Review
Review
Review
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story
writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style which he termed the iceberg theory
had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle and public image
brought him admiration from later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between
the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Among many great American writers, Hemingway is famous for his objective and terse prose
style. As all the novels Hemingway published in his life, The Old Man and the Sea typically
reflects his unique writing style. The language is simple and natural on the surface, but actually
2 Introduction
The Sun Also Rises, first major novel by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1926. The novel
captures the moods, feelings, and attitudes of a hard-drinking, fast-living group of discouraged
2.2 Summary
The Sun Also Rises follows a group of young American and British expatriates as they wander
through Europe in the mid-1920s. They are all members of the cynical and disillusioned Lost
Generation, who came of age during World War I (1914–18). Two of the novel’s main
characters, Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes, typify the Lost Generation. Jake, the novel’s
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narrator, is a journalist and World War I veteran. During the war Jake suffered an injury that
rendered him impotent. After the war Jake moved to Paris, where he lives near his friend, the
Jake’s former lover, Brett, also lives in Paris. Jake and Brett met and fell in love during the war,
when Brett, a volunteer nurse, helped treat Jake’s injuries. Although it is not said explicitly, it is
implied that they are not together because Jake is impotent and Brett unwilling to give up coitus.
When Cohn confesses his romantic interest in Brett to Jake, Jake cautions him against pursuing a
relationship with Brett, who is engaged to be married to Mike Campbell, a Scottish war veteran.
Both Brett and Cohn eventually leave Paris. Brett sets off for San Sebastian and Cohn for the
countryside. After few weeks, the writer Bill Gorton (another of Jake’s friends) arrives in Paris.
Together, Jake and Bill decide to go to Spain to attend the Fiesta de San Fermín in Pamplona,
Spain, to see the running of the bulls and the bullfights. Before they leave, Jake and Bill run into
Brett, who has recently returned from Spain, and her fiancé, Mike.
Bill and Jake take a train to the south of France, where they meet Cohn. Bill, Jake, and Cohn
travel together to Pamplona, where they are eventually joined by Brett and Mike. They stay at a
local hotel owned by a man named Montoya. The novel ends unspectacularly, with Jake and
Brett talking in a taxi in Madrid. In the final lines of the novel, Brett tells Jake she thinks they
could have had a wonderful time together. Jake replies, “Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so?”
3 Significance of Book
“The Sun Also Rises” is about being uncomfortable in things that should be easy and
heartwarming, the action of bullfighting, trust in friendship, relief in a stiff drink, etc. The book
contains the lives and interactions of people who are constantly seeking fulfillment and happiness
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in fleeting things. One writer says the characters are searching for “happiness that doesn’t have a
hangover.”
4 Discussion
The Sun Also Rises is probably Ernest Hemingway's greatest novel, largely because it is more
inventive in its treatment of love and war than the other work that vies for this distinction, A
This is a novel of great silence. This is An absorbing, beautifully and tenderly absurd,
heartbreaking narrative, a truly gripping story, magnificent. The quintessential novel of the Lost
Generation, The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic
example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst
of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most
unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant
Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal
bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy,
The Sun Also Rises offers the reader two stories in one: a war story and a love story. What's
remarkable about this book truly radical, really is the fact that it features no scenes of battle
whatsoever (not even in flashback) and no love scenes. Hemingway took on an enormous
Hemingway investigates the themes of love and death, the revivifying power of nature and the
concept of masculinity. His spare writing style, combined with his restrained use of description
to convey characterizations and action, demonstrates his "Iceberg Theory" of writing. Other
The Aimlessness of the Lost Generation. World War I undercut traditional notions of morality,
Male Insecurity. World War I forced a radical reevaluation of what it meant to be masculine.
The Destructiveness of Sex. Sex is a powerful and destructive force in The Sun Also Rises.
Jake Barnes the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Jake is a young American expatriate
working in a Paris newspaper office. He is a veteran of WWI and has an injury from it which, it
appears, has left him impotent. He desires Brett, with whom he developed a relationship while in
Brett (Lady Ashley) although the true antagonist in the novel is the lack of values and direction
of the Lost Generation, Brett comes closest to personifying this malaise and provoking it in
others as she consistently manipulates Jake and makes him undermine his sense of self. Brett is
the strongest, most conventionally "masculine" character in the novel, dominating her lovers and
Robert Cohn a Jewish novelist from Princeton, Cohn the only central male character not a war
veteran, and perhaps because of this he is the only one whose values have not been fully
compromised. He represents American pre-war romanticism and idealism, and it is often painful
to watch him pitted against a world that has lost these beliefs.
Pedro Romero although Romero appears only briefly in the novel, his presence is crucial, as he
is the only man who seems capable of manipulating Brett. His appeal to her, beyond his beautiful
appearance, is clear through the parallels Hemingway draws between bull-fighting and sexuality.
Mike Campbell who is Brett's fiance, Mike has gone bankrupt through business associations
with "'false friends.'" He often gets drunk and grows possessive of Brett. Though he supposedly
doesn't mind that she has affairs openly, he hates Cohn for his fling with her.
Bill Gorton who is Jake's writer-friend, Bill seems to waste his literary talent on witty, ironic
quips and drunken socializing; he may represent Hemingway's fellow Lost Generation writer, F.
Count Mippipopolous the count becomes friends with Brett in Paris. He is wildly rich and
generously throws around money. He is proud of his war scars, arrow wounds through his
Belmonte a legendary bull-fighter, Belmonte has come out of retirement but is not the fighter he
used to be, and is overshadowed by Romero. A shell of his former self, he represents the
Montoya the head of the hotel in Pamplona that Jake and his friends stay at, Montoya is a friend
of Jake's and a fellow aficionado of bull-fighting. He wants to protect Romero from foreigners,
Georgette a slightly disreputable girl Jake picks up at the café, Jake is somewhat hurt when
Frances Clyne who is Cohn's girlfriend in Paris, Frances seems to be using him. She is upset
when he wants to have different romantic adventures, and insults him in front of Jake.
Harris an Englishman Jake and Bill befriend while fishing at Burguete, Harris is a veteran and
Marcial Lalanda a bull-fighter, Marcial is a lesser talent than Romero and Belmonte.
Mrs. Braddocks the wife of Braddocks, she is Canadian and somewhat naïve.
Robert Prentiss an up-and-coming and somewhat annoying American writer Jake meets in
Paris.
Harvey Stone who is Jake's friend in Paris, he asks to borrow money from Jake.
The Sun Also Rises follows a group of young American and British expatriates as they wander
through Europe in the mid-1920s. They are all members of the cynical and disillusioned Lost
Generation, who came of age during World War I (1914–18). Two of the novel’s main
characters, Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes, typify the Lost Generation. Jake, the novel’s
narrator, is a journalist and World War I veteran. During the war Jake suffered an injury that
rendered him impotent. (The title obliquely references Jake’s injury and what no longer rises
because of it.) After the war Jake moved to Paris, where he lives near his friend, the Jewish
Jake’s former lover, Brett, also lives in Paris. Jake and Brett met and fell in love during the war,
when Brett, a volunteer nurse, helped treat Jake’s injuries. Although it is not said explicitly, it is
implied that they are not together because Jake is impotent and Brett unwilling to give up sex.
When Cohn confesses his romantic interest in Brett to Jake, Jake cautions him against pursuing a
relationship with Brett, who is engaged to be married to Mike Campbell, a Scottish war veteran.
Both Brett and Cohn eventually leave Paris: Brett sets off for San Sebastian (a small beach town
A few weeks after their departure, the writer Bill Gorton (another of Jake’s friends) arrives in
Paris. Together, Jake and Bill decide to go to Spain to attend the Fiesta de San
Fermín in Pamplona, Spain, to see the running of the bulls and the bullfights. Before they leave,
Jake and Bill run into Brett, who has recently returned from Spain, and her fiancé, Mike. Brett
and Mike ask to accompany Jake and Bill to Pamplona. In private Brett reveals to Jake that she
Bill and Jake take a train to the south of France, where they meet Cohn. Bill, Jake, and Cohn
travel together to Pamplona, where they are eventually joined by Brett and Mike. They stay at a
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local hotel owned by a man named Montoya. Montoya is a bullfighting enthusiast, and he is
eager to introduce the foreigners to the sport. Brett and Jake are especially captivated by the
bullfights, and Brett is captivated by a 19-year-old bullfighter named Pedro Romero. While
Mike, Cohn, and, incidentally, Jake spar over Brett, Brett runs off to Madrid with Romero.
After the festival ends, Jake, Mike, and Bill leave Pamplona. After a night in the south of France,
Jake decides to return to Spain. He soon receives a telegram from Brett asking for help in
Madrid. Jake immediately goes to Madrid, where he learns that Brett sent Romero away for fear
of corrupting him. The novel ends unspectacularly, with Jake and Brett talking in a taxi in
Madrid. In the final lines of the novel, Brett tells Jake she thinks they could have had a
wonderful time together. Jake replies, “Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so?”
5 Conclusion
In the last words of this novel, Hemingway delivers a memorable and hard-hitting diagnosis of
his generation: "Isn't it pretty to think so?" The speaker, Jake, is referring specifically to the idea
that he and Brett, his romantic interest, could have had "a damned good time together."
The novel tells about the generation who came of age during World War I experienced trauma
and a loss of innocence that left them feeling cynical and without a sense of who they were and
It is about being uncomfortable in things that should be easy and heartwarming: the action of
bullfighting, trust in friendship, relief in a stiff drink, etc. The book contains the lives and
interactions of people who are constantly seeking fulfillment and happiness in fleeting things.
The isolation of the lost generation in The Sun also Rises not only represents the failure of the
There are many threats in life that rival humanity’s ability to reach genuine happiness. Several of
these are depicted in The Sun also Rises brought out through the actions of its characters and the
arc of their development through the story. Characters are otherwise lost and unfulfilled in the
world if they are not able to abandon self-destructive behavior and find solace in relationships
with others. The driving theme in the novel is the difficulty of human connectivity; it also shows
how this challenge can be overcome, which Jake is able to do at the end of the book. Essentially,
connections with others is vital in being genuinely happy and having a fulfilling life. Hemingway
References
Hemingway, E. (1995). The short stories of Ernest Hemingway. Simon and Schuster.
Hemingway, E. (2014). The Sun Also Rises: The Hemingway Library Edition. Simon and
Schuster.