In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926), the story begins in France with the main character Jake Barnes and his friends Bill Gordon, Mike Campbell, Robert Cohn and Brett Ashley. Jake has had a long time love for Brett, but he is not alone. Cohn had been infatuated with Brett since they met, however, Mike is also involved with her. Throughout the book, Brett’s lovers conflict over her, though Jake manages to stay out of it for the most part. It appears that Brett’s love affairs were decided by money and class. Early on in the novel, Brett dated a Duke despite her lack of love for him. She had also slept with Cohn, who had recently published a book and had great wealth.
It was decided by Bill, Mike, Jake and Brett that they should travel abroad, as they feel their lives are wasting away. They wanted to make the best of life while they were still relatively young, so they decide to travel to Spain. Much to the objection of Mike, who was in a relationship with Brett, Cohn decided to join them for the purpose of pursuing Brett after she had slept with him. Mike beheld a strong dislike of Cohn for this, but Cohn would not believe that Brett had never loved him. He was determined to win her over. So the group traveled to Spain in pairs; Bill and Jake took the train together and planned to meet up with Mike and Brett, while Cohn traveled alone. Before arriving in Spain, however, Jake and Bill stopped at an old inn and made friends with an Englishman. The three went fishing together and had an excellent time. Although the Englishman is not a significant character, he contrasts the quiet, peaceful life with the raucus partying and the endless drinking that was the life of Bill and Jake.
When Cohn, Mike, Brett, Jake and Bill met up in Spain, they went to see the bullfights––a cultural experience in Spain. There was a fiesta going on, one big party scene in which the group immersed themselves for days. They drank constantly, walked around the villages and went from bar to bar and restaurant to restaurant. Drinking was their favorite pass-time. They drank to stay happy, to feel alive and for the purpose of doing something rather than nothing at all. Then they went to the bullfights, where Cohn was described to have had a hard time watching the bloody scenes. During the fiesta, the nights were nearly indistinguishable from the days as the drinking continued relentlessly. Mike made several rude remarks to Cohn, and everyone else agreed that it was silly for Cohn to have followed them on this trip. Cohn eventually gave up on Brett and painfully accepted that she had never loved him. So Cohn returned to the United States. Brett fell in love with the new and handsome bullfighter Pedro Romero, who was barely nineteen, and certainly some years her junior. Pedro was masterful at defeating the bulls. He was an up-and-coming celebrity and Brett found herself falling for him, despite her relationship with Mike. During the fiesta, Brett ran off with Pedro and left Mike behind for a while, though he was too drunk to notice for several hours. In fact, Mike, Bill and Jake returned home and leave Brett with Pedro. In the end, however, Brett sent Jake a telegram asking him to come to her in her hotel. When he did, Brett explained to him that she made Pedro leave her after he said he wanted to marry her. Pedro wanted Brett to marry him so that she would not run off with other men. To entice her, he had offered her money, but she would not take it. Mike was who she truly wanted to be with. Mike, who was bankrupt and always drunk, would always forgive Brett for being with other men. Then Brett and Jake went to lunch, and Brett told Jake not to get drunk, because he didn’t need to. The whole point of their journey to Spain had been to escape their empty lives and to feel young and significant. Brett remarked that Pedro really had been too young for her. And so at the conclusion of this novel, life is shown to continue on even when the party is over.
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| illustration of a bullfight scene. |
Character list
Jake-Who’s the narrator of this book and is confused about his love for Brett. Jake loves to drink and go to bars with friends and his crush, Brett. Throughout the book he tries to overcome his feelings for Brett, but she keeps playing him off. But Jake is aware that they won’t work out, and that they’re only playing games with each other. Jake tries to find distractions for himself, and found interest in bullfighting and in other women.
Brett- Brett enjoys flirting and playing games, especially with Jake. She also enjoys drinking and getting drunk most nights in France. While flirting with Jake, she plays games with Mike as well. Of all the men she messes with, all accept who she is. She gets away with the games she plays. Brett isn’t willing to stop what she does with Jake, Mike, Cohn, and Pedro. Then she claims to fall in love with only one of them and pushes the others away without caring.Robert
Cohn- Cohn is a former middleweight boxing champion from Princeton who is now living in Paris. He is Jewish and a writer who recently wrote a book that was somewhat accepted in America. He is somewhat shy and naïve and marries that first woman who is nice to him, which leads him to an unhappy marriage with his wife Frances. Robert is headstrong and wants to get away from Paris and Frances follows Brett because he has fallen in love with her.
Frances Cohn- Robert’s wife is manipulative and does not want Robert in the presence of other women. She is worried that if Robert leaves her no one will want to marry her because she is getting old.
Bill Gorton- Jake’s good, somewhat racist friend who hates Robert Cohn, but occasionally accepts him. He is a boxing aficionado and a lover of bullfighting and fishing. Bill has recently come back from a boxing match and has come back to Paris to meet up with jake.
Mike - Brett’s fiance, he is bankrupt and a rude drunk but also somehow charismatic. Mike hates Cohn and doesn't want him around due to him being in love with brett. Irish and surly Mike is mostly a well tempered man but is deeply in love with Brett and detests Cohn.
Pedro Romero- A nineteen year old teen who’s new to bullfighting and is described as ‘the best looking boy’ around. The girls call him gaupo, meaning handsome in spanish. Besides looks Pedro is known to resemble beauty, pure, and confidence. The way he bullfights contrasts with the other characters. Pedro takes his bullfighting seriously and worth living for. Whereas Jake doesn’t take journalism as serious and feels the opposite than Pedro does about bullfighting. Pedro creates bullfighting as a symbol throughout the book.
Montonya- An owner of a motel called the Pamplona inn. But also an expert about bullfighting. Montonya admires Jake for his interest in bullfighting and is glad he takes it just as serious. Since Montonya has great interest in bullfighting he watches over many of the riders, including Pedro. Montonya has a connection with Pedro, and protects Pedro from getting distracted from all the tourists attending the fiesta. Montonya wants Pedro to go far in his life with bullfighting and to grow his passion for it as well.
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Important Quotes
1) “…don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half of the time you have to live already?” (Cohn, pg 19)
Significance:
The feeling of aimlessness is a major theme within The Sun Also Rises. Throughout the book the main characters seem to wander from place to place without purpose. The characters seem to be longing for more in life, but they never seem to find it. This quote brings attention to this fact.
2) “I wished Mike would not behave so terribly to Cohn, though. Mike was a bad drunk…Mike was unpleasant after he passed a certain point. I liked to see him hurt Cohn. I wished he would not do it, though, because afterward it made me disgusted at myself. That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward.” (Jake, pg 152)
Significance:
The characters in the book never say exactly what they feel, because they wish to be civil towards each other. Most of the characters seem to have a slight emotional repression or despondency. In this passage, however, Mike is drunk, so he speaks his mind to Cohn not caring whether he hurts his feelings or not. With Mike’s comments Jake has awakened some feelings that he has suppressed for a while. This doesn’t last for long, though, as Jake brings himself back into the suppressed state.This is what he calls “morality“.
3) “The things that happened could only have happened during a fiesta. Everything became quite unreal finally and it seemed as though nothing could have any consequences…All during the fiesta you had the feelings, even when it was quiet, that you had to shout any remake to make it heard. It was the same feeling about any action.” (Jake, pg 158)
Significance:
As he takes in the atmosphere of the fiesta, Jake starts to slowly break out of his emotional repression. The fiesta, in itself, is a symbol of Jake’s slow loss of his morality, as Jake feels that the fiesta is a safe haven for all of his emotions, a place where he can do anything without caring about the feelings of others.
4) “Sure. Get tight. Get over your damn depression.”(Bill, pg 227)
Significance:
Alcohol is the only escape for the characters of this book. It washes away all of the characters problems, sadness, confusion, and any other undignified emotions that they may feel at any given time.In the long run,though, the alcohol only intensifies the unwanted feelings that the characters are trying to suppress.
5) “ Oh Jake,” Brett said, “ We could have had such a damned good time together.”
“Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” (Brett and Jake, pg 251)
Significance:
At this point, Jake has accepted that his life has passed him by, and he is tired of thinking about what could have been. He realizes that he was not able to direct the events of his life and that he has never truly lived.
