Sun Also Rises Essay, Research Paper

Of the segments of American society scarred by the anguish of the First World

War, the damage was most severe amongst the younger generation of that time.

Youthful and impressionable, these people were immersed headlong into the

furious medley of death and devastation. By the time the war had ended, many

found that they could no longer accept what now seemed to be pretentious and

contradictory moral standards of nations that could be capable of such

atrocities. Some were able to brush off the pain and confusion enough to get on

with their lives. Others simply found themselves incapable of existing under

their country?s thin fa?ade of virtuousness and went abroad, searching for

some sense of identity or meaning. These self-exiled expatriates were popularly

known as the ?Lost Generation? a term credited to Gertrude Stein, who once

told Hemingway: ?That?s what you all are. All you young people who served in

the war. You are a lost generation? You have no respect for anything. You

drink yourself to death.?1 Many of these individuals tended to settle in

Paris, a suitable conduit through which to pursue their new lifestyle. Content

to drift through life, desperately seeking some sort of personal redemption

through various forms of indulgence, these people had abandoned their old value

system and heroes, only to find difficulty in finding new ones. A great deal of

new literature was spawned in an effort to capture the attitudes and feelings of

such individuals to reinvent a model of sorts for a people sorely lacking any

satisfactory standard to follow. At the forefront of these writers was Ernest

Hemingway, whose Novel, The Sun Also Rises, became just such a model, complete

with Hemingway?s own definition of heroism. Many of the characters in the

novel represented the popular stereotype of the post WWI expatriate Parisian:

wanton and wild, with no real goals or ambitions. Mike Campbell, Robert Cohn,

and Lady Brett Ashley, and even the protagonist Jake Barnes all demonstrate some

or all of the aforementioned qualities throughout the novel. All seem perfectly

content to exist in their own oblivious microcosm, complete with their own

?unique? set of moral values. While the qualities of these characters

dominate, to an extent, the flow of the novel, it is important to acknowledge

their contrast to Jake and the bullfighter, Pedro Romero. Unlike the others,

these two characters serve as heroic figures, albeit each in a very different

way. Jake is a truly realistic protagonist. Like his friends, Jake is a victim

of many of the same circumstances. The difference is that Jake does not let his

emotional turmoil corrupt his life to the same extent as the others. Unlike the

other expatriates, he has not completely rejected all of the old values of the

pre-WWI era. For example: While Jake seems to be having difficulty in completely

accepting his religion, he still tries to grasp on to it, though perhaps a

little fearful that his handhold will break if he grasps too tightly: ?Listen,

Jake,? he said, ?are you really a Catholic?? ?Technically.? ?What

does that mean?? ?I don?t know.? (128-129) Along with this emotional

baggage, Jake also has a physical defect in the form of a wound he suffered in

the war, which has rendered him sexually impotent. Despite the way in which his

injury thwarts his relationship with Brett, Jake accepts his situation with a

great deal of integrity, despite the scathing pain of his unfulfilled love. As

is consistent with the realistically human portrayal of Jake?s character, his

role as a heroic figure is stifled somewhat by the constraints of society.

Rather than exhibiting gallant feats of bravery consistent with the romantic

definition of a hero, Jake?s valiance is displayed in a subtler, less tangible

manner. By displaying the virtues of tolerance, honesty, patience and

understanding, Jake proves himself to be as much of an heroic figure as can

reasonably be expected in the real world under conventional circumstances.

Jake?s maturity and understanding of the limitations of modern society is

shown particularly in his remark that: ?Nobody ever lives their life all the

way up except bull-fighters.? (18) Pedro Romero truly is set apart

significantly from the others. Virtually flawless, this young man lives in the

world of the matador: a world immune from the constraints of civilization. When

Romero is in the bullring, he is able to transcend the confines of the modern

world. He truly becomes the closest approximation to the classic definition of a

romance hero, perhaps even to mythical proportions. To the crowd, he is not just

a man; he is Theseus slaying the Minotaur. Romero demonstrates all the ideal

qualities of masculinity. He is youthful, handsome, skilled, courageous and

passionate. Even outside the boundaries of the bullring that provide a stage for

such daring feats, Romero seems to still carry something with him that sets him

above a normal man. When Jake is introduced to the young bull-fighter, he sees

this immediately: The boy stood very straight and unsmiling in his bull-fighting

clothes. His jacket hung over the back of a chair. They were just finishing

winding his sash. His black hair shone under the electric light. He wore a white

linen shirt and stepped back. Pedro Romero nodded, seeming very far away and

dignified when we shook hands. Montoya said something about what great

aficionados we were? Romero listened very seriously. Then he turned to me. He

was the best-looking boy I have ever seen. (167) It is evident that Romero?s

qualities are not just mere illusions induced by his occupation. The boy seems

also to reflect Jake?s best characteristics. He is not arrogant or pompous; he

is dignified, courteous, and gracious. Truly, Romero is the epitome of the

missing icon of this Lost Generation. Seemingly immaculate in all aspects, both

physical and spiritual, the bullfighter certainly makes an impression on the

group. While Jake is impressed with the young Pedro, Brett is completely

enraptured. Her fascination goes deeper than the man?s looks, though. In

Romero, Brett envisions a possible solution to her hopeless search. From the

stands of the arena, she sees her Holy Grail glistening in full splendor in the

Pamplona sun. The illusion does not last long for Brett. After finally obtaining

her prize, she finds it sorely lacking in that Romero turns out to be a mere

mortal after all. An interesting parallel can be drawn between Romaro?s

failure to live up to Brett?s impossible expectations and his predecessor,

Belmonte?s failure to live up to the crowd?s: When he retired the legend

grew up about how his bull-fighting had been, and when he came out of retirement

the public were disappointed because no real man could work as close to the

bulls as Belmonte was supposed to have done, not, of course, even Belmonte.

(218) The others are not oblivious to the power of Romero?s presence nor to

its effect on Brett. Mike is quick to recognize the threat that Romero presents

and he shows it, but only through a veil of humorous intent: ?I believe, you

know, that she?s falling in love with this bullfighter chap,? Mike said.

?I wouldn?t be surprised.? ?Be a good chap, Jake. Don?t tell her

anything more about him. Tell her how they beat their poor old mothers.? (172)

Just as Jake finds his ability to be heroic limited by the standards of the

civilized world, Mike knows that these subtle protestations are about the extent

of what he can do to keep Brett. As painful as it is for him, Mike gracefully

steps back as Brett pursues her new love. Robert Cohn also sees Romero in much

the same way as the others. The bullfighter represents to Cohn, perhaps more

than anyone else, the ideal man. Cohn sees in Romero all the things that he

finds lacking in himself, and consequently becomes extremely jealous, especially

when he sees Brett?s fascination with the young man. While Romero?s heroic

feats continually produce adulation, Cohn?s own attempts at chivalry and

courage end up in his making a fool of himself: (Jake) ?Oh, go to hell.? He

stood up from the table his face white, and stood there white and angry behind

the little plates of hors d?oervres. ?Sit down,? I said. ?Don?t be a

fool.? ?You?ve got to take that back.? ?Oh, cut out the prep-school

stuff.? ?Take it back?? ?Oh, don?t go to hell,? I said. ?Stick

around. We?re just starting lunch.? ?Cohn smiled again and sat down. He

seemed glad to sit down.? (47) Even Cohn?s final desperate attempt at

proving himself completely backfires. While pummeling Romero repeatedly in a

jealous rage, he unwittingly provides the bull-fighter with an opportunity to

prove himself to be even more courageous in everyone?s eyes, especially

Brett?s. It is only after this final humiliation that Cohn desists in his

pathetic, pseudo-chivalrous pursuit of Brett and retreats back to Paris, an

utterly defeated man. Despite the grandeur of the bull-fight, it is important to

recognize that it is little more than an escape from the trappings of real life.

Just like Belmonte before him, Romero is eventually destined to deteriorate, and

to be faced with an outside world that has no room for chivalry (as Robert Cohn

found out). While this happens, we can assume that Jake Barnes will continue as

before: confident and self-assured, with a clear understanding and acceptance of

his limitations. Jake is Hemingway?s hero for a new age in which the old

standards of chivalry and romanticism are quite dead. Brett understands this

partially, and demonstrates so by her inability to completely fall out of love

with him, but she is still driven on by a promise of something more. Something

that she saw, if only fleetingly, in the young Pedro Romero. Something that only

exists in legends, storybooks and bull-rings.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. Ed. Simon & Schuster Inc. New

York. 1926. Author Unknown. The Kaplan Calander of Events.

http://www1.kaplan.com/view/calendar/event/preview/1,270,715-3,00.html 1999.

Monahan, Kerrin, Ross. Dramatica Storytelling Output Report . ?The Sun Also

Rises.? http://www.dramatica.com/dCritiques_folder/dAnalyses_folder/the_sun_also_rises.html

1998