From Generation to Generation

Throughout the course of a novel, specific characters have a greater effect than others on how they shape the environment around them. These types of characters affect the way other characters unravel throughout the story, and without them the reader wouldn’t be able to discover some of the truth behind the affected characters in the story.  In both The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the female protagonists serves as the “specific character,” or so called throughout the novel. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is seen to be in love with money, luxury, and easy, as she is not loyal and very careless throughout the novel. In The Sun Also Rises, Lady Brett Ashley is seen to be a liberated independent woman who ruins the values and ethics of men with her pressens, as well as to be in search of lost love that is never to be found again. In comparison, both characters are used to shape the environment into an accurate representation of their generation at the time.

In both novels, Daisy and Brett are characterized in a way that brings out the true values and ethics in the characters around them. Their purpose in their corresponding texts is to serve as an accurate representation of their generation at the time with respect to their values and ethics. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Daisy lives an easy careless life, as she believes all her problems can be fixed with money. For example, as Daisy and Gatsby drove back from the penthouse in the city, she ran over Jordan, didn’t stop, and continued to drive on. Choosing to continue to drive on after running Jordan over shows how Daisy is careless with her actions and blinded by its effects because of how she’s lived most of her life in riches with no consequences. Affected by her inherited money from her marriage to Tom, Daisy is used to represent the roaring twenties, and how the values and ethics of both men and women were ruined by their money and the ultimate pursuit of the so called “American dream.” Unlike Daisy, Brett is more of a literary foil, as she brings out the true values and ethics hidden among the men in the novel. Bretts presence among the men ruins their values and brings forth their true character. After Jake introduced Brett to Cohn, Cohn said to Jake, “There’s a certain quality about her, a certain fineness. She seems to be absolutely fine and straight” (Hemingway 46). As readers we see that Cohn has already been captured by Brett’s beauty. By using the language ‘certain fineness,’ it’s suggested that Brett has this ‘certain’ way of using her beauty to lure men into falling in love with her. Being that Cohn and Jake had been friends since the start of the novel up until this point, Brett ruined the values of their friendship by ‘finessing’ Cohn away from Jake. Dazzled by Brett’s beauty, Cohn’s true values and ethics are revealed with the presence of Brett in the novel. Throughout the story, Brett is used to represent the theme of the lost generation and how the war brought back ruined values and ethics from the effects of the war. In coralation, both Daisy and Brett are portrayed to be the embodiment of the morality that founded the generation of their time.

Throughout both stories, Daisy and Brett are confronted with love and how it was affected by the war. Both Daisy and Brett are shown to be a representation of their generation and its search for love during their time period. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Daisy’s interpretation of love is skewed by riches and the idea of the new love created by all the money from the war and industrial revolution. Shielded from true love, Daisy is hypnotized to love those who have money and luxuries. For example, Daisy first falls in love with Gatsby before he leaves for the war, but her love for Gatsby is then overthrown by Tom’s money and possessions. Choosing to forget Gatsby and his love, shows how Daisy is blinded by luxury and easily manipulated by money. In search of money and riches, Daisy is used to represent the roaring twenties, with regards to how men and women believed that love was based on wealth and possessions, as well as the ultimate pursuit of the “American Dream.” Opposite to Daisy, Brett’s search of love seems to be a constant failure as she can not conform to love any of the men she meets. Throughout the novel Brett ‘finesses’ many men, but does not end up truly loving any of them. When Brett and Jake were dancing at the bar after Brett had rejected Cohn form dancing with her, Jake said, “You’ve made a new one there,” to which Brett said, “Don’t talk about it. Poor Chap. I never knew it till just now,” and in response Jake said, “Oh, well. I suppose you like to add them up” (Hemingway 30). Jake showing notice to how yet another ‘new’ man has been ‘finessed’ by Brett’s beauty, suggests that this has and will continue to happen to Brett with most of the men she meets. Bretts response to Jake is calm as if this happens a lot and she doesn’t need to worry about it. In reply to Brett, Hemingway uses the language ‘add them up,’ to suggesting that Brett has many men she’s ‘finesses,’ almost as if she’s collecting them to find something among them. Unlike the other men, jake had a relationship with Brett before the war, emphasizing how all love prior to the war was lost along with their generation. In the end of the novel as Brett and Jake drove away, Brett said, “Oh, Jake. We could have had such a damned good time together,” to which Jake replies, “Yes. Isn’t it pretty to think so?” (Hemingway 250). In acknowledging that she and Jake could have had a ‘damned good time together,’ Brett realizes that she has lost her opportunities for true love with Jake. By using a question mark in Jake’s response, Hemingway is able to suggest that their love was only memories from before the war, and that after the war, their was no more love to be found. Throughout the novel, Brett is in search of a past love and only comes to find out that the war ruined the only true love she could have had with Jake. Hemingway uses Brett to represent the “lost generation” and their perpetual search for the love that was lost in the war. In both novels the theme of a constant search for “new love,” as well as “past love” is explored by both writers. In comparison, both Daisy and Brett are characterized to be and accurate representation of their generation’s search for love after the war.

In both novels, the female protagonist is used to represent the morals and beliefs such as love and values in their respective generations, as well as how that generation was affected by the war. While F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Daisy to represent how americans in the 1920’s were in search of a new love only to be acquired by money from the war, as well as the ultimate pursuit of the “American dream,” she also represents how this search brought greediness and carelessness among their generation. On the other hand, Hemingway uses Brett to show a different side to the post war generation. Brett is used to represent the lost generation and their continual search for the love lost in the war. Brett, representing the lost generation, tears apart the values and ethics of the people around her with her continual search for love. Therefore, Hemingway’s use of Brett in showing how her search for love ruins the people around her, emphasizes how the generation of her time were affected by the loss of love and values due to the war. As a result, the role of both female protagonist is to represent their generation and how it was affected by the war.

The Sun Also Rises Critical Essay