Essay on Disillusionment in Hemingway´s The Sun Also Rises

“Oh, Jake, we could have had such a damned good time together.’ ‘Yes, Isn’t it pretty to think so?”. Their final discussion is right where they started in the back of a cab. Brett has just dug a hole even deeper into the abyss of disappointment that Brett has already given him. Jake has lost his masculinity in more ways than one. He has to live without Brett, and with his disability, denying him any chance at all with women. He has finally accepted the loveless relationship that has become of them, and will push forward knowing how it will never be.

The main reason that Brett’s life is so miserable is because she loves Jake, but they cannot be together. Critics have speculated as to whether she really loves him or not, even going so far as to say she merely wants what she cannot have. However, the text does not support that claim. Brett says over and over again how much she loves Jake and cannot stand being apart from him. She recognizes that it is better for them to be apart, but that she has no control over it. When Jake asks whether she wants them to see each other, she simply replies, “I have to” (35). Each time they touch each other and become affectionate, Brett becomes shaky and must stop it. She says to Jake in the cab, “Love you? I simply turn all to jelly when you touch me” (34). These two have a special kind of relationship that none of the other

Reflecting members of the Lost Generation, the characters in the novel are negatively affected by being a part of it because many are incapable forming genuine relationships. The fight between Cohn, Jake, and Mike especially illustrates such an idea because it shows just how meaningless the idea of friendship is to the characters. Cohn in particular gives little meaning to true relationships. He says that Jake is his best friend, yet he insults him prior to the physical altercation; “‘You’re really about the best friend I have, Jake’” (39). Despite Jake allegedly being his best friend, he still refers to him as a pimp, showing how little Jake means to Cohn. The negative effect of meaningless, dishonest relationships is also found in the overall relationship of the group: Cohn claims to like Jake, while Jake claims to hate Cohn. Mike abhors Cohn as well, yet they are all out together nonetheless. Their lack of honesty, which led to the fight, stresses the significance of the negative effects of being a part of the Lost Generation, which is Hemingway’s meaning of the entire work.

Hemingway uses the theme through Brett and Jake, these two characters show love between each other but know they can never find love with eachother. Jakes impotency affects his love with Brett and has a negative impact on him. Brett cannot love Jake as her mentality is that she needs sex to love, while she is also unapologietic. This takes a huge toll on Jake as although he does not show that he is hurt, it does hurt him inside. "You’re getting damned romantic." "No, bored." (3.35). This quote early on shows that a relationship between Brett and Jake is not possible. They cannot find love because they cannot have sex, even when they try to show a little romance with eachother, the other just shuts them down. "Couldn’t we live together, Brett? Couldn’t we just live together?" "I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody. You couldn’t stand it." (7. 7). This example shows of how they turn eachother down of a relationship. Jake tries to solve the no sex problem with

Brett loves a good time and is not shy about pursuing her desires. Perhaps it's unfortunate that she now desires Jake, but his very inaccessibility could be irresistable to her. Who wouldn't sympathize with Jake? His dilemma is agonizing and yet he maintains some dignity, most of the time anyway. When he cries in the night, "[feeling] like hell again" (Hemingway, 34), he is truly the victim of cruel fate, isn't he?

This shows the independence and freedom women were starting to get back then. Brett is both masculine and feminine in the story but mostly shows more of here masculine side throughout. The war was a major reason why women resulted in having to fulfill the masculine role, because men would be affected by the war emotionally or physically. Hemingway uses Jake as a example of loss, by taking away his ability to have sex.Ever since this loss forced Jake to change his view on masculinity. Jakes is wanted by many women but cant have physical relations with him due to his injury. Hemingway provides us with a description that shows Jakes problem with his masculinity. In chapter 3, Hemingway writes,“looked up to be kissed. She touched me with one hand and I put her hand away. "Never mind." "What’s the matter? You sick?" "Everybody’s sick. I’m sick too."(Hemingway 23).This quotes shows Jake incapability for sexual actions as that the main reason why him and Brett can't and didn't end up together.

Through the period of the novel the characters have time for new experiences and become more wise. From beginning to end the characters change and even become more memorable. In the beginning of the novel Jake is suffering from depression and he seems to be feeling a lack of masculinity because of his rejection from Brett. Although his depression does not go away, it's certainly more visible during this time. Jake does get worse before he he gets better because “the novel will be a recording of Jake’s painful lessons” (Rovit and Brenner 130). Brett at this time is not focused on Jake or any other single guy. Brett’s thoughts about Jake during this time may include being in a loving relationship; however, she does not want to give up her sexual intercourse while in the process. In the middle of the story Jake has developed a bit more

A common problem for many people in the world for many ages has been adversity and misfortune. Human beings have never dealt with misfortune in an efficient manner and this has been an universal problem throughout history and in the present day.There are many symptoms of depression and Hemingway details the effects of adversity and one way of dealing with it using literary devices such as tone, imagery, diction, detail and point of view in his novel. The Sun Also Rises.

But although Brett may have set a role model for other women, she still had her flaws, one of them being that she was very promiscuous and had several affairs, leading men on to think that she cared for them, for so to ditch them for someone else. One very good example of this is her relationship with Jake. She cared deeply for Jake, but kept on hurting him, not necessarily intentionally, by her not wanting to be in a relationship with him due to his impotents. After Jake and Brett depart in Pamplona, Jake goes to San Sebastian, but quickly after his arrival, he receives a telegram from Brett who was in trouble, and needed Jakes help. The telegram said: “Can you come to hotel Montana Madrid, am rather in trouble, Brett” (Hemingway 209). The reason Brett is contacting Jake to help her is because she has decided to leave Romero, her 19 year old lover whom she left to Madrid wit. Brett knows how strongly Jake feels about her, and knows that he will always be there for her when she is in trouble, something that is proven when Jake says: “Well, that means San Sebastian all shot to hell. I suppose, vaguely, I had expected something of

   The imagery of bulls and steers pervades Hemmingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises. Bullfighting is a major plot concern and is very important to the characters. The narrator physically resembles a steer due to the nature of his injury. Mike identifies Cohn as a steer in conversation because of his inability to control Brett sexually. Brett falls for a bullfighter, who is a symbol of virility and passion. However, there is a deeper level to the bull-steer dichotomy than their respective sexual traits. The imagery associated with bulls and steers is more illustrative than their possession or lack of testicles. In their roles and in the images associated with them, bulls are glorious,

Jake is not a wealthy man; however, his ego gets the better of him. Time and again, he keeps a tight check of his bank account balance. But when Brett starts hanging out with Count Mippipopolous, Jake is not averse to offering up his money when they all go out together. Money takes a back seat to Jake's ego. Once, Brett sends the Count out for champagne so that she could be alone with Jake. Whereupon she talks to him about her fiancé, Michael and this shoots down Jake's already bruised ego to its lowest. However, For Jake, just to be with Brett is pure happiness. He is so blinded with love for her that he doesn't even flinch when she does

Jake also at times seems to realize how bad his life is, but then never regrets it. He is in love with Brett Ashley, but she is always with other people, including Robert Cohn, which makes Jake jealous. This jealousy turns to anger when Jake gets into a fight with Robert and is then knocked out.

Jake and Robert Cohn and their relationship is another indicator of the theme of masculine insecurity. Hemingway plays up the tensions of competition and jealousy to demonstrate just how uncertain his male characters are. Cohn seems to sincerely be keen of Jake, and while Jake is normally nice toward him although he does not really seem to reciprocate Cohn’s warmth. Their relationship changes once Jake discovers Cohn’s fling with Brett. After this incident, he is more unfriendly toward him, and more critical of him. A conversation that happens later between Jake and Bill hints at Jake’s jealousy. Bill asks Jake if he was ever in love with Brett and Jake responds with “Off and on for a hell of a long time.” Bill apologizes for being inconsiderate, Jake them claims he no longer cares. Bill is skeptic of this though (128). The competition between Jake and Cohn relationship reaches its first peak, when he finds out about Cohn’s trip with Brett and their sexual affair and by Cohn’s belief that he knows Brett better than Jake does. His hatred for Cohn grows even more throughout the novel with Jake

It has been called one of Hemingway’s greatest literary works as it is the “quintessential novel of the Lost Generation.” Its strong language and subject matter portray a powerful image of the state of disenchantment felt in the 1920’s after the war. The interactions between the characters in this novel display a society living without convictions, affirming Gertrude Stein’s quotation at the beginning of the novel, “You are all a lost generation.” To paint this vivid picture of discontentment and disillusionment Hemingway tears away traditional ideas and values by stifling the appearance of God and religion. Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is a poignant take on how the consequences of war can limit or diminish the presence of God and religious faith amongst those living in a post war society.

Hemingway's world is one in which things do not grow and bear fruit, but explode, break, decompose, or are eaten away. It is saved from total misery by visions of endurance, by what happiness the body can give when it does not hurt, by interludes of love which