bitter ironic about the fact that every generation is lost as each generation will eventually die.

Characters Analysis

Jake Barnes

He is the narrator and protagonist of the novel The Sun Also Rises. Before the novel begins, some major events occurred in his life that greatly shaped his relationship later in his life. Jake takes part in World War I as a soldier. He gets wounded. Even though he does not express what he would exactly suffer, there are several moments in the novel that implies that because of his injury, he has lost his ability to have intercourse.

Jake narrated the story with implication and subtlety. Instead of stating things directly, he hints it to the readers, particularly those who are concerned with his injury and war. For example, in order to get hold of the true nature of Jake’s wound, one has to read the text thoroughly. He speaks about his wound more openly when he goes fishing with Bill later in the story.

The physical malady of Jack has strong effects on his mental health. He appears to be insecure about his impotence and masculinity. One of the facts that bother him much is his love of life, Brett, refuses into a relationship with him because of this problem. Moreover, Jake also exclaims with a certain subtlety that he does want to enter into any relationship because he would then have intercourse. The unwelcoming behavior of Jake towards Robert Cohn is because of his own feeling of inadequacy.

Jake, in many ways, is the part of the “lost generation, as implied by Gertrude Stein. The phrase was the most accurate description of the post-war people that have faced the war and passed through the verge of adulthood during that time by working, fighting, and dying during the warfare. The horrors of World War I shattered the faith of this generation in traditional values like bravery, love, womanhood, and manhood. The lost generation was unable to find meaning in life without these values. They find their existence as meaningless, aimless, and unfulfilling.

The character of Jake partially represents the Lost Generation and the unfortunate state. For example, he roams about in Paris, goes from one bar to another, and drinks heavily. His life has no purpose and meaning. He also illustrates his capacity to be extremely cruel, particularly to Cohn. The typical anxieties of John about his masculinity are the same as that felt by the members of Lost Generations.

However, Jack is different from the people surrounding him in many ways. He appears to be acknowledging the uselessness of the way of living of Lost Generation. For example, in Chapter Two of the novel, he tells Cohn that by moving from place to place, one cannot get away from himself. Furthermore, he realizes the oft time cruelty of the behavior that he and his friends are engaged in. 

He also realizes the pain of his injury, and his one-sided love for Brett has caused him. Despite the fact that Jake acknowledges the problems in his life, he does little or nothing to solve them. He understands and realizes the dilemma of the Lost Generation, and he is still trapped in it.

Lady Brett Ashley

Lady Brett Ashley is an independent and strong woman. She met Jake when he was admitted to the hospital after receiving a wound in the war. There she has been working as a volunteer. She appears to be exerting power over the men around her. She charms everyone with her beauty and charisma. Furthermore, she does not commit to any man throughout the novel and prefers complete independence.

Brett chooses to be independent. However, she is not happy with her life. She constantly complains about her miserable life to Jake. She asserts that her life is unsatisfying and aimless. Jake and his friends’ wandering from bar to bar for drinking is parallel to her wandering from relationship to relationship. Even though she refuses to commit to anyone, she appears to be uncomfortable with herself. Jake says that she is unable to go alone anywhere.

In Hemingway’s representation of the character of Brett, we find some misogynist stains. For example, her presence disturbs the relationship among men. The character of Brett shows Hemingway’s views about liberated women as corrupt and dangerous for men. For example, Brett appears to be a threat to the career of Pedro Romero. She also asserts that her independence and strength will ruin Romero’s life. She is dangerous for him because she does not conform to any traditional feminine role.

World War I appears to play an important role in the formation of Brett’s character, according to Jake and his other friends. The true love of Brett died in World War I because of dysentery. The aimless in her life, particularly her concerns towards men, can be taken as her useless attempt to find her true love. The personal search of Brett is symbolic of the search of the Lost Generation for the love and romance of prewar.

Robert Cohn

Robert Cohn is the friend of Jake. Jake opens the story with the description of Cahn. The character of Cahn appears to be an outsider in the novel only because he is Jewish. To combat his feeling of inferiority and shyness, Cahn starts boxing at Princeton. Despite the fact that he gained much confidence because of his literary success, he constantly feels anxious for being different throughout the novel. This feeling of inadequacy and otherness may also explain his senseless attraction and attachment to Brett. He appears to fear rejection, and when he is rejected, he is unable to accept it.

Cohn’s insecurities are only compounded by men with whom he travels to Spain. Cohn is not only a Jew among them. He is also nonveteran. Jake and other men get hold of these insecurities and take out their personal insecurities on Cohn. The fact is Cohn has no different behavior from other men towards Brett in the novel. They all want to attain her in their own ways. However, the attempt of Cohn appears to be foolish and clumsy as they find him an easy target of mocking.

In the novel, Cohn sticks to prewar and outdated traditional values of romance and honor. Earlier, he only fights within the confinements of the gym. However, later his anger and frustrations make his fight with Jake and Romero. He is very good at playing tennis, and when he loses, he gracefully accepts his defeat. Moreover, he is unable to believe that his relationship with Brett has no emotions and values. For Jake and other veterans in the novel, the character of Cohn acts as a foil. He holds onto the traditional beliefs and values, unlike others, simply because he has not experienced war.

Unfortunately, in the postwar world, the value system of Cohn has no place. Cohn is unable to sustain his value system. He appears to be absurd when he urges Romero to shake his hand after he has beaten him. His attempt to restore the validity of the outdated code of conduct appears to be ridiculous. His act of leaving Pamplona shows the failure of traditional beliefs and values in the postwar world among the Lost Generation.

Bill Gorton

He is a heavy drinking war veteran like Jake. However, he is not an expatriate. To deal with the psychological and emotional consequences of World War I, Bill uses humor and makes things appear lighter. He shares a strong bond with Jake as they both are American Veterans. In the novel, their friendship appears to be one of the few human connections. He is not immune to the pointless cruelty that is characteristic of Jake and his friends.

Mike Campbell

He is a drunk and bankrupt war veteran from Scotland. He is a short and terrible tempered man, and he manifests his temper when he is extremely drunk. He struggles to cope with the sexual promiscuity of Brett. This struggle incites anger and self-pity. He appears to be highly insecure about Brett’s infidelity and his lack of money.

Pedro Romero

He is a young and handsome bullfighter; he is only nineteen years old. He charms newcomers and the aficionados both with his skills at bullfighting. He also serves as a foil for Jake and his friends as he carries himself with confidence and dignity throughout the novel. Moreover, his life has purpose and meaning that he gets from his passion for bullfighting. Romeo demonstrates the figure of strength, honesty, and purity in the world of corrupt masculinity and amorality.

Montoya

He is the owner of the hotel in Pamplona. He is an expert of aficionados of bullfighting. For Montoya, bullfighting is a sacred game. He also admires and respects Jake for his genuine passion and eagerness about the game. Montoya gives paternal care to Romero, a young bullfighter, and also wants to protect him from the corrupting influence of fame and tourists.

Frances Clyne

At the beginning of the novel, she is the mistress of Cohn. She is a manipulative status-seeker. At the beginning of the novel, she appears to be dominating and also convinced Cohn to shift to Paris. She becomes jealous and possessive as her looks begin to fade later in the novel.

Count Mippipopolous

He is a rich count from Greet. He has experienced seven wars and four revolutions. When he meets Brett, he becomes infatuated with her. However, unlike the rest of the men, he does not try to control her or feels jealous about anything. The count appears to be a sane and stable person among the amoral, careless, and pleasure-seeking crowd constituting the friend circle of Jake. He also serves as a foil to Jake and his friends.

Wilson-Harris

While fishing in Spain, Bill and Jake befriended Harris. Harris is a British war veteran. Harris, Bill, and Jake share a deep bond as they all experienced the horrors of war and the closeness that the soldiers eventually develop. Harris is a kind and friendly person. He values the short time he spent with Jake and Bill in the countryside.

Georgette

She is a prostitute whom Jake meets at the café. She is a beautiful yet thick-witted woman. Jake takes to having dinner. At dinner, Jake feels bored at her superficial conversation. He soon abandoned her for Brett.

Belmonte

He is the bullfighter. He fights on the final day of the fiesta. Belmonte was recognized as a popular and great fighter in his early days. However, when he comes to fight after retirement, he realizes that he can never live up to his own legends he has grown. He becomes dejected and bitter. He also appears to illustrate the Lost Generation as he feels purposeless and out of place in his adult life.

Harvey Stone

He is an expatriate gambler. He is always drunk and out of money. Though he is well-read and intelligent, he is helpless before his excessive gambling and drinking habit. He is also prone to show petty cruelty to Cohn, like many friends of Jake.

Themes

The Lost Generation

The novel The Sun Also Rises is solely based on the theme of the Lost Generations. Even though World War I is often mentioned in the novel, it is all the time handing like a shadow over the characters’ life. Moreover, the longstanding ideals of courage, honor, and stoicism have become meaningless and hollow because of the war’s brutal machine-driven killing and trench warfare. Moreover, the long-held concept of national identities also turned to dust as Europe believed that they would never engage in war because of their national identities.

The war has a great influence on the lives of those who have experienced it first hand. Those people who were on the verge of adulthood or adolescence turned into “the lost generation.” The novel The Sun Also Rise illustrates the lost generation through the character of Jake and his friends.

Jake and his friends Mike, Bill, and Brett, do not believe in traditional values and customs. In many ways, it appears to be liberating. It is also shown as a loss. Before World War I, they all believed in structures, ideals, and nationalism that drove their identity. However, they lost this system of beliefs because of World War I and appeared to behave and lose the core of themselves.

In the novel, the characters are always wandering from one place to another, restless, and constantly looking to change their surroundings as if they are trying to escape. The characters prefer living in America than in Europe. However, they are unable to leave Europe. They are disconnected from their homes and become expatriates. They are sampling the European cultures without joining any one of them.

The novel demonstrates the sense that Jake and the people of his generation are not part of any place or culture; they do not belong anywhere. Jake’s friends have jobs and occupations; however, they are working as writers and editors. Doing these jobs does not make them accountable to any boss, and they also do not have specific working hours.

In the novel, the characters appear spending their time drinking, socializing, playing games, and dancing. These activities are usually associated with youth and are youthful pursuits. However, they turned into wearying and empty because of the endless repetition. The characters are trapped in a vicious cycle in which they are always thinking about their next escape.

Among all of the characters, only Cohn does not fit in the description of the lost generation. His identity is forced on him throughout the novel by the rest of the characters. They constantly remind him of his Jewish sect. Even though he has a romantic and silly ideal, he still has some. 

Moreover, he is the only character (male) who has not experienced the war firsthand. However, Cohn also appears to be betraying his ideals. This suggests that loss of belief in traditional values and customs can be regarded as a huge personal loss. However, it can also be taken as an accurate view of the postwar world.

Sport

The characters of the novel The Sun Also Rises appear to be competing and combating various sport events to impress the voracious Brett and also for the honor. At the beginning of the novel, we see that Robert Cohn enrolled himself in the college’s boxing team to gain honor and boost up his confidence, while there is also a bullfighting game, later in the novel, which boosts up the reputation of Romero.

In the novel, if a trip is planned, it is because of some sporting cause. For example, Bill and Jake plan to go to Spain to attend the bullfighting fiesta and to fish. Sport is a source of escape for Jake and his friends as they want to overcome the meaninglessness of their lives. Moreover, the rules of sport decide the loser and winner, as well as the skill and beauty.

However, just like World War I that erupted from the balance tensions among the European countries in the 1910s, the matches also overflow from the stadiums to the streets of Pamplona, and into bars and café for the characters of the novel. Violence becomes threatening, and it should be controlled on it as a man has been killed by a bull on the street.

Moreover, the competition of male characters over the love of rule-breaking and careless Brett turns them into a kind of sportsman. Tactics, rules, and victories are in the form of insults, and emotional injuries turned into movies, and the game is of social power. Cohn follows the rules of honor and sport as he refuses to fight anyone outside the ring. However, when he becomes frustrated with his obsession with Brett, he starts fighting with Romero and Jake.

Masculinity and Insecurity

In the novel The Sun Also Rises, there is only one main female character, Brett. The men have circled around her like bees and thus create an atmosphere of competition and rivalry among the male characters. This competition is a loss and won in unpredictable and different ways. Sometimes, the physical vigor wins the match, as in the case of Romero. While in some cases, physical strength appears to be a problem. Robert Cohn physically overpowers Mike. Bill and Romero by striking them, however, he later cries on his actions. Winning appears to be impossible for the men in The Sun Also rises.

The Sun Also Rises demonstrates how men have changed with their experience of World War I. for them, courage, glory, and stoicism does not appear to be traditional masculine traits. Between two warriors, there is no glorious clash of skills as the wars have become a game of machine-gun fire to kill a person and move their trench an inch forward.

In the novel, all of the men appear to be affected by the war. Their sense of selves is deteriorated as what they were taught about themselves as men do not seem to apply to anything anymore. Moreover, all of them are so insecure about their loss that they are unable to discuss it.

The harsh behavior of Jake and his friends arises not because Cohn really acts in a non-manly way while pursuing Brett but because they know that they are also secretly unmanned. The protagonist of the novel, Jake, is a symbol of all of these changing aspects of masculinity and insecurity. He received a genital injury in the war and is literally emasculated. However, he, as a narrator, does not directly mention that injury.

Moreover, the behavior of Brett also brings into the notion of manliness. Just as in the novel, the men appear to show womanly behavior, Brett bantering conversation, short hair, and constant desire for sex shows the more traditional manly behavior. In addition to this, her monstrous heartless attitude raises the question that if traditional manly virtues were really virtues at all.  And if they are not, what are men without them?

Sex and Love

In the novel The Sun Also Rises, the romantic patterns change frequently and suddenly. In the journey from one country to another country, relationships are broken and formed. However, there is seldom mention of marriage in the novel. The act of marriage is not attempted by anyone after Cohn’s unhappy and disastrous first marriage.

In the novel, the character does not appear to show any interest in establishing domestic lives for themselves. The leisurely lunch and dinner at restaurants and nightly drinking parties seem to be domestic activity in the novel. The actions, movements, and occupation of the characters in the novel seem to be restless and aimless. The same is the case with love. The characters ignore and avoid love.

However, the insecurities of male characters in the novel make them avoid sex and love, the character of Brett outshines as a sexual being. Brett is charismatic, healthy, and lives independently like an ideal bachelor. She performs sexual activities outside marriage and even does not feel ashamed of it. The traditional attitudes of men and women are drastically altered in the postwar period. Women like Brett are liberated, while men are terribly shackled.

However, in the last lines of the novel, Brett appears to be yearning for love. At various incidents in the novel, Jake and Brett appear to be in true love and could make a real couple. However, this possibly is shattered because of Jake’s war injury. And this idea is even dashed when Jake responds to Brett as “Isn’t it pretty to think so.”

Jake’s response implies that anyone, including Brett, implying that their love could be perfect because his injury makes it impossible and could be an answer to the meaninglessness of postwar life. Jake and Brett’s relationship would end like Brett’s other relationships if he did not suffer any injury.

The novel The Sun Also Rises ends by suggesting that just like all other ideals are dashed by World War I, love is also not the solution of the meaninglessness and emptiness of the lost generation.

Nature

In the novel The Sun Also Rises, most of the social scenes take place in cafés, bars, and restaurants. There are journeys between the meals and drinks in the street of Paris and across the square in Pamplona. There is no natural landscape in the novel, except when Bill and Jake go fishing in the countryside. The action in the novel is repetitive and urban. The description of the novel is mostly based on dialogue and description. There is no description of the natural landscape.

The novel also gives a sense that in the postwar world, people are moving away from the natural landscape and natural experiences. The people are dissatisfied with their lives and plan trips after trips to escape from the sense of restlessness. Some of the trips also show the violence of nature; for example, bullfight trips.

Moreover, there are trips in which Jake simply steps out into the water and finds contentment and pleasure to see the sky. Moreover, Bill and Jake’s trip to the countryside is described in a way that lacks the sense of meaninglessness of life and dissatisfaction that they have with city scenes.

When they arrive in the beautiful countryside, the bill exclaims with contentment that “This country.” Both of them feel a real sense of essentialness that the city lacks.

Literary Analysis

The Sun Also Rises is a radical novel about love and war, yet it does not have any combat and single love scene. With regard to structure, the novel also threatens the dissatisfaction of readers. For instance, Jake wants to have a relationship with Brett as he truly loves him. However, it is soon mentioned that he cannot have any relationship with her because of his injury. It is obvious that he cannot get her and Hemingway clearly foreshadows the end of the novel.

In a typical way, any contemporary would start with a scene followed by the main action that grasps the attention of the readers. However, when the readers start reading The Sun Also Rises, they wonder who these people are. Their readers navigate through the first few passages of the novel about what is the relationship of these people with each other, with the place, and with time. Once the readers comprehend the fundamental situation of the story, they are inside the special world of the story, and that is the postwar world.

In order to fully understand the action of the story, the readers need exposition and background. Without this significant information, the reader may not be able to understand the importance of the scenes they are reading fully. There is a possibility of losing interest. 

Moreover, the main plot of the novel lacks a major conflict in the story. Sooner or later, readers lose interest in such stories no matter who brilliant the characterization, style, and dialogue. Conflict free novels appear to be music that lacks melody. However, modern music and art are just like that. 

Modernism in art and literature started in the early 1920s by Europeans, such as painter Pablo Picasso and composer Arnold Schoenberg. At the time, Hemingway was also living in Paris and writing the novel The Sun Also Rises. The novel, certainly, becomes a context for experimentation of modernistic trends in literature. However, the books attain artistic success by no means.

There are structural oddities in the novel. The novel The Sun Also Rises begins with the exposition, and the background it provides is not the center that it deals with later on. When the readers start reading, they assume that Robert Cohn will be the protagonist of the novel. However, they later learn that he is only a foil to the main character of the novel, or can be an anti-protagonist.

The actual scene in the novel is mentioned on the fourth page of the novel as it states the actual conflict of the novel when Jake asks Brett that can’t they do anything about it, and then he answers his question that they cannot do anything about it. Thus the conflict is instantly resolved when it is mentioned. The question is what point of reading the rest of the novel is.

The novel is Hemingway’s bombardment of his intensive and informal education in the writing craft. He, just like abstract artists, does not have a tool or representation and makes readers wow with his line, composition, and sheer originality. By means of characterization, dialogue, description, and style, Hemingway deals with his lack of traditional story structure.

Hemingway introduces the characters from the very first line of the novel that is sympathetic and unique, and thus they are not easy to be forgotten. The novel does not feature one or two but five three-dimensional characters. They are Brett, Jake, Bill, Mike, and Cohn. These characters are completely different from each other, and the readers are not at all confused about who is who, even in the scenes that feature all of the characters.

Furthermore, the characters are unique in themselves as well. They do not represent the “type” that has been featured before onscreen and onstage, even though the readers may acknowledge that the character of Bill and Frances is part of real life. Each character shows bad behavior in one way or another; that is why the readers are much concerned about what happened to each of them at the end of the novel. The readers also feel pity for the group as they split up at the end.

Moreover, Hemingway presented things and places in a completely new way. The readers experience the life of Paris in the early 1920s after World War I, and in France and Spain through the creative, careful, specific, and concrete description of the writer. He also portrays the inner state of his characters to make the readers what it feels and like to be sleepy, drunk, having the joy of friendship and agony of love.

Hemingway is the master of dialogue writing. He creates the remarkable scenes in the novel as they overflow with the information regarding characters and their relationship with each other. They appear to be more natural, not forced, or artificial. He really shows who people think and talk with each other. Moreover, the brilliance of Hemingway lies in his ability to imitate dialogue without reproducing it.

Therefore, one can say that Hemingway follows the great modernist novelist and artists of the early twentieth century while writing The Sun Also Rises. Just like the twelve-tone composition of Schoenberg and Cubist’s canvasses by Picasso, The Sun Also Rises is the novel in which the central conflict is resolved at the very beginning of the novel. However, Hemingway still succeeds in the apparently impossible quest for the feature of the essential writing-craft elements at his disposal.

Motifs

The recurrent images, structures, and literary devices in a literary text are called Motifs.  The emphasis on the idea helps develop the major themes of a work. The following are the motifs in the novel by Ernst Hemingway.

The Failure of Communication

In the novel, there is rarely an honest and direct conversation between Jake and his friends. They wear the masks of civility and hide their true feelings. Even though they all have been tormented with their direct or indirect experience with war, they cannot communicate with each other. They only talk about the war in a painfully tired and excessively humorous way. 

For example, when Jake is having dinner with Georgette, a prostitute, they converse about war and would have agreed upon the fact that war is better to be avoided if they were not interrupted by the friends of Jake. When the characters are in their worst condition, they only communicate genuinely and honestly. Therefore, they are only able to express their dark feelings.

For instance, when Brett harshly torments Jake, he only talks to her about their situation and his unhappiness with her. Mike is only able to tell Cohn that his presence disgusts him when he is hopelessly drunk. True affection and expression are only limited to Bill and Jake when they go to the countryside for fishing.

Excessive Drinking

Almost all of the friends of Jake are drunken and alcoholics. They drink all the time and everywhere. Drinking is a source of escape from reality for Jake and his friends. It allows them to live lives that have no purpose, meaning, and affection.

In the novel, Hemingway also illustrates the shortcomings of excessive drinking. The worst part of the character is shown when they are drunk; particularly, Mike loses control of himself. When he is intoxicated, he shows his cruel, nasty, and violent side of the character.

Implicitly, Hemingway also tries to show intoxication can only worsen the emotional and mental turmoil that has been making Jake and his friends restless. Through drinking excessively, they choose to avoid their problems and do not want to think about it.

However, he does not simply portray drinking in a negative light. For example, it is shown as a source of relaxation and pleasure when Bill and Jake go fishing in the countryside. It is shown as a healthy activity.

False Friendships

The failed communication and false friendships are closely related. In the novel, many of the friendships are not based on mutual affections or liking. For example, when Jake meets the manager of the bicycle, they drink together. They enjoy each other’s company and also plan to meet each other the next morning. However, Jake sleeps and does not show any regard that he will meet this person again.

Moreover, Cohn and Jake also show a kind of dark and false friendship. Even though Cohn genuinely shows affection to Jake, Jake masks his outright antagonism toward Cohn. This antagonism increases over the course of the novel, along with the unspoken jealousy of Jake over Cohn’s relationship with Brett. Jake also claims to hate Cohn at one point in the novel.

The inability to have genuine and true relationships and connections with people is the characteristic of purpose wandering that characterizes the existence of Jake. Jake, along with his friends, wanders both socially and geographically. There is irony as Hemingway suggests that in wartime, it is easier for people to make friends; however, in peacetime, it appears to be more difficult for them.

Symbols

Abstract ideas and concepts in a literary text are represented by objects, characters, and figures. The following are the symbols in the novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernst Hemingway.

Bullfighting

Later in the novel, Jake and his friends plan a trip to Pamplona to attend the bullfighting fiesta. The scenes of bullfighting are very rich in symbolic prospects. There are multiple possible interpretations of these, and it shows the complexity and depth of the novel. 

For example, in the novel, almost every bullfighting scene parallels a scene that has already occurred or will later occur among Jake and his group. The steer has been killed by the bull at the beginning of the fiesta shows or foreshadows Mike’s assault on Cohn. Moreover, this can be foreshadowing the destruction of Cohn and his value by Brett.

Moreover, the bullfighting scene is taken from two symbolic perspectives: the perspective of Jake and the perspective of the society after postwar. The figure of Belmonte, for example, can be interpreted from Jake and his friends’ perspective. The way Brett’s affection was once commanded by Cohn, Jake, and Mike, the bullfighting, was commanded by Belmonte. Now, the arrival of Romero discards Belmonte’s command of bullfighting and Jake and his friends’ command of Brett’s affection.

The character of Belmonte can be taken in a larger context, which symbolizes the entire Lost Generation. To develop the themes of the destructive effects of sex, Hemingway employed the theme of bullfighting. Hemingway employed the language in such a way that the bullfighting of Romero always appears to be sexual, and killing the bull can be considered as seduction.

The parallel between violence and sex is associated with the danger and destruction of sexuality. The distinction between these interpretations is not very strict. However, the different levels of meaning in the novel The Sun Also Rises complement each other and flow together.

Tone

The tone of the novel is often cynical, and it often changes to comical. Hemingway employed the comedy and humor in his novel to mask the damn tragic tone of the novel. The characters are engaged in witty and hilarious dialogues. However, they have masked vulnerable and disconnected people under their superficial wittiness. They are actually disillusioned by the postwar world around them.

For instance, there is a conversation between Jake and Cohn:

“When did she marry Ashley?”

“During the war. Her own true love had just kicked off with dysentery.”

“You talk sort of bitter.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to give you the facts.”

The characters appear to be happy and content when they are outside with other people. However, as soon as they get back home, they get depressed. In the above dialogues, it is shown that marriage between two people is possible without “true love,” and the bitterness is illustrated as the synonym of “the facts.”

These aspects of the characters of the novel are shown with the tone of the novel. The disillusioned sides of the characters appear more vividly as the approaches to the end. During the fiesta, an increasing sense of plain old exhaustion and cynicism builds up, and in the end, everyone drifts apart.

Genre

The Sun Also Rises is the modernist novel. In the modern world, the style of Hemingway is copied by many of the writers. He appears to be experimenting with the modernist style. For instance, Hemingway’s style is stoic, guff, and a short length.

Modernism in art and literature started in the early 1920s by Europeans, such as painter Pablo Picasso and composer Arnold Schoenberg. At the time, Hemingway was also living in Paris and writing the novel The Sun Also Rises. The novel, certainly, becomes a context for experimentation of modernistic trends in literature. However, the books attain artistic success by no means. The style of Hemingway is radical that is paired with a jaded and bleakest tone.

The novel appears to be the biggest move to drift away from the traditional writing style. It is impossible to show the oddities of postwar time with the traditional writing style. Hemingway becomes a milestone for modern writers and innovates his new writing style and genre.

 Title

The quote in the epigraph is a passage taken from the Bible book of Ecclesiastes. The passage is also the source of the title of the novel as “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down.” This quote deals with the fact that the normal functioning of the earth remains regardless of passing generations.

The epigraph is about the fleeting nature of humans with the undying survival of nature; for example, the world continues to exist, the sun rises and sets regardless of the human’s passage to death. Hemingway produces an ambivalent tone by the juxtaposition of two epigraphs. 

Hemmingway, on the one hand, tries to be pessimistic as it hopes to have a new generation after the lost generation that he depicts in The Sun Also Rises. On the other hand, he appears to be bitter ironic about the fact that every generation is lost as each generation will eventually die.

Setting

The setting of the story is Paris in France, Madrid, and Pamplona in Spain during 1924.

Paris

The first few passages of the novel are set in Paris. It deals with the community of expatriate artists and writers (the loosely fictionalized version of it), where Hemingway really lived in the 1920s.

For Americana and English writers, Paris turns out to be mecca after World War I. writers such as Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and many others were living in a community of expatriates. Jake and his friends are living in the same world as that of Hemingway and go to the same cafés, bars, and clubs.  

Hemingway doubtfully depicts the atmosphere in Paris. He shows that it is indeed exciting, yet it is exhausting, clean and dirt simultaneously, banal and thrilling, and is filled with a sense of illness and unease. Jake takes refuge in his office, where he focuses on his work and cut off from the world.

Spain

There are three locations in Spain that the characters of the novel move through. The first location is of Burguete, the countryside, where Bill and Jake go on a fishing trip. The countryside has a beautiful nature. This part of the novel is different from the rest of the novel and has its significance because of its difference. It demonstrates the purity of landscape that is combined with their escape from the rest of the characters. The fishing trip is, therefore, an exhilarating experience for Bill and Jack.

The other location is Pamplona in Spain. It is a small city famous for its annual bullfighting fiesta. Bill and Jake reunited with the rest of the friends in Pamplona. Bill and Jake’s journey from the countryside to the fiesta is like Mike falling into bankruptcy: initially, it is gradual, and then it is all at once. The setting of the novel becomes nightmarish when the fiesta continues with the sense of lawlessness and continual drunkenness.

Lastly, there is a temporary stop by the seaside at San Sebastian. However, Jake is drawn back into his nightmare of fiesta when he goes to Madrid to make Brett feel relaxed when she calls him after ending a relationship with Romero. In this city, he feels emotional numbness that is caused by his guilt over Romero’s and Brett’s relationship. For the last scene, Hemingway returns to his urban setting to emphasize its bleakness by its remotes from nature.

Writing Style

The writing style of the novel The Sun Also Rises is economical, terse, and journalistic. The distinctive prose style of Hemingway is often described by these three words. He does not follow the list and rich style of his precursors and some of his contemporary writers such as Scott Fitzgerald. Hemingway uses short sentences like:

“Have any fun last night?” I asked.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“How’s the writing going?”

“Rotten. I can’t get this second book going.”

“That happens to everyone.”

“Oh. I’m sure of that. It just gets me worried, though.”

Hemingway was a journalist for a short time, and he learned a lot from his profession. He also introduced the journalistic style in the literary genre of the novel. The novel The Sun Also Rises is a serious work that introduces the trademark voice of Hemingway to the world. 

Hemingway earned great praise yet condemnation for his unique style. To make his dialogues move quickly, he used short and simple sentences along with the realistic and snappy dialogues. The readers can actually feel the action happening in the text.

Narrator Point of View

The novel The Sun Also Rises is narrated in the first-person point of view. Jake, the protagonist of the novel, is the narrator of the novel as well. We see the world surrounding Jake from his perspective. The only thoughts and commentary in the novel are from Jake. The readers’ perception of events and other characters are limited to Jake’s perception. The readers are not familiar with the events where Jake is not present. This perspective makes the readers be close to Jake and appears to be connected to his fate.