The Sun Also Rises

Through the characters in The Sun Also Rises, Hemmingway illustrates the influential power of war which takes hope and will to live from the young generation. Many characters do not show any motives in life; Brett is the best example. She loves Jake dearly and it is clear that if he was not injured in the war, the two would have been together. However, because the war took a part of him away, she goes for any men who she finds attractive and even cheats on her fiancé multiple times. Additionally, Brett repetitively mentions how she does not know what to do. Brett’s life shows how the war made her lose purpose in life.  

In the novel, Hemmingway never directly states how they are lost in life. Instead he portrays his life going in circles, without any final destination. This idea is proved through Jake and Brett’s relationship. After every conflict that Brett causes, Jake stands by her side to support her. In the end, they are in the taxi together, and Brett mentions how they “could have had such a damned good time together” (Hemmingway 251). However, she also admits that she will return to Mike. This scene relates to a section of the book in the beginning, when the two are sitting together in the taxi, however, in that section, Brett is extremely confused, even stating how she is “miserable” (Hemmingway 32). Thus, the reader can see the connection between the two scenes, and although something seems to be progressing, nothing actually is getting resolved.

Overall, I really liked the book. Even though everything seemed aimless, I felt something very genuine between Jake and Brett’s relationship. It was really disappointing that they still did not get together in the end, but I enjoyed how their bond was extremely stable throughout the whole entire novel. Because everyone else was messed up throughout the story, having something that was consistent made everything balanced out and even. Lastly, it somewhat reminded me of The Great Gatsby, which is one of the reasons why I ended up liking the book so much.