The post-World War I generation in America, where the war experiences left the country altered forever and the people emotionally barren is usually referred to as the Lost Generation. More specifically, the term is used for a group of American writers who came of age during the war and established their literary reputations in the 1920's. The term embraces Ernest Hemingway, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, e.e. cummings and many other writers who made Paris the centre of their literary activities in the 1920's. Works of those writers represented the distinctive stamp of the post war period, capturing the attitudes of the young at that time, greatly disillusioned and materialistic. The generation was 'lost' in the sense that its inherited values of patriotism, honour, success and love were no longer relevant in the post war world because of spiritual alienation of America on the international scene. Even most basic notions rooted in the American mentality, such as the American Dream, seemed to be devalued and no longer served as a path to follow for the young. Hemingway and Fitzgerald, though spent much time during their litera

In Ernest Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises' the Lost Generation is shown as even more unemotional and dry, probably thanks to Hemingway's prose style: short, simple sentences, from which all comment or emotional rhetoric have been eliminated. The main characters of the novel, portrayed through understatements and simplicity of words, lead the life typical for young American writers at the post war time. Their existence was limited to going out, drinking, talking about trifles and looking for pleasure in love affairs; by means of this morally ambiguous life they sought escape from spiritual alienation. Again, the pre war values of love and faith were devalued, they had little relevance if compared with the unbelievable scale of violence and the atrocities of the war. Reading between the lines it can be noticed that all main characters are afraid of final solutions; Brett Ashley is acting against her feeling for Jake, Cohn is fleeing from his long-time lover Francis, Mike is observing his fiancee getting involved in one affair after another. Searching for the meaning of life, they are all afraid of finding it. In the same way as Fitzgerald, Hemingway leaves some solution by bringing in the positive character, again in the role of the narrator. Jake Barnes is the only one who realises the truth: 'You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another'. To survive in such a world, one must behave well in the lonely, losing battle with life to show 'grace under pressure', and that is exactly the way of Jake.

The Jazz Age brought, apart from economic boom and what followed, the new mentality and fresh outlook on social roles. Women at that time, having won the right to vote in 1920, demanded to be recognised as man's equal in all areas. They adopted a masculine look, cutting their hair and abandoning corsets, they drank and smoked in public and were more open about sex. This concept of the 'new woman' is brought into 'The Sun Also Rises' - lady Brett Ashley perfectly suits the image of new emancipated female. She chooses partners for herself, manipulating them, she drinks with men as if she was one of them, and refuses to grow her hair long. The same type is Jordan Baker

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jazz Age, Lost Generation, American Dream, War II, Fitzgerald Hemingway, Dos Passos, Gertrude Stein, Jake Barnes, Brett Ashley, Jordan Baker, post war, jazz age, 'the gatsby', american dream, 'the sun, sun rises', 'the sun rises', lost generation, francis scott fitzgerald, jazz music, spiritual alienation, fitzgerald hemingway,
Approximate Word count = 1482
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)