Lost Generation in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

1516 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: alienation from society in literature

Lost Generation in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

In the words of Herbert Hoover, "Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath." War disfigures and tears away precious lives. Its horrors embed themselves like an infectious disease in the minds of the survivors, who, when left to salvage the pieces of their former existences, are brushed into obscurity by the individuals attempting to justify the annihilation of the world that was. The era following World War I epitomizes the inheritance of tribulation and sorrow for the generation that remains to retrieve some form of happiness - the lost generation. These are the poor souls who suffer for mankind and endure abandonment by a world that wants to forget suffering. This generation of the 1920's is often featured in the literature of the era, particularly the work of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises is one such example in which he portrays the social dislocation of the members of the Lost Generation and illustrates his own inner torment as a member of this collection of outcasts.

Hemingway's lost generation consists of society's misfits, the unwanted pariahs that exist in every part of the globe. They, like their creator, seek a new peace and a permanent escape route from the cruelties of living. This group of "untouchables" includes Jake, Brett, Cohn, Bill, and Mike. Although each of them has earned his place in society in a different fashion, they find themselves captives of the same injustice of society and form a camaraderie that brings them security and companionship in a cruel world. They fully realize their estrangement from so...

... middle of paper ...

... the world and provide examples of the unfortunate results of discrimination and neglect. Like Jake, Brett, Cohn, Bill, Georgette, Harrison, Count Mippipopolous, and Mike, Hemingway is a forsaken member of thousands who have become the lost generation.

Works Cited and Consulted:

Bloom, Harold. Ernest Hemingway. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc., 1993.

Holmes, John C. "This Is The Lost Generation." The New York Times Magazine. [New York] 16 November 1952.

Noble, Donald R. Hemingway: A Revaluation. New York: The Whitston Publishing Company, 1983.

Svoboda, Frederic J. Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises: The Crafting of a Style. Kansas: The Univeersity Press of Kansas, 1983.

Young, Philip. "Ernest Hemingway." Encyclopedia International. v. 8, p.388-389. 1982 ed.

Show More
Related

  • The Napster Lawsuit in the U.S.

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    The RIAA believe that Napster has helped users infringe copyright. The threat of the lawsuit has been around since the conception of Napster and was actually filed four months after Napster went on line. The case is not as clear-cut as it first appears. RIAA argues that most of the MP3's on Napster's site are mainly pirated. Therefore, by Napster allowing and actually making it easier for users to download MP3's this means that they are assisting Copyright infringement.

    Read More

  • Sugar Cane: Past and Present

    2499 Words  | 5 Pages

    Paturau, J.M. 1982. By-products of the cane sugar industry. Second ed. Elsevier scientific Publishing Co., New York. 366 pp.

    Read More

  • The Search for Love in Jane Eyre

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the novel's opening, Jane is living with the cruel Mrs. Reed and her horrid three children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Mrs. Reed makes her distaste for Jane very evident in all of her actions. She forbids her to play with her (Mrs. Reed's) children (Jane's own cousins) and falsely accuses her of being a "liar" and of possessing a "mean spirit." Mrs. Reed's attitude is subsequently passed on to her children who, in turn, treat Jane as bad, if not worse, than their mother does. As an unjustified consequence of these attitudes, Jane is forced to grow up in a home where she finds no love, even when she tries to be perfect. The only times she comes close to finding the semblance of love is when Bessie (a servant) is kind to ...

    Read More

  • Napster

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are several ethical issues involved in this case. First is the theft of the copyrighted music produced by artists who have not given Napster the right to transmit their music. Secondly, is the right of Napster to provide a legitimate service to consumers, and how that right has been attacked by artists in the recording industry. There are, indeed, two sides to this story.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Masculinity And Aimlessness In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel, “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway is about the life of protagonist Jake Barnes, Lady Brett Ashley and other characters like Robert Cohn, Bill, Mike and Pedro Romero. In the story Hemingway showcases the effects of the war on the characters which causes them to experience a life of aimlessness. The characters in the story are so lost that they can be called as a lost generation. They experience the effects of Masculinity and Aimlessness which contributes a change in them like distraction due to drinking or attempting to hide reality. Nature however has a different impact on some of the characters by making them aware to be one with their surroundings and experiencing happiness.

    Read More

  • A Farewell to Arms

    1567 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway is considered the main personification of the American writers of the ‘Lost Generation’, who lived and wrote his novels during World War I. He became a famous writer in a short time, and the most important author of his generation, and perhaps the 20th century.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of The Sun Also Rises

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Earnest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises, the character Jake Barnes is the narrator and important character in this novel. The narrator, or Jake, describes the people around him from his point of view, and also adds in his own dialogue or interactions with the other characters. These characters are experienced through the biases of the narrator. In this character analysis, three main features about Jake Barnes stand out. That he is a veteran of World War I who is suffering from an injury; Jake, out of his friend group, is the only one who works for a living; and Jake’s character represents the “Lost Generation” (“the generation of men and women who came of age during or immediately following World War I: viewed, as a result of their

    Read More

  • The Roaring Twenties: A Time Of Confidence

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...e Americans came back from World War I experienced disenchantment with modern America and were unconnected from society, these people were known as The Lost Generation (O). This term was first coined by Ernst Hemingway to describe the atrocities witnessed by the soldiers in World War I, and whom came back to write literature. Among the people of the Lost Generation was Ernst Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, ad T.S. Eliot. The war was backed by the people who lived in the U.S. and did not go off to fight, only the soldiers know the true reality of the situation, and how horrible the war actually was and how the war changed them when returning to the United States.

    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

  • Hiv / Aids ( Hiv )

    1489 Words  | 3 Pages

    HIV is believed to be a mutation of the virus found in chimpanzees that cause immunodeficiency in Africa. It is supposed that the virus infected, human during hunting chimpanzee for meat and came in contacts with their blood (CDC, 2016). In the United States the first case of HIV was reported in June 1981 in homosexuals (Qian, Taylor, Fawal & Vermund, 2006).

    Read More

  • Gatsby Lost Generation

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the heavy stresses of WWI, many young soldiers returned home with a need to feel alive again. With the war over and the American economy growing, many US citizens found themselves with money, time, and new ways of expressing themselves. Over one long, prosperous decade, United States grew and changed drastically. The younger generations turned the societal norms of their forefathers on their heads and women began to take large steps away from their stereotyped lifestyle. There were movements in art, music, writing, and politics, as well as an introduction of new cars and machines. With changes in constitutional laws, public ideas, and everyday ideals, the 1920s are considered some of the most pivotal times in the history of the United States.

    Read More

  • Maple Syrup

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    Using very fine crystals and a small amount of syrup produces maple cream. The cream is made by cooling the syrup to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in an ice bath and stirred until the mixture is very stiff. The mass is then rewarmed in a double boiler and becomes smooth and semisoft. " Most syrups sold in stores are only "maple flavored"; check the label carefully. Pure maple syrup is much more expensive than the imitations. And

    Read More

  • The Lost Generation Exposed in The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

    2080 Words  | 5 Pages

    Following World War I and the strife it brought to American culture, seemingly good times were felt by all in the roaring twenties; however, the reality is expressed through the negative happenings of the “Lost Generation.” Published in 1926, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises acts as an allegory of the time, explaining the situations of American and foreign young adults of the “Lost Generation." The journey of Robert Cohn, Lady Bret Ashley and Jake Barnes and their experience abroad in France is one of false relationships, the disparaging actions of women and the insecurity of men; moreover, the major issues of the time compile to form what people living in the 1920’s and historians postulate as the “Lost Generation.” As an enlightening tale, The Sun Also Rises is Hemingway’s portrayal of a morally ailing generation. In conclusion, Hemingway utilizes character description and symbolism in order to present the aimless destruction of the “Lost Generation.”

    Read More

  • Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises - Lost Generation

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926) has been considered the essential prose of the Lost Generation. Its theme of alienation and detachment reflected the attitudes of its time.

    Read More

  • Masculinity in Hemingway´s The Sun Also Rises

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises has his male characters struggling with what it means to be a man in the post-war world. With this struggle one the major themes in the novel emits, masculine identity. Many of these “Lost Generation” men returned from that war in dissatisfaction with their life, the main characters of Hemingway’s novel are found among them. His main characters find themselves drifting, roaming around France and Spain, at a loss for something meaningful in their lives. The characters relate to each other in completely shallow ways, often ambiguously saying one thing, while meaning another. The Sun Also Rises first person narration offers few clues to the real meaning of his characters’ interactions with each other. The reader must instead collect evidence from the indirect hints that Hemingway gives through his narrator, Jake Barnes. The theme of masculinity, though prevalent in the novel, is masked in this way. Jake war wound, Jake and Robert Cohn’s relationship, and the bull-fighting scene show the theme of masculinity.

    Read More

More about Lost Generation in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

Open Document