Importance Of Romanticism In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway writes a novel centered around Jake Barnes and his post war lifestyle in Europe. Seán Hemingway wrote an introduction for the novel long after the original publication that Jake Barnes was written as a representation of Ernest Hemingway, Cohn was a representation of Harold Loeb, and Brett was a representation of Duff Twysden (1). Hemingway wrote this novel in order to showcase what it means to be lost in life, and part of Gertrude Stein’s lost generation. When reading the novel, it is clear to see that the characters, including Barnes, are lost in what they want from life. The audience primarily witnesses long nights of drinking and partying, but within those nights, often times the characters found themselves alone.

In Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, we are taken back to the 1920’s, accompanied by the “Lost Generation.” During this time, prohibition was occurring in America. Hemingway uses alcohol as an obstacle that causes distresses between the main character, Jake and his life. Along with alcohol, promiscuity is prevalent throughout the novel. The heroine of the novel, Brett, displays the theme of promiscuity throughout the novel. She uses her sheer beauty and charming personality to lure men into her lonely life. The themes of alcohol and promiscuity intertwine with the Lost Generation in this classic love saga.

Common characteristics of American Romanticism include valuing feeling and intuition over reason, an individual against society or establishment, and an extended and hyperbolizing of the protagonist’s death. Furthermore, there is always a sense of exaggeration in American Romanticism, and it brings along a strong mix of emotions for the audience. “In this manner, Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man

Imagine a candle-lit dinner on a starry night in Paris, the Eiffel Tower just in view with dazzling lights shining into the night. This image is probably what you think of when you hear the word “romantic,” correct. However, this image is a stumbling block when people think of the “Romanticism Period” in literature. Where “romantic” means having a lovely time with the person you love the most, “Romanticism” is a piece of literature written with key themes in mind. Those themes tend to be a strong emotion, imagery or worship of nature, and individuality and subjectivity. The peak of inspiration for these pieces was in the years 1800-1850, and there are famous poems that are well loved today from this period. Many of the poets that you enjoy reading and know are, in actuality, Romanticism writers, and instill the themes above in our minds.

A Proverb once stated, “Opposites attract.” Scientist, chemist, doctors, and even matchmakers around the world know this statement to be true. However in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the relationship between Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn proves this statement wrong. Throughout the novel, Lady Brett has many types of relationships with a variety of people, most of whom are men. Some of these men include Jake Barnes, the narrator of the story, Mike Campbell, her supposed husband, and Pedro Romero. Lady Brett’s laid back, independent, and rather promiscuous life style creates many

In Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the effects of the First World War are evident as seen by the large number of American expatriates residing in Paris. The most profound effect is seen on Lady Brett Ashley and the audience sees this effect through the lense of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Lady Brett has an inner conflict so extreme that she is able to illustrate the three main aspects of the psychoanalytic theory: Her addiction to sex and alcohol is the ‘id;’ the id is known as the biological drives and instinctual tendency of a human. Her hopeless infatuation with Jake Barnes and the idea of love serve as the ‘superego,’ the superego being the conscious self-image, and the conscientious effort to fit in and act out the normal parts of life, which in Brett’s case is to fall in love and get married. Lastly, her blind love with Pedro Romero is the ‘ego,’ which is the part of the brain that works out Lady Brett’s sexual demands as well as her need to find somebody to love and thus mediates and links her aggressive sexual prowess with her softer side that shows a more passive, love-oriented angle. Lady Brett Ashley’s polarizing effect on each and every character in the novel is far too complex and unique to leave untouched. Rarely will a character be demonstrative of each of the three aspects of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, however there is a unique angle to Brett’s personality. While most psychologists say that Brett has an

Romanticism was a literacy movement that started during the late 18th century in Germany. It came about as a reaction against rationalism. Romantic characteristics opposed those of classicism. These new ideas spread to America and highly influenced the popular writers of that time. The Romantic Movement went beyond rational, chronological and artistic boundaries. Humor and fiction became a large aspect of this new style of literature. “Rip Van Winkle”, “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” express Romanticism through their authors’ use of stereotypical characters.

At first glance, Ernest Hemingway’s The  Sun Also Rises is an over-dramatized love story of bohemian characters, but with further analysis, the book provides a crucial insight into the effects of World War I on the generation who participated in it. Hemingway’s novel follows a group of expatriates as they travel Europe and experience the post war age of the early 1900’s. The protagonist is Jake Barnes, an American war veteran who lives in Paris and is working as a journalist. Jake was injured during the War and has remained impotent ever since. His love interest, Lady Brett Ashley, is an alcoholic englishwoman with severe promiscuity, which is representative of women and the sexual freedom that emerged during the Progressive Era. Jake and Brett

Women of the 1920’s compared to women today are seen as very passive and were usually domestic wives whose main responsibility was to take care of the house and children. But throughout this decade, women were starting to slowly modernize and become more independent. In The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, Lady Brett Ashley is somewhat portrayed as “the admirable new woman” of the 1920’s-the woman who openly flaunts accepted conventions of the passive, dependent female role in society and emerges as a positive, inspiring, and risk-taking figure in Paris, Pamplona, and Madrid among the male expatriate artists. In the novel, we see Brett as a modern and somewhat inspiring woman through characterization and the analysis of specific moments

   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,

The pivotal character of Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises is Jake Barnes. He is a man of complex personality--compelling, powerful, restrained, bitter, pathetic, extraordinarily ordinary yet totally human. His character swings from one end of the psychological spectrum to the other end. He has complex personality, a World War I veteran turned writer, living in Paris. To the world, he is the epitome of self-control but breaks down easily when alone, plagued by self-doubt and fears of inadequacy. He is at home in the company of friends in the society where he belongs, but he sees himself as someone from the outside looking in. He is not alone, yet he is lonely. He strikes people as confident, ambitious, careful, practical,

Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises has his male characters struggling with what it means to be a man in the post-war world. With this struggle one the major themes in the novel emits, masculine identity. Many of these “Lost Generation” men returned from that war in dissatisfaction with their life, the main characters of Hemingway’s novel are found among them. His main characters find themselves drifting, roaming around France and Spain, at a loss for something meaningful in their lives. The characters relate to each other in completely shallow ways, often ambiguously saying one thing, while meaning another. The Sun Also Rises first person narration offers few clues to the real meaning of his characters’ interactions with each other. The

Disillusionment does not merely occur in only novels; every single individual to walk the Earth will experience mental displeasure at some point within their lives. Nevertheless, many choose to let unfortunate events circle within their souls and become encrypted into their memory. Once this happens, the role of aimlessness takes its course, adverse fate reigns, and the feeling of disenchantment dwells in the mind. Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises, grasps this very subject in a subliminal way; one must accurately analyze Hemingway’s somber tone and sparse writing style in order to find the hidden symbolism and themes captured within this literary work. His protagonist, Jake Barnes, has certainly experienced prodigious pain, but

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.

Through the late 1700s and early 1800s, the period of Romanticism blossomed. “Romanticism” very loosely describes the era in which modern culture began to take shape. During the Romantic era, many advancements were made in all aspects of people’s lives and cultures. One aspect in particular has held great value even to this day. That aspect being the expansive amount of literature created during the era. The era of Romanticism had its name for a reason. It can be greatly attributed to the romantic style or genre of literature that defined the period. Romantic writers wove many tales of admiration, longing, and aspirations. They were fantastical, in a sense, and almost the antithesis of realism, even. Amidst the great breadth of literature