Bullfighting In Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

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Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926) is rich in symbolic possibilities which is truly prominent in the bullfighting scenes. Whether an argument occurred, a fight, a loss- all these actions appeared to be reflected in the bullfights. When viewed in depth, Hemingway uses the bullfighting scenes to forecast the tension between Mike and Robert, the loss of the attention from Brett, and the fight between Robert and Romero, that ultimately led to Robert leaving Pamplona.
In the first major bullfighting scene, the bulls were brought out into the arena and a steer was introduced. The steer was killed almost immediately, due to its inferiority. The steers are different from the bulls in that they have been castrated. Before the fight, Jake discussed …show more content…

Jake witnesses a man gored through the chest by one of the bulls, and the man dies. This happens to be the same day that Robert leaves Pamplona, and he’s practically dead in the hearts of his former friends. It’s also important to note that Romero later kills the same bull. The fight is long and dangerous, but possibly one of Romero’s best. It echos what occurred the night before, in which Robert came into the room Romero and Brett were in. wouldn’t back down in order to prove himself. “He didn’t say much, but he kept getting up and getting knocked down again. Cohn couldn't knock him out” (204). In this case, Cohn was paralleled by the bull. He tried standing up for himself and his love for Brett, and by doing so was more driven by sex and aggression like a bull would be, no longer acting as a steer. Romero still overpowered him, playing the part of himself in relation to the bullfight.
The bullfighting scenes are a telltale example of just how deep Hemingway's stories go. Only skimming the text reveals what is on the surface of his works, but a closer look tells the reader how complex Hemingway’s novel is, as well as the characters and their relationships. Through the parallels, Hemingway reveals his philosophy on tensions, human conflicts, and losses. He compares the interactions of the characters to the interactions of the bulls and the people. We’re much driven by the same things- sex, aggression, power, and proving

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