552 Hemingway, Ernest
HEmingWay, ErnEST The Sun Also
Rises (1926)
Ernest Hemingway’s first great novel, The Sun Also
Rises, was published in 1926. It is the story of a
group of American and British expatriates living in
Paris after World War I, who struggle to find some
meaning in their lives. It begins with a brief descrip-
tion of Robert Cohn, a Jewish writer who worries
that he is “not really living.” It is narrated by Jake
Barnes, an American whose war wounds have left
him impotent. Jake is in love with the Lady Brett
Ashley, a beautiful, charming, and promiscuous
woman. Brett loves Jake as well, but his wound has
left them unable to pursue their relationship. She
is engaged to Mike Campbell, a bankrupt Scottish
veteran. Brett has a brief affair with Robert, who
is unable to let her go. The veteran Bill Gorton is,
like the others, a heavy drinker. Book 1 of the novel
introduces the characters, and highlights Jake and
Brett’s unhappiness in their frustrated relationship.
Book 2 details the group’s trip to Spain, beginning
with Jake and Bill’s fishing trip. They meet Brett,
Mike, and Robert in Pamplona for the bullfights.
Brett falls in love with the bullfighter Pedro Romero.
They enjoy the fiesta for a time, until Robert’s jeal-
ousy for Brett leads him to punch Jake and Mike,
and to severely beat Pedro. Brett and Pedro go away
together, but their relationship soon breaks down,
and Brett sends for Jake to rescue her. The novel
ends with the two lamenting their condition. It is a
beautiful expression of alienation, futility, gen-
der, love, and spirituality.
James Ford
alienation in The Sun Also Rises
A sense of alienation and estrangement is perva-
sive throughout The Sun Also Rises. Jake Barnes is
alienated from himself and the world around him.
He is alienated from his own body, particularly by
the war wound that has left him impotent, unable
to consummate his love for Lady Brett Ashley. He
tries to explain to his friend Robert Cohn that “you
can’t get away from yourself.” He says that people
want only what they cannot have, a sign of the
futility of human life and desire. Jake wants Brett
to be with him, to run away with him, to live with
him despite his wound. Neither can have what they
really want. There is a distance between Jake and
everyone else, particularly his friends. He is aware
of the emptiness around him, but he struggles to
live with it. He says that he does not care what life
is all about; “All I wanted to know was how to live
in it.” His passion for fishing and for the bullfights
gives a sense of meaning to his life, but they do not
make it any easier for him to live with his separa-
tion from Brett.
Cohn is also alienated from everyone around
him. He talks about his sense that he’s “not really
living,” but his attempts at really living ultimately
cost him his only friend. He falls in love with Lady
Brett Ashley, who after a brief affair wants nothing
to do with him. Cohn is certain of his love for Brett
and follows her constantly. First he surprises Brett
and her fiancé, Mike, at San Sebastian, where Brett
and Cohn had their affair. After being cast off by
Brett, Cohn continues to follow her around “like a
poor bloody steer.” Cohn refuses to believe that his
love for Brett does not matter, even as Mike and
Brett insist that they do not want him around. Cohn
is alienated from those around him by the fact that
he is Jewish, by his failure to have fought in the war,
and by his naïve insistence that Brett must love him.
When Brett turns her affections to the bullfighter
Pedro Romero, Cohn finally faces the truth that she
does not love him. He punches out Jake, Mike, and
finally Romero, before deciding that everything is
useless and leaving it all behind.
Brett is perhaps the most alienated character in
the novel. She loves Jake, but has a series of affairs
with other men and is engaged to Mike. She says
it is “hell on earth” to be in love. As Mike says, she
“enjoys things” but is not happy. She sees a momen-
tary happiness with Romero, but it quickly fades.
She says she wanted Romero but decided that she
“was bad for him.” Having sent Romero away, she
calls on Jake to rescue her so that she can return to
Mike.
Brett and Jake are also both alienated from reli-
gion and from God. At one point Jake goes into the
cathedral to pray, regretting that he’s such “a rot-
ten Catholic.” His religion does not seem to make
much difference to his life. Later he and Brett go to
the chapel to pray, but it only makes her “damned
nervous,” since it never does her any good. Jake says