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).

To me, it seems like Cohn hopes that traveling will help him find his true self, which in a way is what I always hoped would happen to me. Yet, the story practically says it’s a waste of time to travel in order to ‘find yourself.’
Another character, Brett finds herself unable to stay with one man for very long. She switches between Barnes, Mike, and a bullfighter named Romero. The same happens with Cohn, who sends his fiancee to England after realizing he doesn’t wanna be with her any longer. My ideas completely clash with what the characters do. I believe that you can’t play games with someone like Brett does. I also don’t believe it is fair to spend such a long time with someone only to send them off to another country. It just goes to show how broken that generation really was. They also went out to bars every day and blew their money on alcohol and food. I don’t agree with this because of the fact that I have always saved my money and couldn’t imagine just going out and practically throwing my cash away.
Although I may not agree with everything that the characters did, I honestly enjoyed reading the novel. I think it was because of the fact you could really relate and feel for the characters and how they struggled to find genuine happiness. I think Hemingway did a fantastic job capturing the lost generation. I found it interesting how racism was seen throughout the story. I’ve always thought that racism was just a major problem in America at the time. I quickly learned that it was widespread in Europe too and was not just limited to the colored population, it included jews and the poorer people of the community. It opened my eyes to how the war affected more than just the soldiers who were physically and mentally injured. It impacted whole cities and the townspeople living in them.
Overall, The Sun Also Rises is well written and keeps you wanting to read more.

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

well.