The Sun Also Rises 4
In 1926 a man named Ernest Hemingway wrote a novel that illustrates the effects of war on the Lost Generation; specifically, on one man named Jake Barnes. This novel is titled "The Sun Also Rises". The Lost Generation is a group of people left feeling emotionally isolated in society due to the effects of World War I. Although most see the physical effects of the war, the emotional effects left a greater void in the hearts of many. This is what "The Sun Also Rises" deals with throughout its pages. The narrator, Jake Barnes, is scarred both emotionally and physically by World War I. He spends most of his life trying to repress his pain and fill the void he feels inside; he does this in many different ways. The first way Jake tries to fill the void inside of him is through a large consumption of alcohol. He uses alcohol in order to repress the emotional distress he feels. Jake receives an injury in World War I that leaves him impotent, which is the main reason he has this overwhelming void in his soul. His masculinity is taken, and now he believes he is less of a person because of it. This void is described by critic Mark Spilka when he says, "As Barnes now sees, love itself is dead..." (Spilka,137). The painful discovery, that so
This conversation illustrates that instead of claiming Brett for himself Jake's reality is that he can't ever have Brett, so he'd rather see her happy with someone else than sad and alone like he is. Mark Spilka describes Jake like this,"...ready to serve his lady at the expense of self-respect" (Spilka,136). Jake is willing to go running back to help Brett time and time again no matter how much pain it causes him all in the interest of making her happy. His desire to be loved by her blinds him to the pain she brings him. He realizes he is experiencing all of this anguish because of his war injury, which causes him to be bitter and to want to bury that pain. This is best explained when Leonard Unger says, "Brett is in love with Jake, and he with her, but since he is wounded as he is there is not much they can do about it"(Unger,251). This explains a lot of the reasons Jake represses reality; his reality is simply too painful to deal with. Jake. It sounds like a swell life, I said. When do I work(Hemingway,120)? Jake's life is also affected emotionally by a woman, named Brett Ashley, who he desires most of all. He desires her so strongly, yet can't have her due to his war injury which leaves him impotent. This, most of all, is what makes the reader realize how jaded Jake's feelings actually are. He will put himself through hell in order to see the woman he loves happy. At one point in the novel, Jake and Brett talk about a crush of Brett's named Pedro Romero: Bill. Drink that, Bill said. Drink it slow(Hemingway,226). Alcohol is not the only crutch Jake uses in Hemingway's story. Later, the reader discovers that in order to put some sort of meaning into his life, Jake becomes deeply intrigued by, and involved in, the world of bullfighting. He is considered an aficionado. "Aficion means passion. An aficionado is one who is passionate about the bull-fights"(Hemingway,136). Jake uses bullfighting as another way to fill the void he feels inside, and, also, to remove the feeling of having no meaning in his life. Throughout most of Book 2, Jake is portrayed as a man who finally has something to hold onto. Like all things in his life though, this does pass, as Jake loses interest in this as well. By the end of the fiesta in Pamplona Jake isn't even attending the bull fights anymore, but instead asking his friends how they we
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1590
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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