The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
"The Sun Also Rises" is a novel by Ernest Hemingway that depicts the disillusionment of a group of expatriates in the post-World War I era. The story centers on Jake Barnes, an American journalist who is in love with Lady Brett Ashley, a British war widow. Jake's war injury prevents him from having a traditional romantic relationship with Brett, which adds to the emotional complexity of their interactions. The narrative unfolds in the vibrant cultural backdrop of Paris and the lively festivities of Pamplona, Spain, particularly during the San Fermín festival, where bullfighting is a central theme.
Key characters include Robert Cohn, a wealthy Jewish writer struggling with his identity and relationships, particularly his obsession with Brett. As the group navigates their tumultuous friendships and romantic entanglements, themes of love, loss, and the search for meaning amidst the chaos of life emerge. Hemingway's prose captures the essence of the "Lost Generation," reflecting their aimlessness and the impact of war on their lives. Overall, the novel offers a poignant exploration of human relationships and the complexities of desire in a rapidly changing world.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
First published: 1926
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of plot: 1920s
Locale: Paris; Pamplona, Spain
Principal Characters
Jake Barnes , an American newspapermanLady Brett Ashley , one of the lost generationRobert Cohn , a young writerMichael “Mike” Campbell , Brett’s fiancéBill Gorton , Jake’s friendPedro Romero , a Spanish bullfighter
The Story
Jake Barnes meets Robert Cohn in Paris shortly after World War I. Somehow Jake always thinks Cohn typical of the place and the time. Cohn, the son of wealthy Jewish parents, was once the middleweight boxing champion of Princeton, and he never wants anyone to forget that fact. After leaving college, he married and lived unhappily with his wife until she ran off with another man. Then, he met some writers in California and decided to start a little, arty review. He also met Frances Clyne, who became his mistress. When Jake knows Cohn, he and Frances are living unhappily in Paris, where Cohn is writing his first novel. Cohn writes and boxes and plays tennis, and he is always careful not to mix his friendships. A man named Braddocks is his literary friend. Jake is his tennis friend.
Jake is an American newspaperman who fought with the Italians during the war. His own private tragedy is a war wound that emasculated him so that he can never marry Lady Brett Ashley, a young English war widow with whom he is in love. So as not to think too much about himself, Jake spends a lot of time listening to the troubles of his friends and drinking heavily. When he grows tired of Paris, he goes on fishing trips to the Basque country or to Spain for the bullfights.
One night, feeling lonely, Jake asks Georgette, a prostitute, to join him in a drink at the Café Napolitain. They dine on the Left Bank, where Jake meets a party of his friends, including Cohn and Frances. Later, Brett comes in with a group of young men. Cohn is attracted to her, and Frances is jealous. Brett refuses to dance with Cohn, however, saying that she has a date with Jake in Montmartre. Leaving a fifty-franc note with the café proprietor for Georgette, Jake leaves in a taxi with Brett for a ride to the Parc Montsouris. They talk for a time about themselves without mentioning Jake’s injury, though they both think of it. At last, Brett asks Jake to drive her back to the Café Select.
The next day, Cohn corners Jake and asks him about Brett. Later, after drinking with Harvey Stone, another expatriate, on the terrace of the Café Select, Jake meets Cohn and Frances, who announces that her lover is dismissing her by sending her off to London. She abuses and taunts Cohn while he sits quietly without replying. Jake is embarrassed. The same day, he receives a telegram from his old friend Bill Gorton, announcing his arrival on the France. Brett goes on a trip to San Sebastian with Cohn; she thinks the excursion will be good for him.
Jake and Bill plan to go to Spain for the trout fishing and the bullfights at Pamplona. Michael Campbell, an Englishman whom Brett is to marry, also arrives in Paris. He and Brett arrange to join Jake and Bill at Pamplona. Because Cohn went to San Sebastian with Brett and because she is now staying with Mike Campbell, everyone feels that it would be awkward if Cohn accompanied Jake and Bill on their trip. Nevertheless, he decides to join them at Bayonne. The agreement is that Jake and Bill will first go trout fishing at Burguete in the mountains. Later, the whole party will meet at the Montoya Hotel in Pamplona for the fiesta.
When Jake and Bill arrive in Bayonne, they find Cohn awaiting them. Hiring a car, they drive on to Pamplona. Montoya, the proprietor of the hotel, is an old friend of Jake because he recognizes Jake as a true aficionado of bullfights. The next morning, Bill and Jake leave by bus for Burguete, both riding atop the ancient vehicle with several bottles of wine, amid an assortment of Basque passengers. At Burguete, they enjoy good fishing in the company of an Englishman named Wilson-Harris.
Once back in Pamplona, the whole party gathers for the festival of San Fermín. The first night they go to see the bulls come in and the men let the savage animals out of the cages one at a time. Much wine makes Mike loquacious and he harps on the fact that Cohn joined the group knowing he is not wanted. At noon on Sunday, the fiesta explodes. The carnival continues for seven days. Dances, parades, religious processions, the bullfights, and much wine furnish the excitement of that hectic week. Staying at the Montoya Hotel is Pedro Romero, a bullfighter about twenty years old, who is extremely handsome. At the fights, Romero acquits himself well, and Brett falls in love with him, as she admits to Jake with embarrassment. Brett and the young man meet at the hotel, and Romero soon becomes interested in her.
Besides the bullfights, the main diversion of the group is drunken progress from one drinking spot to another. While they are in the Café Suizo, Jake tells Cohn that Brett went with the bullfighter to his room. Cohn swings at both Mike and Jake and knocks them down. After the fight, Cohn apologizes, crying all the while. He cannot understand how Brett could go off with him to San Sebastian one week and then treat him like a stranger the next time they meet. He plans to leave Pamplona the next morning.
The next morning, Jake learns that after the fight Cohn went to Romero’s room and, when he found Brett and the bullfighter there together, beat Romero badly. In spite of his swollen face and battered body, Romero performs beautifully in the ring that day, dispatching a bull that had recently killed another torero. That night, after the fights, Brett leaves Pamplona with Romero. Jake gets very drunk.
As the fiesta ends, the party disperses. Bill goes back to Paris and Mike to Saint Jean de Luz. Jake is in San Sebastian when he receives a wire from Brett asking him to come to the Hotel Montana in Madrid. Taking the express, Jake meets her the next day. Brett is alone. She sent Romero away, she says, because she thinks she is not good for him. Then, without funds, she sent for Jake. She decided to go back to Mike, she tells Jake, because the Englishman is her own sort.
After dinner, Jake and Brett ride around in a taxi, seeing the sights of Madrid. This, Jake reflects wryly, is one of the few ways they can ever be alone together—in bars and cafés and taxis. Both know the ride is as purposeless as the war-wrecked world in which they live, as aimless as the drifting generation to which they belong.
Bibliography
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