Sun Also Rises Theme

678 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on Hemingway's the sun also rises

The Sun Also Rises written by Ernest Hemingway is an accurate portrayal of the “lost generation” of young adults who had to once again discover who they really were after much disillusionment and a lost sense of purpose following World War I. The distinction of what is socially acceptable becomes lost in the attempts of the lost generation to establish their own code of ethics by which to follow. Within the story, Brett Ashley, Robert Cohn, and Jake Barnes have no specific goals for themselves, but they are constantly seeking to find pleasure and happiness within their life. It is not until the end that Brett admits that she and Jake would have had fun together, and Jake simply replies, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” There is a constant search for acceptance, fulfillment, and conclusiveness to make their lives count and rise above the mediocrity of everyday.
Within The Sun Also Rises, the search for acceptance seems to plague the characters. Some are searching for acceptance from others, while some are seeking to find acceptance of the past. With the loss of her true love in the war due to dysentery, Brett has to accept what has happened and carry on. She marries and has affairs with numerous men, but this is never good enough, and she continues to search. Jake says that being in love is fun and an enjoyable feeling to which Brett replies, “No, I think it’s hell on earth” (Hemingway 27). Cohn feels inferior and unaccepted by others because of his treatment as a Jew during his time at Princeton. Jake tells the reader, “He learned [boxing] painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton” (Hemingway 3). His self-consciousness leads him to marry the first g...

... middle of paper ...

... to live her life happily. Jake searches for conclusiveness to his love with Brett. When he replies with “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” he is not saying that in an affirmative way. He replies in almost a mocking way because he knows that if things would have been different, Brett would still not be satisfied with him and would continue to chase her disillusionment. He loves her very much, but he realizes that he and Brett would never work.
Following World War I, the young adults coming out of war were lost and confused. They were trying to rediscover the purpose of life while working through the disillusionment the war caused. The Sun Also Rises depicts this generation through the stories of Brett Ashley, Robert Cohn, and Jake Barnes. They seek to find happiness and pleasure in their life by searching for acceptance, fulfillment, and conclusiveness to move forward.

Show More
Related

  • “What We Lost in the Great War”

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although Jake was spared his life in the great war, he lost another part of his life and future. Jack tries to compensate his lack of any real future with Brett or any other women with his passion for bullfighing and other frivalties. In John Steele Gordon’s article, “What We Lost in the Great War” Gordon laments the loss of hope and future the generation of the war felt. The characters of the novel, and especially Jake, exemplify the lack of direction felt after the war. Their aimless drinking, parties and participation in the fiesta is an example of the absence of focus in their life.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Masculinity In The Sun Also Rises By Robert Cohn

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    Masculinity Gone Awry: Hemingway’s Robert Cohn in The Sun Also Rises From the beginning, Robert Cohn’s name defines himself－he is essentially a conehead in a society where concealing insecurities and projecting masculinity is paramount. Although he tries in vain to act stereotypically male, Cohn’s submissive attitude and romantic beliefs ultimately do little to cover up the pitiful truth; he is nothing more than a degenerate shadow of masculinity, doomed for isolation by society. In the incriminating eyes of people around him, Cohn is a picture-perfect representation of a failure as a man. Through Cohn, Hemingway delineates not only the complications of attaining virility, but also the reveal of another “lost” generation within the Lost Generation:

    Read More

  • Opposites Attract in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Proverb once stated, “Opposites attract.” Scientist, chemist, doctors, and even matchmakers around the world know this statement to be true. However in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the relationship between Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn proves this statement wrong. 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 life style 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 bring out Cohn’s unpopularity, immaturity, and his possessive and obsessive control over Brett.

    Read More

  • The Sun Also Rises Count Mippipopolous Quotes

    380 Words  | 1 Pages

    In The Sun Also Rises, Brett is the center of many men’s affections and desires. Male characters such as Mike, Robert, Jake, and Count Mippipopolous seek her attention and companionship. However, while Mike, Jake, and Robert see her as a love interest, Count Mippipopolous seems to have a different view on Brett. Instead of the typical comments the three love-struck men throw at Brett such as, “Brett, you are a lovely piece”, he urges her to enjoy life instead of drinking it away (85). Count Mippipopolous acts as a sort of guide for Brett, advising her and providing companionship. Count Mippipopolous, like Brett and Jake, has gone through a war, “seven wars and four revolutions” to be exact (66). They’ve all seen the horrors of war and they can understand one another’s pain, which is why Brett calls him, “one of us” (67).

    Read More

  • Alcoholism In The Sun Also Rises By Ernest Hemingway

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

    1813 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is an interesting piece of literature that has been analyzed and reviewed by many scholars throughout the years. Something that is often brought to attention are the gender roles. In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway makes a stronger woman and a more feminine man, this is something that had not yet been seen in literature. A few authors had made female and male characters in their novels that were different than the norm, but none to the extreme of Hemmingway. In Hemingway’s novel, his female character, Brett, does not care about obeying the societal gender role set forth for her during the time period she lives.

    Read More

  • Robert Cohn's Struggle for Respect in The Sun Also Rises

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jake Barnes: "You're not an aficionado?" Spanish waiter: "Me? What are bulls? Animals. Brute animals... A cornada right through the back. For fun-you understand." (Hemingway, 67)    Why does everybody hate Robert Cohn? At the beginning of Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes, the story's point-of-view character, wants us to believe that he has at least some appreciation for Cohn. He relates some of Cohn's life for us, how at Princeton he was a middle weight boxing champ, how despite his physical prowess he had feelings of "shyness and inferiority...being treated as a Jew," (Hemingway, 11) his turbulent career as a magazine editor and his failed marriage. It's easy to begin to feel sorry for this guy. The only mistake he made was falling for Lady Brett Ashley. Cohn's infatuation with this heartless wench, coupled with the jealousy and competitive nature of the novel's other bon vivant characters, lead to his disgrace.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises

    2155 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Sun Also Rises was one of the earliest novels to encapsulate the ideas of the Lost Generation and the shortcomings of the American Dream. The novel, by Ernest Hemingway, follows Jake Barnes and a group of his friends and acquaintances as they (all Americans) live in Paris during 1924, seven years after World War I. Jake, a veteran of the United States, suffers from a malady affecting his genitalia, which (though it isn't detailed in the s...

    Read More

  • Jake Barnes Flaws

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway reveals the severity of Jake’s love for Brett by having Jake endure the effects of Brett on his life, even though life seems better without her. Throughout the novel, Jake reveals his infatuation for Brett. Jake, although enamored with Brett, finds it necessary to remove her from his life, as she not only initiates conflict with Jake but also sparks conflict between Jake’s group of Bill, Cohn, and Mike.

    Read More

  • Brett Ashley Quotes

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, she taunts pure people like Romero, who is probably still a virgin because he does not “mix that stuff” (Hemingway, 90), for Romero, bullfighting always comes first , and there is Jake who is impotent. Although, between the lines, Brett thinks about all “the hell [she] put chaps through...[she is] paying for it all now” (Hemingway, 14). Brett is not necessarily thinking about these men, instead she is punishing herself for all that she has put men through by being involved with people who can not match up with her sexually. Likewise, Hemingway shines light on the relationships that Brett has destroyed between men to punish herself. For instance, after Cohn begun to like Brett, Jake was enraged to where he even said, “to hell with Cohn, (Hemingway, 117) damaging their friendship. Additionally, Brett’s interaction with Jake caused Mike to lose control of himself and become “a bad drunk” (Hemingway, 78) and become “unpleasant after he passed a certain point,” (Hemingway, 78) and throughout the trip, he was constantly passing this

    Read More

  • Lost Characters in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The New Idea of Modernism

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many of the social normalities these people had before they left for war, were abandoned. People exchanged their proper ways for more relaxed ideals. In this new society people were more able to express themselves, how they wanted to. One of the best shifts that happened in this new era was with women. Before World War One, women were considered submissive to men. They did not have duties outside of daily house work, and children. However after World War One people returned to women who had taken on more manly roles. In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway uses women to show these challenges of society. Take Brett Ashley, before the war she would have been considered a rebel, and unattractive to most men, but after the war he attributes take on a whole new light. Brett is in control of her surroundings and this control gives her options that many women before had not experienced. This independence can be seen in her promiscuity. When Jake confronts her about this behavior she makes no excuse but rather says “ Oh well. What if I do” (Hemingway 27). This reaction is something new. Post World War, many women began reject the social norms that had been set for them. Unlike the women in e.e. Cummings poem The Cambridge l...

    Read More

  • Lady Brett Ashley Essay

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Sun Also Rises written by Ernest Hemingway not only established the concept of the Lost Generation, but also exemplifies the new era for women. The character Lady Brett Ashley represented the "New Woman" which had impacted the society during the 1920s on how women acted and dressed. Through Lady Brett Ashley, Hemingway not only displayed the "New Woman", but also the theme of masculinity. Her masculine role can be seen through her drinking habits, the way she treated others, and her individuality. Lady Brett Ashley is a strong individual that is free spirited and charismatic. Her selfishness and the way she treated her male friends made her an unsympathetic character in the book. Even though she embodies the independence women wanted to

    Read More

  • Gender Role In The Sun Also Rises By Ernest Hemingway

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway is an example of how an entire generation redefined gender roles after being affected by the war. The Lost Generation of the 1920’s underwent a great significance of change that not only affected their behaviors and appearances but also how they perceived gender identity. Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes are two of the many characters in the novel that experience shattered gender roles because of the post war era. The characters in the novel live a lifestyle in which drugs and alcohol are used to shadow emotions and ideals of romanticism. Brett’s lack of emotional connection to her various lovers oppose Jake’s true love for her which reveals role reversal in gender and the redefinition of masculinity and femininity. The man is usually the one that is more emotionally detached but in this case Lady Brett Ashley has a masculine quality where as Jake has a feminine quality. Both men and female characters in the novel do not necessarily fit their gender roles in society due to the post war time period and their constant partying and drinking. By analyzing Brett, Jake, and the affects the war had on gender the reader obtains a more axiomatic understanding of how gender functions in the story by examining gender role reversal and homosexuality.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Jake Barnes

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Sun Also Rises Theme

Open Document