In The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes struggles with the concept that he will never be able to be with Brett Ashley. As the novel goes on, Jake and Brett’s relationship does not change and stays relatively the same. They both love each other but they no they can’t be together. Throughout the novel we witness Jake at his lowest point, but by the end we expect him to finally accept the fact that there is no way he could be with Brett and put everything behind him. This notion however did not last long and at the end of the novel he was face to face with Brett, but this time Jake was no longer begging Brett to live with him.
Jake is a complex character whose past haunts him everyday. When Jake was at war he was injured and could no longer be with a girl sexually. This ultimately results in the death of Jake’s most important manly quality. The fact that he couldn’t please Brett hurt him but there was nothing he could do about it. It was hard for Jake to cope with the realization of the death of his manhood, “I never think about it.” (34 Hemingway). This approach by Jake haunts him because he can never get past it in order to be with Brett. Similarly, Brett’s charm and compassion is overshadowed by the death of her ability to love, at least for long term. Brett has been plagued with a life of misfortune do to her loved ones, for example her first husband use to abuse her and when she got away by going to war she met Jake. However, Jake could not fulfil Brett’s needs do to injury. Brett went on to live a life where she chose not to acknowledge the bad around her. Towards the end of the book she said “I’ll just talk around it.” (Heminway 248). Instead of facing her problems she brushes them off like Jake does with his injury. If they chose to face these problems they could work something out.
Jake couldn’t give up on aspirations to one day be with Brett and throughout the novel he tried persistently to get Brett to live with him. In the beginning of the novel when then they first run into each other, we see Jake’s true emotion come out. In the Taxi, Brett turns away from Jake because she does not want to fall for him. Jake so desperately wants Brett, but he knows he can’t have her. Nonetheless, Jake did not learn his lesson after being turned down the first time. After being stood up by Brett for dinner, he later ran into her when he returned home. When Brett and Jake were alone, Jake said “Couldn’t we live together, Brett. Couldn’t we just live together.” (Hemingway 62). The tone of Jakes voice is desperate. The death of Jake’s manhood prevents him from being with Brett and he has yet to learn to accept it.
In the last chapter of the book we finally get to see Jake realizing that he has to move on with life. While Jake is vacationing by himself in San Sebastian. Jake had a very peaceful time and seemed to be enjoying it. During his time in San Sebastian, Jake goes for a swim out to the dock. As he lay on the dock with no disturbances he decided to go back to shore. Jake said “After a while I stood up, gripped with my toes on the edge of the raft as it tipped with my weight, and dove cleanly and deeply, to come up through the lightening water, blew the salt water out of my head, and swam slowly and steadily in to shore.” (Hemingway 242). The quotes symbolizes Jake diving into water like he is being baptized. This essentially means that he is reborn and put everything behind him. As readers, we finally get to see Jake turning his life around and heading in the right direction without constantly worrying about Brett. When Brett gets back to the hotel he receives a telegram from Brett. Just after reading about how Jake was reborn and put everything behind him, he quickly bought a bus ticket to where Brett was. Jake could not stay away from Brett even though as reader we thought he would finally move on.
The relationship between Brett and Jake did not move past being friends when Jake returned to Hotel Motoya, where Brett was staying. This time however, Jake did not ask Brett to live with him. He gave up on trying to find love with Brett. He was only there for her as a friend and that is all Brett needed. Jake knows now that this is the way it has to be and he has to learn to live without Brett. The happy ending would have been Jake and Brett together, but they are much better friends and need each other because they can’t face their own issues by themselves. This ending suited the claim that Jake’s cyclical nature will always be constant in terms of Brett and if the outcome is they only be friends, he has accepted it and it is only better for both their futures.