Theme Of The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is the story of Jake Barnes, a World War I veteran, and his adventures with his friends and the love of his life, Lady Brett Ashley, as they travel on a vacation from France to Spain. On the night of July fifth, the evening prior to when the passage take place, Jake cannot fall asleep, and is mulling over the lost romantic relationship between himself and Brett, whom he had met during the war, and also the bitterness that erupts from Mike, Brett 's fiancee, when he is drunk; this bitterness is especially directed towards Cohn, Jake 's friend and Brett 's previous affair, which gives Jake mixed feelings on the bitterness and its truth overall. The insanity and celerity of the fiesta that takes place after

This, essentially, is another tie to war. The ball "bursts," alluding to the "bursting" of weapons, and also the "bursting," or sudden loss of Jake 's self-identity, which occurs because of an injury (which readers can assume causes permanent impotence) he sustained during the war. The color gray is often not a color used to represent happiness despite the fiesta having many entertaining events. Hemmingway describes the ball of smoke as gray to emblematize the struggle that Jake and his friends have to find happiness after the tragedy of war. This idea is further emboldened because of the "ball of smoke 's" location; it is above a theater, a place often thought of as entertaining and fun (157). Yet, even this location that brings joy has this looming darkness above it, symbolizing the pain of the war that Jake is unable to shake from his life, even at the happiest of places. This theater is "on the other side of the plaza" (157), just as he had fought the war on the other side of the world, yet, the physical and emotional damage is very much present despite the change of location, reinforcing the theme that war can haunt one

This passage shows Jake 's inability to look past the war due to the changes he has experience because of it, even during what some would speculate as the most exciting event of the year in Spain. It shows that essentially, one must acknowledge their sorrows to be able to move on with their lives; otherwise, the turmoil and disilusionment that occurs can negatively affect one 's life