The Sun Also Rises by Thomas S. Eliot

Joseph Goebbels once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” (Goebbels). Joseph Goebbels along with the Communist Party used this to describe their propaganda scheme to draw a whole nation into their control. This action shows a lapse of responsibility and the ability to escape a problem. Like Goebbels, the characters of The Sun Also Rises and The Hollow Men use excuses to get away from the problem. The characters in The Sun Also Rises are also considered Hollow Men as the group continually refuses to care or make a choice because the characters constantly turn to escapism to forget their problems, seemingly cope with changes in their lives but fail to do so, and regularly flashback to the past show a focus on a life already lived.

The characters of The Sun Also Rises have difficulty coping with the changing world just as the Hollow Men cannot deal with change in the situation they face. The narrator of The Hollow Men end the poem on a depressing note, “This is the way the world ends not with a bang but a whimper” (840 THM). Through his description of the world’s end with a whimper, the narrator presents a metaphor for his life which he feels is insignificant. With this he shows his thought of inability to face his issue, showing a feeling of incompetence which is very much how the characters of The Sun Also Rises feel. For instance, Jake has an encounter with a waiter in France, but finds a simple solution, “Everything is on such a clear financial basis in France. It is the simplest country to live in. No one makes things complicated by becoming your friend for any obscure reason. If you want people to like you you have only to spend a little money” (237 SAR). Here, Ja...

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...like the narrator of the Hollow Men. The narrator of the Hollow Men is distressed at their issues, compelling them to dream of a reality they use to reject the one at their hands, wondering “Is it like this in death’s other kingdom walking alone at the hour when we are trembling with tenderness, lips that would kiss form prayers to broken stone” (839 THM).

Works Cited

Eliot, Thomas S. "The Hollow Men." Norton Anthology of American Literature. By Nina Baym. Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2007. 838-40. Print.

Goebbels, Joseph. "Joseph Goebbels Quotes." Thinkexist.com. Thinkexist, 2013. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner, 2006. Kindle.

Dawkins, Richard. "Quotes About Religion or Atheism." Quotes About Religion or Atheism. Atheists of Silicon Valley, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. .