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The Story Of The Lost Generation

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Brodie Wiener
PIB LA 10 Period 3
Hensley
3 April 2015
The Story of the Lost Generation
Living an spontaneous, carefree life like the characters in The Sun Also Rises do sounds like fun but it isn 't what it seems. Ernest Hemingway writes a piece of literature that when looked upon through a new historicist critical perspective exposes the underlying truth and an uglier reality that is normally suppressed presents itself. New historicist criticism in a nutshell is arguing that the literature is directly influenced by the time period and place in which it occurs, but The Sun Also Rises also reflects the attitudes and feelings of the author in the time period. In the case of The Sun Also Rises written by Ernest Hemingway it is evident …show more content…

These similarities make us believe that Hemingway was recounting his post-war experiences through the lives of the characters in the book. Characters in The Sun Also Rises are considered part of the “lost generation”, a term created by Gertrude Stein to describe the generation that grew up in post-war society. By no coincidence Hemingway is also part of this generation. Post-war life for the characters in the book consists of heavy drinking and partying, a sort of escape from the real world, and the same was a reality for Hemingway. Although France and all of Europe are in shambles after the war, the characters seem to be rejecting reality, partying it up in Paris and living a severely escapist lifestyle. This situation mimics the one Hemingway was actually in after WWI. The war’s effect on Hemingway can be told through the characters as each one represents part of his experience. Using a new historicist critical point of view and putting the story in context with the war and Hemingway’s life allows the reader to discover these connections and be able to more deeply analyze the significance of the book. The year is 1924, six short

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