While on the surface Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is story about a group of motley disillusioned American and British expatriates, living an aimless hedonistic lifestyle in post war Europe in the 1920’s. The novel follows them as they travel from the gaiety of Paris to Spain on a fishing and bull fighting trip. However, behind the initial façade is a central theme of a love story of unrequited love and betrayal between Jake and Brett. The novel revolves around these two characters and their inter- twined relationships with others they come across.
Brett and Jake love each other but cannot be together as there is one thing pulling them apart. Jake is impotent due to a war injury. Jake almost seems to be on the outside looking in as he haplessly accepts his situation and suffers the silent torture of Brett having affairs under his nose. Brett on the other hand is almost callous in her dealings with men whether it be, her two husbands that she did not love, her affair with Cohn and Pedro and her fiancé Mike. In fact Cohn remarks that she is Circe the sorceress in the Odyssey, who turned men into swine. She teases Jake and flaunts other men in front of Jake and offers stolen kisses but broken promises. However realizing her failings and agreeing her torment over lost love must be payment for her sins she says, “When I think of the hell I’ve put chaps through. I’m paying for it all now “Jake is desperately unhappy and spends much of his time, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, as if to numb the pain of reality. The character of Georgette almost seems to act as a foil for Jakes own personality as she too is unhappy in Paris but does not leave,” Isn’t anywhere else,” (23). When her sarcastically remarks she looks happy she uses the oxymoron “Happy, hell” to describe her state of mind which mirrors his. After all he is happy to see or be close to Brett but it is also hell for him. And when he refuses Georgettes’ physical touch due to sickness of the war, she rhetorically states in a matter of fact way, “ Everybody’s sick. I’m sick too”. Jake while being psychologically disturbed from the war is also battling his sickness of the heart. The writing style that Jake narrates the events are choppy, simple and non descriptive which reflects his characterization of the bitter outsider.
In a conversation between Brett and Jake, he remarks flippantly that his injury is meant to be funny and casually remarks, “Its very funny. And it’s a lot of fun too to be in love,” (35) This is the actual opposite of what he really feels, but Brett disagrees and states, “I think its hell on earth.” The repetition of hell in the novel , “I don’t want to go through that hell again, (34) acts as a symbol of their unhappiness and conjures up religious connotations that they are both paying for their sins by divine retribution.
It is interesting that the title of the novel may act as a metaphor to signify a sexual connotation that only Jake alone is suffering in his impotency and is a bitter sexual reference to his ailment. But it may also serve a dual purpose as a metaphor of hope that while there is unhappiness in their lives, as in the sun setting there is also hope and a new beginning to look forward to. After all, The Sun Also Rises
Do you think Jake has to uphold an image to cover up his insecurities? We know he doesn't feel like a man because he is impotent and I've always thought that insecurity is what has made him so detached. This has to do with the whole lost generation idea because Jake can't show that he isn't manly.
ReplyDeleteBrett is in a similar situation because she lost her love in the war and she can't ever love again. I think if you elaborate on the whole lost generation theme it will further explain the significance of the love motif.