Sun Also Rises

World War I was a period of destruction across the world. The aftermath not only included bombed buildings and ruined towns, but it also ruined people’s ideas of life. They forgot all the ideas they believed in before the war and became a ‘lost generation’. Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises follows members of the lost generation and how they don’t know how to love, who they are, or even what they want to do. I can relate to these characters by the simple fact that I don’t know what I truly want to do in my life. In the story, many of the characters have no idea on what they want to do with themselves. Cohn finds himself wanting to go to South America, but not wanting to go alone. This is where I find myself relating to him the most. I have no idea what I want to do. I want to travel, like Cohn, so I can experience the world. Yet, I know I have to go to college so I can get a decent job. Hemingway writes “Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that. You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There’s nothing to that”(19).

I found myself always wanting to know what would happen next. This surprised because when I found out I had to read a Hemingway novel I didn’t think I would like it at all and would struggle to finish it in time, But it was quite the opposite. For instance, when Cohn volunteered to stay back to wait for Mike and Brett while Jake and Bill went up to the hotel for their fishing trip, I really wandered if Cohn would meet the guys up there once Brett arrived because it was obvious he liked Brett and I figured he’d want to try and spend time with her. I found myself rooting for Cohn after he was yelled at by Mike for following Brett around and not wanted by the group. This story kept me on my toes and I feel like others would feel the same way if they were to read it as