The Sun Also Rises

By Isaac Dare

The Sun Also Rises is a complicated book whose sophistication lies in its simplicity with a writing style so bare and dry you could shake dust off the pages. However, the dust is exactly what one is to look for in this brilliantly written narrative for it is entirely up to the reader to piece together the theme.

            Jake Barnes is a middleclass man who lives in Paris during the 1920's after WW1 rendered him impotent. He spends a majority of his time relaxing and eating or relaxing and eating with his friends. Friends such as Robert Cohn, a university graduate who attempts rather halfheartedly to become a writer while spending his family fortune on frequent and unnecessary traveling, and Bill Gorton, a peer of Jake's who works in the newspaper who is rather amiable no matter who he's with. Lastly for the beginning cast of characters is the Lady Brett Ashley, the victim of an unfortunate economic marriage who finds solace in the arms of Jake and many other weak-willed men though eventually settling for the “rich” Mike Campbell. The novel really kicks off when Jake and Bill decide to travel to Spain for a week to fish and watch the bullfights. Robert Cohn tags along, but not before spending a week alone with Brett for undisclosed yet obvious reasons. After a week of relative solace in the Spanish countryside Bill and Jake meet up with Robert, Brett, and Mike in Pamplona. After a couple days of lounging it becomes apparent that Robert has become quite attached to Brett much to Mike's chagrin and eventually results in a fistfight that knocks Jake out cold simply for bystanding. When the bullfights begin there is a brave, new matador on the scene named Pedro Romero who moves bulls like the ocean coils waves, with no more force than needed for the elegance of the act. Brett is instantly enthralled by his charming looks and chivalrous demeanor, eventually bedding him and eloping in the span of a couple days. A few months after the tumultuous events in Pamplona Jake meets up with Brett in Madrid only to learn that she has left Pedro and intends to return to Mike just as she did in the beginning, thus ending only where she began at the start of the novel.

            Obviously The Sun Also Rises (TSAR) has war themes, Brett's promiscuity, Jake's impotence, and the entire group's frivolous lifestyle being the apparent caricatures. But I believe that there is a deeper theme, one also befitting the Lost Generation. Throughout the entire novel there is almost never a moment when someone isn't eating something it's as if there's a feedbag strapped to their wallets. However, I think this is a symbol; in the same way that watching bullfights is a symbol, in the same way that week long fiestas and midnight hookups are a symbol. Symbols that indicate that the tangibility of life does not necessarily allow it to flourish. Jake and his crew indulge themselves in one bit of entertainment after another but it does absolutely NOTHING at all to heal their personal shortcomings. Conflict rises and falls like the prow of a boat guided only by the general emotion of the group, in the entire book no one's feeling is ever directly addressed whilst in public. All the character growth is done away from the party or off the page, in fact the greatest source of relaxation and personal growth in Jake was when he went fishing with Bill, nearly isolated form society! What Hemingway is trying to communicate is that drowning ourselves in the material does nothing to aid our psychological and emotional issues and that the problem with modern society is its excessive encouragement of consumerism that promises to do exactly that which Hemingway disagrees with.

            All in all The Sun Also Rises is a motivating look that takes an interesting stance on issues of human progression. The syntax is flawless communicating simultaneously nothing and everything about the characters. His style is reminiscent of an advertisement, giving the viewer a quick and simplistic idea of the product with a whole other meaning behind the canvas. I do hope to read more of Mr. Hemingway’s work in the future.