The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

„The sun also rises” - an analysis

Ernest Hemingway is one of the most accomplished american writer. His novels and short stories are known by whole world of readers. His first work, written in Spain in 1926 called “The Sun Also Rises” is the example of modernist novel. Each of Hemingway’s output talks about important and difficult dilemmas of every human being in the present world. “The Sun Also Rises” shows the problem of the “lost generation”. These idiom represents people who went through the World War I. Their feelings has changed after the war. The novel, is about love, friendship and about the complications, which always influence on these feelings and make them much more difficult. As a background of the story we take a small town: Pamplona, in Spain in 1920s.
The story opens with the introduction about Robert Cohn. He’s a Jew, who has finished Princeton University. He came to Paris, after his marriage failed. In France he is with Francess, who tries to enforce him to marriage. Robert tried to escape this decision, so he asked Jake Barnes – the narrator and main character of the story, if he wouldn’t like to go out the town, for few days. Jake wasn’t really interested on going with Cohn anywhere. But at the end he has proposed him journey to Pamplona in Spain, where they would participate in a tradicional, organizing every year, fiesta and bull fighting. There is five characters there together: Jake, Cohn, Brett – in whom Jake is in love, Bill Gorton – Jake’s friend from America and Mike Campbell - Brett’s fience. The major complication about John’s love is his injury gained in the war. He is an immpotent man now. Brett is also in love with him, but she cannot be with a man who has immpotence. During the fiesta, friends are drinking and parting all the time. Cohn had the romance with Brett before and he is jelaus about her during the stay in Pamplona. He had fought with Mike and Jake, at the end he knocked them out. Robert was a boxer during his school years. He’s been so mad mostly because Brett fell in love with much younger bull fighter: Romero. She asked Jake if he can present each one to another. It’s hard for Jake, but he can’t refuse it, he loves her that much. Brett is with the bull fighter a little after they had left Pamplona and went to Madrit. Jake went to San Sebastian for few days, to relax. The rest of friends went back to Paris. After some time, Jake got a telegram from Brett. She wrote that she really needs him in Madrit. He took the closest train, and arrive to Madrit the same day. The novel has finished when Brett and Jake are together in the car and Brett told him, that they could have a wonderfull time together. He answered her, that “it’s pretty to think so”.
In “The Sun Also Rises” are many important characters. The major one are Jake and Brett. Jake is war weteran from USA, Lady Brett Ashley, his love, is an independent, beautyful, charmful woman with great charisma. She believes in free love, so she chooses her partners and change them every time she wants. The relations between those two main characters are most important at this novel. It shows us, how examples of “lost generation” try to live their lifes. It also shows us how they try to rebuild the world that they lost during the war and how, after the war life is different. Memories about this, what they went through cannot let them forget, than in real, world is much more complicated, full of sadness and despair. Jake and Brett for ever lost the ability of optimism, dreams and real love. They spend their time on drinking, parting - trying to forget about the reality. Another important character in “The Sun Also Rises” is Robert Cohn. As it’s written page before, he’s american Jew who live in Paris. He’s a rich writer. He wasn’t at the war, but he also cannot find himself in the world where he has to live. Cohn had a romance with Brett and fall in love with her. She didn’t feel it that way. When they are in Spain, he showed his jeaolusy by knocking out Jake and Mike. He feels lost, mostly because he is the only Jew among Jake’s friends and the only one who didn’t participate in the war.
Ernest Hemingway, wrote “The Sun Also Rises” basing on his own experiences. This fact, let us deeply believe that character’s feelings are truly illustrated. The novel shows us not only a problem of World War I’s weterans, but the problem of every person who participated in any war. It shows us, how delicate and sensitive is human being, and that every experience changes us. Another problem which contain this novel is the qestion, if the soldier or any other person who was in the war can come back to the life they used to live before? This question can be answered in many ways, because there are at least two sides of this. One is that person, like Brett, who lost their true love during the war, by constantly changing her partners, tries to find one more time this romantic, cheroic, and truly feeling. But maybe it’s just running behind the dream that in fact it is our imagination about the past. Second answer for the question is a person like Jake, who doesn’t even try to do anything about his life, because he doesn’t believe that anything can be done. He vegetate because he lost all hopes that let him dream about anything from before the war. Those two attutitudes are sad but real, and examples of them can be found everywhere aroud us.
My opinion about “The Sun Also Rises” is very positive. It’s not only because Ernest Hemingway is one of my favourites writers. This novel is written in such a characteristic way, that we can really believe that the characters think, and feel truly. I saw also that the “lost generation” doesn’t only reffer to the generation that went through the World War I, but it contains every person who went through such a rough time as war is. Brett and John are the examples of inteligent, smart and rich people who may reach everything they want to. But it’s not that easy, after they went through hard time. This book is also about complicated nature of people.