The Sun Also Rises: A story that will leave you a lot of learning

Due to the truly devastating topics that are presented within the novel The Sun Also Rises, there has always been questioned whether it should be an appropriate narrative that should be taught to teenagers. Subjects of matter such as Superstition and Sexism, along with The Victims –The Lost generation –of World War I are shown throughout the novel. Even Though the novel’s script includes contents that require full maturity and predisposition in order to acknowledge the gravity of said topics, it is of great importance to be a novel in which teenagers were to include within the reader’s audience. The humongous price that a war can bring with itself that comes to tear down a whole generation; the power of sexism represented within bullfighting; the capability of a single woman to corrupt stereotypes within society; and the superstition and materialism that disfigures society’s morality, all of them are doubtedly themes that should be recognized of great seriousness, and should be taught within the future citizens of tomorrow.

Ernest Hemingway pays tribute to The Lost Generation that was devastated not only physically but mostly psychologically after the atrocities during World War One. First of all, we can see how Lady Brett Ashley is completely different from other women of those times, and we see how she breaks with the stereotypes of society. Unlike other women, Brett wears a short cap, she dresses less feminine than the others, and above all, she has several affairs, and she does not mind at all being frowned upon by the eyes of society. Brett’s appearance is being described as “her hair!-brushed back like boys” and as a woman with curves like “ hull of a racing yacht” (Hemingway 30). She clearly evokes masculinity within her aspect. Brett having been a nurse during World War One, she completely changes and becomes a new person.  Consequently, she is the clear representation of very avant-garde femininity because she breaks with all sexist images of the time. 

Furthermore, there are many sexist details not only among women, but also against men themselves. Among the male characters in history, it is often questioned who is more of a man? On the one hand, Jake considers Cohn as a person who does not have the characteristics of a male because he did not participate in the WWI, while Pedro Romero, the bullfighter, is considered to be someone who has more characteristics of a man not only because he is a bullfighter but also because Jake has the firm conviction that “the only way to fully enjoy life is through constantly confronting death” (Hemingway ) just like he did in the war, and it’s exactly the same thing Romero does every time he faces a bull. He puts his life at risk facing a fearful and imposing being. Hence, bullfighting has dominated the second half of the novel symbolizing the relationship between Jake, Cohn, Mike, and Romero, where the men fight like bulls to conquer Brett. The bulls in Pamplona signify for Jake and his friends, the strength, and aggressiveness to traditionally masculine characteristics to judge whether they are worthy. And although Romero is the most handsome, honorable, and talented, in the end he was heartbroken just as the strongest, and most aggressive bull can be killed by a skilled bullfighter, in the end Romero Falls to Brett. 

We see how the author shows us the protagonist Jake Barnes, an expatriate veteran corrupted by the war, disillusioned, apathetic, without hope, a hopeless case. A wound suffered in the war has left him impotent and unable to consummate his love with Lady Brett Ashley, which affects him to the point of consummating his feeling of masculinity. Therefore, he too is deprived of love so he cannot give sex to Brett. It is striking that on the one hand we have this character corrupted by the War, and on the other hand we see how Robert Cohn, a Jewish friend of Jake’s, in contrast represents a person who remains somewhat more civilized than Jake, since he did not participate as a soldier in war. Regardless of this contrast, we see how Hemingway, in the same way that several other authors such as Fitzgerald in his novel The Great Gatsby, express through their writings the moral declines that society obtained during that time. Some like Cohn were practically unaffected by the war, others much more like Jake. However, all together as a society they were corrupted by the war. The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort during World War One, where the term “Lost” refers to the disoriented and disillusioned spirit of many of the war’s survivors in the early post-war period. Within The Sun Also Rises “the characters cannot find a way home” (Foster 151). Hemingway manages to express the consequences of the war within the society, and he also emphasizes the moral decline of post-war society in the twenties through superstition. Not only Jake who participated in the war but also the whole society of the 20’s at that time, tend to be very superstitious only focusing on what happens inside a bar drinking alcohol, dancing, and confronting each other. Jake even reveals that alcohol distracts him from reality: “Under the wine I lost the disgusted feeling and was happy” (Hemingway 117). The use of alcohol within this novel is a key point that reveals the characters’ attempt to forget about reality by getting drunk because they don’t know any better way. Nobody really pays attention to knowing the fellow; they are all used only as means of entertainment. Both Fitzgerald and Hemingway express in their novels a society that has been consumed.

On the one hand, The Great Gatsby focuses on the society consumed by the luxuries and parties of the time, a materialistic society, which is represented primarily in the characters of Daisy and Tom. On the other hand, The Sun Also Rises approaches the subject in a different way, as it puts its maximum focus on the generation damaged by the atrocities of war, which is seen embodied mostly in the characters of Jake and Brett. Basically, it causes a Society to be corrupted by war, hence causing a drastic change in the behavior of society thus making it to become lost: “You are all a lost generation” (Gertrude Stein). Although there are different contexts, in both representations of the characters in The Great Gatsby as well as in The Sun Also Rises, we see how absolutely all the characters drown their sorrows in alcohol, fun, and sex. Life is not important anymore.

In view of the fact that Hemingway was able to represent in an excellent way how corrupt society ends after a war, it is a great reason to teach young people to read and analyze this narrative, because they can learn first hand the consequences that leave any war in which no one, absolutely no one wins. In addition, the author also succeeded in highlighting the sexism between men and women, and the superstition that exists in society, and reveals what really has value among the individuals of a community. Humans place higher value on tangible things like the pleasure of food, alcohol, sex, and money. In conclusion, due to the excellent representation of the consequences of the war, and the representation of society, where topics such as sexism, superstition and lack of morality were addressed, it is a material outcast that can be used as a mechanism to teach future generations at school.