The Sun Also Rises

By
Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
published in 1926. The novel describes the after effect of the World War 1 over
the population of all over the world. The writer called the post war generation as
the “lost generation” because of their restless and anxious condition along with
their moral degradation.
1. Characters: There are six main characters in the novel along with other
minor characters.
 Jake Barnes: We have Jake Barnes as the firsthand narrator and also
the protagonist of Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises. Jake is
injured in the war resulting in his impotency. Jake is an American
veteran of the World War 1 and works as a journalist in Paris. He is
in love with Lady Brett Ashley. In his recovery days Jake falls in love
with his nurse, Brett but because of his injury they can’t consume
their relationship. Like many other young people of post war
contemporary time, Jake is also disillusioned and depressed. He
mainly spent his time in drinking in inn and party. As a member of
lost generation, Jake focuses undistracting pleasure such as food,
drinking and traveling to feel spiritually happy. Jake positions
himself as an observer, generally using his intelligent and insight to
describe only those around him, rarely speaking directly about
himself. However, in describing the events and people he sees, Jake
implicitly revels much about his own thoughts and feelings.
 Lady Brett Ashley: Inherited the title from her husband, a British
Lord, whom she divorced as the novel opens. Brett like many in the
lost generation, experience the gruesomeness of the war though she
didn’t take part in the war. She is a nurse in a military hospital where
Jake is admitted. Brett drives great pleasure from meal attention and
enjoys man compete for her action. She pushes back against the
social expectations and norms. She keeps her shorts, sleep with
 anyone she likes and ignores social terms. But despite of her free
spirit, she feels miserable because she doesn’t seem to draw much
happiness from her freedom. Jake thinks he can make her happy
even if he is impotent but the way Brett treats him is just otherwise.
Though she loves Jake, she is unwilling to commit a relationship with
him because of his injury. Indeed, she is unwilling to commit to any
of the many man who become infatuated with her though she has
affair with a number of them. Her life like the many of the lost
generation is aimless and unfulfilling. Brett is the only female
character we have in the novel.
 Robert Cohn: A wealthy American writer living in Paris. Though he is
an expatriate like many of his acquaintances, he stands apart
because he has no direct connection with war. Cohn holds romantic
prewar ideas of love and fair play, yet against the backdrop of the
devastating legacy of World War 1, these values seem tragically
absurd. As a Jew and nonveteran, Cohn is a convenient target for
the cruel and petty antagonism of Jake and his friends. Jake
describes Cohn as petulant and childlike. He is easily controlled by
strong women like Brett. Cohn has a brief affair with Brett but he
refuses to see the deteriorated condition of what it is. Cohn
maintains the upper masculine quality Jake thinks Brett need. We
abuse Cohn for his being less than a real man as he never served in a
war and because he is a Jewish.
 Pedro Romero: Romero is a beautiful 19 years old bullfighter. He has
a bullfighting strategy of standing with dangerous animal more
intimately than any other fighter do. Romero’s talents in the ring
charm both aficionados and new comers to the sport alike. He
serves as a foil for Jake and his friends that he carries himself with
dignity and confidence at all times. He embodies masculine
embodies that Jake values. Moreover, his passion for bullfighting
gives his life meaning and purpose. Brett is attacked to this passion
and claims to love him. But when Romero tries to change her into a
traditional woman, she leaves him saying that she is destroying his
career. In a world of corrupted masculinity, Romero is a figure of
honest, purity and strength.
  Mike Campbell: A constantly drunk, bankrupt Scottish war veteran
and also Brett’s fiancé. Mike has terrible temper which is most often
manifests itself during his extremely frequent bouts of drunkenness.
He has a great deal of trouble coping with Brett’s sexual promiscuity
which provokes outbreaks of self-pity and anger in him and seems
insecure about Brett’s infidelity as well as his lack of money.
 Bill Gorton: Like Jake, Bill is also a heavy drunken war veteran
though not an expatriate Bill uses humor to deal with the emotional
and psychological fallout of World War 1. He and Jake, as an
American veteran, share a strong bond and their friendship is one of
the few genuine emotional connection in the novel. Jake feels
freedom make attached with Bill telling him things he would never
share with the other characters. However, Bill is not immune to the
petty cruelty that characterized Jake and Jake’s circle of friends.
Plot Summary: The Sun Also Rises opens with the narrator, Jake Barnes, delivering
a brief biographical sketch of his friend, Robert Cohn. Jake is a veteran of World
War 1 who now works as a journalist in Paris. Cohn is also an expatriate although
not a war veteran. Cohn is a rich Jewish writer who lives in Paris with his forceful
fiancé, Frances Clyne. Chon has become restless in late and comes to Jake’s office
one afternoon to try to convince Jake to go with him in South America. Jake
refuses and he takes pain to get ride him. That night at a dance club, Jake runs
into Lady Brett Ashley, a divorced socialite and the love of Jake’s life. Brett is a
free minded and independent woman but she can’t be very shellfish at time. She
and Jake meet in England during the World War 1 where Brett treated Jake as a
war wound. During their conversation it is subtly implied that Jake’s injury
rendered him impotent. Although Brett loves Jake, she hints that she is unwilling
to give up her physical need and that this reason she is unwilling to commit a
relationship with Jake.
The next day, Jake and Cohn have launch together. Cohn is quite taken with Brett
and he gets angry when he learns from Jake that she plans to marry Mike
Campbell, a heavy drunken Scottish war veteran. That afternoon Jake and Brett
spend sometimes together. That night, however, she arrives unexpectedly at
Jake’s apartment with Count Mippipopolous, a rich Greek expatriate. After
sending out for champagne, Brett tells Jake that she is leaving for San Sebastian in
Spain, saying it will be easier for both of them to be apart.
Several weeks later when Cohn and Brett both are traveling outside of Paris, one
of Jakes friend, a fellow American war veteran Bill Gorton arrives in Paris. Bill and
Jake plan to leave for Spain to do some fishing and later attend the fiesta at
Pamplona. Jake plans to meet Cohn on the way to Pamplona. Jake runs into Brett
who returns from San Sebastian with her fiancé, Mike Campbell. They asked if
they may join Jake in Spain and Jake politely responds that they may. When Mike
leaves them for a moment, Brett reveals to Jake that she and Cohn were in San
Sebastian together.
Bill and Jake take a train from Paris to Bayonne, in the south of the France where
they meet Cohn. Three man travel together into Spain to Pamplona. They plane to
meet Brett and Mike that night but the couple doesn’t show up. Bill and Jake
leave for a small town called Burguete to do some fishing but Cohn chooses to
stay and wait for Brett. Bill and Jake leave for the Spanish countryside and check
into a small rural inn. They spend five pleasant days fishing, drinking and playing
cards. Eventually, Jake receives a letter from Mike saying that he and Brett will
shortly join them in Pamplona.
On that day, Jake and Bill get into a bus for Pamplona to meet the couple there.
After arriving in the Pamplona, Jake and Bill check into a hotel owned by
Montoya, a Spanish bullfighting expert who likes Jake for his earnest interest for
this sport. Jake and Bill meet up with Mike, Brett and Cohn and the whole group
to watch the bull being unlocked for the preparation of the bullfight during the
fiesta. Mike mocks Cohn harshly for following Brett around when he is not
wanted.
After a few more days of preparation, the fiesta begins. The city is consumed with
dancing, drinking and general debauchery. The highlight of the first day is the first
bullfighting at which Pedro Romero, a 19 years old prodigy, distinguished himself
above all the other bullfighters. Despite its violence, Brett can’t take her eyes off
the bullfighter Romero.
After few days, Jake and his friends are at a hotels dining room where Brett
notices Romero at a nearby table. She persuades Jake to introduces her with
Romero. Mike again verbally abuses Cohn and they almost come to blows before
Jake defuses the situation. Later that night, Brett asks Jake to help her to find
Romero with whom she says she has fallen in love. Jake agrees to help and that
night she and Romero spend together.
Jake then meets up with Bill and Mike who both are extremely drunken. Cohn
soon arrives demanding to know where Brett is. After an exchange of insult, Cohn
attacks Jake and Mike, knocking them both out. When Jake returns to hotel, he
finds Cohn lying face down in his bed and crying. Cohn begs Jakes forgiveness and
Jake reluctantly accept it. The next day Jake learns from Bill and Mike that the
night before Cohn beats Romero also when he discovers the bullfighter with
Brett. Cohn later begged Romero by shaking hands with him but Romero refused.
That afternoon, Romero at the bullfighting performance brilliantly dazzling the
crowed by killing a bull that had gored a man to death in the street. Afterwards,
he cut the bull’s ear off and gives it to Brett. After this final bullfighting, Romero
and Brett leave for Madrid together. Cohn has left so Jake, Bill and Mike remain as
the fiesta draw to the close.
The next day the three remaining man rent a car and drive out of Spain to
Bayonne and then go to their separate ways. Jake had back to Spain to San
Sebastian where he plans to spend several quite days relaxing. He receives a
telegram from Brett, however, asking him to meet her in Madrid. He complies and
board an overnight train that same day. Jake finds Brett alone in a Madrid hotel
room.
Brett tells Jake that she has broken with Romero, fearing she is ruining his career.
She announces that she now wants to return to Mike. Jake books tickets for both
them to leave Madrid. As they ride together in a taxi through the Spanish capital,
Brett laments that she and Jake could have a wonderful time together. Jake
replies, “yes, isn’t it petty to think so?”