Contemplations

For my last blog, I want to reflect on The Sun Also Rises, just as I did on The Things They Carried. So overall, the novel was very boring to me; there are a variety of reasons for this. The biggest obstacle for me was trying to pay attention when it seemed as if Jake was documenting every step he took. At times, I honestly felt as if he was trying to make me skip entire pages; believe me, I was already fighting the urge to skip paragraphs. Another issue I had was the fact that the action didn't really come around until the last few chapters. To me, the entire first, oh, I'd say, fifty to seventy percent of the novel was just the gang running around Paris and Pamplona drinking. A final problem I had was the unrequited love situation; yes, I realize that this and the insecurities of the individuals are pretty much the entire reason for the story. However, futile love for someone has always bothered me. It annoyed me that Jake let Brett play him and use him ten times more than she does to other men. I think at some point an individual has to remove themselves from that situation, no matter how difficult it is. Furthermore, Brett needs to learn she can't use men as she does; she needs to learn her lesson in my humble opinion.
Continuing on to what I actually enjoyed about the novel...I'll be truthful: there wasn't much. One thing I did like were Hemingway's/jake's observations and thoughts about life. There are a variety of comments he makes from the beginning of the novel such as, "You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another" pg.19, to the middle, "'How'd you go bankrupt?' "Friends. I had a lot of friends. False friends'" pg.141, and to the end, "If you want people to like you you only have to spend a little money" pg.237. I found many of these quotes to be partially true. I liked reading the thoughts of Hemingway/Jake on people and life; it interested me. That pretty much covers what I enjoyed about the novel, which does make me wonder if all of Hemingway's novels are written in the same style as this one. If so, I am truly curious as to why he became a well-known, famous literary figure.

Resolution

I wanted to write two blogs over Chapter XIX because not only is it the last chapter in The Sun Also Rises, but it also the only book in Book III. Therefore, when I was looking ahead to the end of the novel (I admit, I cheated a little bit because I wondered if it would ever end), I decided to save room for two blogs over it. After reading the chapter, I realized that even though I had enough literary terms already, resolution is a perfect term for it. Jake ends the chapter cleanly by leaving Mike "at the hotel...[where he] was going to stay in San Juan" (pg 234) and watching Bill go "through the gate to the train" (pg 235) back to Paris. Of course, what would the novel be without the return of Brett? He manages to bring Brett back to the story, but finish everything with her too. However, I do believe bringing Brett back into the story was an interesting choice. It would have been much easier to pretend she was still with Romero, but I suppose Hemingway/Jake realized that Brett had to return. It would have been completely unlike her character to stay with one man. Naturally, she had to run back to Jake, the man who loved her no matter what. Even though Jake resolved all the issues by this point, I do believe there is still a little bit of a conflict between Jake and Brett, yet we know that he is much more realistic about everything when he responds to Brett's musings with "yes, isn't it pretty to think so?" (pg 251) It is with this last poignant moment that Jake ties up everything neatly.

People Truly Never Change

Chapter XIX is a very interestingly written chapter. I was pretty surprised at how easily and quickly Mike and Bill left Jake; the friendships in this story proved to be weak bonds. Once Jake was on his own, who should he hear from but Lady Brett Ashley of course. She sends Jake a telegram saying, "Could you come Hotel Montana Madrid am in rather trouble Brett" (pg 242). It really bothers me that Brett uses Jake; he loves her so much, and she takes complete advantage of him. Jake has to help Brett because he is completely in love with her, which annoys me too. Unrequited love gets on my last nerve; Jake needs to move on. But, he runs off to Madrid to find that Romero is gone because Brett "made him go" (pg 246). Romero wanted to make an honest woman out of Brett, and she obviously would have none of that. Jake lends his shoulder to Brett, and he helps her through her suffering, which is even more bothersome. How can a person put themselves through pain such as that? At the end of the novel, however, I know that Jake knows he and Brett could never be, even through all the hope she gives him. Brett says, "Oh, Jake, we could have had such a damned good time together." Jake replies, "Yes, isn't it pretty to think so?" (pg 251) This is sobering; Jake knows he loves a woman who will never change her ways and will never be with him. She has not changed throughout the novel, but he now sees their 'affair' more realistically. He, and the reader, know that that Brett would have used him just like each man she has already used.

Motif

As I am nearing the end of the book, I think it is safe to say that a major motif of the book is alcohol and intoxication. There is a huge emphasis placed on alcohol and drinking throughout the entire novel. Jake mentions some aspect of drinking in the following parts of the story: "I saw she was quite drunk" pg. 40, "Have a drink" pg.50, "You're pie-eyed" pg.78, "I went back to the hotel to get a couple bottles of wine" pg. 109, "they bought a drink, then we bought a drink" pg.112, "you're cock-eyed" pg.128, "I was just a little tight" pg.141, "hurray for wine" pg.158, "oh, you'll get drink" pg.173, "I'm drunk now" pg.197, "He took a long drink of beer" pg.205, "I began to feel drunk" pg.226, "let's have another drink" pg.233, "let's have another bottle" pg.250. I began to think the entire novel was written about drinking, the different expressions about drinking, and the different types of alcohol. My aunt (who made her students read the novel once) says it almost drives one to drinking themselves, to get through the novel. It honestly seemed to me as if the characters had to drink to have a good time; they would probably be considered alcoholics. Even though it was customary in this time period to be drinking, the amount that Jake & his friends do is completely excessive. It showed to me that alcohol can bring out the worst in people (such as Mike). I believe Hemingway focused so much on alcohol because of his problems with it. I mean, doesn't it make complete sense that Hemingway, who was a crazy alcoholic, would write a novel that involves some aspect of drinking on every page?

Irreplaceable Friends

Chapter XVIII is the last chapter in Book II. It is in this chapter that the action begins to wind down; the fiesta finishes, the bullfights are over, and members of the crew have left. The last sentence of this chapter caught my attention quickly. Jake reflects, "The three of us sat at the table, and it seemed as though about six people were missing." When I read this line on page 228, it immediately clicked with me because I find it very easy to apply to real life. A group of friends is not complete without each member. When even one person is absent, their place is hard to fill. It truly does seem as if multiple people not present. With more then one person missing as it is in The Sun Also Rises group, it is even harder to fill that space because it seems so cavernous. Jake, BIll, and Mike truly did care for Cohn and Brett even though they were the 'troublemakers' of the group. Cohn is the obnoxious friend everyone knows and Brett is the full-of-herself friend who is used to getting what she wants. The relationship of this group actually reminds me of the show Friends; each character on the show is extremely unique and different. They each add a certain flair to the show, and if a character is missing in an episode, something just seems not quite right. In The Sun Also Rises, the missing two create a fragmented group, which creates a feeling of incompletion in the novel.

Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun...

Chapter XVII has a lot of action occurring in it. Basically, Cohn goes berserk on all of his friends and whips out his boxing skills because of Brett's newest fling with Romero. That disturbance leads to the important point that Brett has ditched Mike for the nineteen year old bullfighter; Mike handles this fact pretty well with the aid of alcohol. However, in this chapter, the thing that caught my attention was not the fighting, nor the new affair of Brett's. When Mike is retelling the events of the previous night, he gives everyone an insight into a part of Lady Brett Ashley's life. She did not always have the greatest, easiest time of it in her marriage to the man who we only know by the surname Ashley. Mike tells of terrifying parts of her marriage, such as how he "always made Brett sleep on the floor," or he "used to tell her he'd kill her," or how he "always slept with a loaded service revolver. Brett used to take the shells out when he'd gone to sleep" (pg 207). The entire story had lead me to strongly disliking Brett; it irritated me that she could play so many men and act as if she felt sorry for her actions. However, Mike's drunken revealing of one of the secrets of Brett's life allowed me the ability to feel a sense of compassion for a woman who was treated in that way.

The Itch They Just Can't Scratch

In Chapter XVI, the gang attacks Cohn and tells him to his face (again) that the group wants him to "go away, for God's sake. Take that sad Jewish face away"(pg 181) as stated by Mike. Cohn is especially beginning to get on Mike's nerves because of the tryst he had with Brett in San Sebastian earlier in the novel. Mike becomes so enraged at Cohn in this chapter that he berates him saying "do you think you belong here with us?...Why don't you see when you're not wanted Cohn? Go away"(pg 181). The tension between the two throughout the novel up to this point was bubbling below the surface; therefore, when Mike finally snaps, the blow up is horrendous, which is enough to create feelings of pity in the reader for the annoying Cohn. But it is important to recognize that it is not only Mike who is irritated by him. Brett and Jake later prove their exasperation as well in a dialogue between the two on page 185). Brett is a wench to Cohn in order to get rid of him and inquires of Jake, "Was I rude enough to him? My God! I'm so sick of him!" Jake agrees with her saying, "He doesn't add much to the gayety. He's behaved very badly." In a way, I feel bad for Cohn; he has deeply rooted feelings of insecurity and poor self-esteem. But the bigger issue I see here is the fact that he thinks he is superior to the rest of the group, which can only anger everyone else. Moreover, he slept with the fiance of one of the men in the gang; not to mention, the fiance is the true love of his best friend. I believe Cohn is experiencing what he deserves.

Vernacular

Chapter XV contains the literary term vernacular. It is actually applied many times throughout the entire novel depending on what country the crew is in. In this specific instance, the group is in Spain witnessing the running of the bulls and the bull-fighting events; therefore, the Spanish language works its way into the chapter in quite a few paragraphs. Spanish words or phrases are spoken by both the 'crew' and the Spanish people. In this chapter, the words I found were "arriba," "fiesta," "peseta," "aficianados," "mucho suerte," "torero," "matadors," "barrera," "picadors," and "jota" (pages 162-171). Quite a few of these Spanish words were necessary for me to look up in order to continue to understand the novel. For instance, I knew that the word fiesta translates to party. However, I did not know that the word torero meant bullfighter, which is incredibly pertinent to understanding this part of the novel. In recognizing the different vernacular, I now understand why it is so useful; it makes the reader focus more intently on the story. Seeing Spanish words definitely caused me to pay better attention to the story and have a better understanding of the novel in this chapter.

Dream A Little Dream

Chapter XIV contains no dialogue, which is odd for this book. It is simply the internal musings and reflections of a highly intoxicated Jake while he is attempting to fall asleep. In his thoughts, Jake has several deep thoughts while fighting his insomnia, which all occur on page 152. The individual, of course, who inspires him to say these things is Brett Ashley. The first major thought is "in the first place, you had to be in love with a woman to have a basis of friendship." This seems to me to be a very large statement the author is actually trying to make; Hemingway clearly must have certain views on women. And since I am not a guy, I don't know if this is the case in all the minds of men. Moving on to the next statement, Hemingway composes a series of thoughts. Jake says, "You gave up something and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid in some way for everything that was good...Either you paid by learning about them, or by experiences, or by taking chances, or by money." I personally believe that this is a very valid statement. It's somewhat comparable to karma; in order to have something good happen, one must pay for it in some way. I know I, as well as many others, have witnessed or experienced what Jake (or Hemingway) is saying. For his final thought, Jake ponders, "That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward. No, that must be immorality." He is struggling with morality. We all question the boundaries and limits of morals and rules in our world, and Jake/Hemingway is no exception. This question is a difficult one to think about, and Jake struggles with finding an answer to satisfy himself. After these thought-provoking musings, Jake quickly attempts to move on to lighter topics, leaving the reader with questions of his or her own.

Flat Character

Chapter XIII introduces a new character to The Sun Also Rises; in the chapter, he does not undergo any changes, rather Jake portrays him as the same throughout. The character I am referring to is the Englishman named Wilson-Harris. Wilson-Harris is introduced into the story as "very pleasant"(pg 130). In his brief appearance, he does not have the time to evolve into something more. Jake and Bill are drawn to Harris, as they nickname him because as Bill says, "we're so fond of you" (pg 132). Harris is a kind-hearted man; he buys the men alcohol, shares stories with them, and presents the two men with fishing gifts. When it comes time for the men to leave, Bill asks Jake, "Say, wasn't that man nice?"(pg 133) Obviously, Harris has not changed, but stayed flat. The word "nice" can be used to sum up the man.
Another part that made me pay special attention to Harris was the fact that all three men were in World War I. Clearly, there was a special bond between the three that only soldiers can share. Their fast friendship reminded me very much of the bonds formed in The Things They Carried. It made me again consider how the bonds of friendship can be so easily and quickly formed.

Understatement

In Chapter XII, the literary term understatement appears on pages 122-123. The understatement actually occurs after quite a bit of dialogue between Bill and Jake. Jake explains to Bill, "we have to follow this road along the ridge, cross these hills, go through the woods on the far hills, and come down on the Irati valley." I could only imagine Bill's incredulous expression as he responds to Jake with "that's a hell of a hike." Jake then states outside of the dialogue "it was a long walk." He then speaks of the journey there and how affected the two were by the heat and the distance. Clearly, Jake saying it was a 'long walk' was an understatement. Since the walk was described by Bill as hellish, if Jake felt the need to repeat the traveling the two would have to do, he should have used words such as lengthy, distant, or extensive that provide powerful imagery and a better description. Long is an overused word that does nothing to add to Jake attempting to describe their walk. The hellish hike deserves a better adjective then the overused word 'long' making it a definite understatement.

Filling Up Pages

Chapter XI, to me, felt a hundred percent like a filler chapter. Actually, my honest opinion is that a lot of the book is Hemingway rambling on and on and on. In quite a few paragraphs throughout the novel so far, I feel like he loses his train of thought and consequently, forgets the point he is attempting to make. In much of his writing, he either goes into way too much detail, causing me to get totally lost, or not enough detail, causing me to be out of the loop. By this chapter, it is really starting to get on my nerves. I do not think it is necessary to write a step-by-step narrative of Jake's travels. He writes "we passed through a town and stopped in front of a posada, and the driver took on several packages" (pg 111). That sentence is in no way adding to the story; in fact, I believe it detracts from the novel because it has no relevance. An additional annoyance is how he continues to repeat himself. For instance on page 109, in Chapter XI, he says "it was baking hot" at the beginning of the paragraph; however, four sentences later (in the same paragraph!), he states again "it certainly was hot." The redundancy of these two sentences is ridiculous. I know that much of this novel is flying over my head, even though I read each page about three times. I am surprised by the fact that this novel is so difficult to get into, for Hemingway is one of the most famous American writers. Almost every American can identify who Hemingway was/is; this novel makes me wonder if his other books are as difficult to get through as this one. Is he actually infamous for long, boring novels?

Local Color

Chapter X is completely about the location change; the landscape, customs, language, food, and interactions are all different now because of the traveling. The group leaves France and travels to Spain to go on a fishing trip with Cohn. The chapter basically gives an extremely, extremely, extremely long, detailed version of the events happening once Jake, Bill, and Cohn begin their journey across Spain to their fishing spot. It is in this detailed account that we see the special attention Jake places on informing the reader of the setting. He places much importance on the landscape of Spain and customs of the Spanish people. At the start of the chapter, Jake tells the reader about the "very clean Spanish town...on a big river," "a nice Spanish cathedral, nice and dim, like most Spanish churches," and the "yellow, sun-baked color" houses, giving us an idea of a typical Spanish town. As they travel, he gives us an idea of the many types of Spanish countryside, stating "in the Basque country, the land all looks very rich and green," while in the Spanish frontier "there was a little stream and a bridge...and a general store and an inn" (pgs 96-100). He saves his description of what he calls true Spain for the end of his travels saying "there were long, brown mountains and a few pine forests and far-off forests." He continues to give specifics of the local color by describing customs such as how the "bulls pass along the [back street] when they run through the back streets early in the morning on their way to the ring" and "every village had a pelota court." It is important that the reader recognizes that the location is changing because this will add certain aspects and differences to Jake's story.

Protagonist

By Chapter IX, I think it is more then safe to say that Jake Barnes is the protagonist in the novel. Undoubtedly, the biggest clue to this is the fact that he is the narrator. As the central character actually telling the story, the novel revolves around where he is and what he is doing; all of the goings-ons in the book are a direct result of his actions. For instance, the reader can tell the story revolves around Jake by the introduction of each character to the story. Only characters who interact with Jake have any importance placed on them, such as when Brett is first brought into the novel. Jake reveals to the reader how important Brett will be by lines such as "with them was Brett. She looked very lovely," "it was hot and I felt happy [dancing with her]," and when the two left the dancing club alone. An additional sign that Jake is the main character is the novel following him to different locations, depending on if he is traveling or simply going to work. For example, returning to Chapter IX, Cohn's invite to Jake to the fishing trip in Spain causes Jake to write he and Bill would "leave Paris on the 25th"(pg 87). Not too much later in the chapter, Mike asks Jake if he "would mind if we came down to Spain with you?" Mike is of course referring to himself and Brett. Hemingway manages to allow his protagonist to travel to an entirely different country in the story but have the pertinent characters follow him. These were three signs that verified Jake Barnes is the protagonist.

Epistrophe

I started reading Book II today of The Sun Also Rises; I'm curious as to: a) how many 'books' are there in this novel? and b) why does the author feel the need to split it up? So far, it doesn't really seem as if there's been a major change calling for a new 'book'. Hopefully, I figure this out by the end of the novel or I figure it out by reading other blogs. However, moving on to the real point of this specific post, I found another literary term (only five more to find!). I was pretty happy to find one at the very end of the chapter, because I felt like this was a long chapter to not have a literary term. Anyway, the literary term, epistrophe, occurs on page 85 with Mike. A very intoxicated Mike continuously speaks to Brett, Jake, and Bill Gorton speaking of Brett & how enamored he is with her on page 85. He states "Brett, you are a lovely piece," "I say, you are a lovely piece," and "Isn't she a lovely piece?" (Which happens to be another rhetorical question.) As the dialogue continues, he repeats the key phrase, "lovely piece" at the end of his sentences referring to Brett. This technique allowed me to see how completely infatuated/in love Mike is with his bride-to-be. I am wondering, however, if this infatuation was multiplied by the aid of the alcohol. With this in mind, I am curious to see how she treats him throughout the novel.

External Conflict

By Chapter VII, the reader is able to tell that there is much external conflict between Jake and Brett. Brett to put it quite simply is 'playing' Jake. In Chapter V, the reader can tell through a series of comments (as well as Cohn stating it) that Jake is very bitter about his & Brett's relationship. When Cohn states his opinion, "I don't believe she would marry anybody she didn't love,"( Jake responds, "Well, she's done it twice." As that conversation continues, we experience the bitterness right along with Jake. Back to Chapter VII, Jake is practically on his knees begging "Couldn't we just live together Brett?" Brett carefully shoots him down, in only the way a woman with the power of controlling unrequited love can. Jake continues to whine, asking questions such as "Why are you going away?" and "Where are you going?" and again "Can we go together?" Brett says no very sweetly to every request he has. Later as the chapter is dying down, the count asks Jake and Brett, "Why don't you get married, you two?"(pg 68) The two quickly come up with excuses. The conflict of their love, their careers, and leading their own lives is a lot to handle. To me, it seems that Jake would be willing to work out the issues, but Brett enjoys her flings too much to truly to commit to a man like Jake wants her to.

A Language Evolves

In Chapter VI, I am finally beginning to realize that it's super difficult for me to pay attention to line after line after line of constant meaningless dialogue. Honestly, I am forcing myself to reread each page at this point. It was in reading in this new fashion that I stumbled upon the next topic I wanted to blog about. When Jake runs into his friend, Harvey Stone, he makes small talk and catches up on things with him. Halfway through the dialogue, the two men are talking about Mencken and Harvey refers to him as a "garter snapper." (pg 50) I found this an interesting term because I understood it almost immediately. Now, we would call a garter snapper a womanizer or a player. A garter is an elasticized band worn around the leg to hold up a stocking or sock. I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out what the action of snapping a garter actually refers to. This phrase stuck out to me because garter is not a word commonly used anymore, which made me think about it. I also think it is very interesting to see how language can change over time.

Rhetorical Question

In Chapter IV, Brett & Jake get into some pretty intense dialogue in the taxi cab on page 34. Their conversation turns to deep, thought-provoking statements for the reader to ponder on themselves. Hemingway even furthers the intensity of the conversation with a rhetorical question made by Brett. As she begins to unload her miseries on Jake, she takes the role of oh-woe-is-me and asks him, "Don't we always pay for all the things we do, though?" She answers her question after a pause in the dialogue to add for effect, saying, "When I think of all the hell I've put chaps through. I'm paying for it all now." Brett's rhetorical question positions her to be exactly where she wishes to be; she wants to make herself look less guilty in Jake's eyes. In addition to this being a critical part of the dialogue, I do believe Hemingway wanted to make a deeper point however. I think he wanted the reader to pause and take a moment to reflect on his point. We all pay for our mistakes, somehow or another, during our lifetime; to most people it is commonly known as karma. If this is so, it certainly worked on me. It made me hesitate for a moment before continuing to read the rest of the chapter.

An Air About Her

In Chapter III, in the midst of dialogue between Brett & Jake, I read what an incredibly rude comment made by Brett. She says, "And you my dear. Where did you get it?" At first, I was really confused. Where in the world did an it come from? I reread the passage (on page 29-30) and finally it hit me. Brett was referring to Gearogette, who's profession is a harlot, as an IT. For those of you that don't know, a harlot is now more commonly referred to as a prostitute. Clearly, I understand that a harlot is definitely not a job title anyone wants to go home to brag to their parents about, but Brett's comment was uncalled for. It struck a nerve in me that a woman who was supposed to be a well-bred and polite lady would call another woman an "it." It shows me that her character is not one to be trusted and must be watched. It really saddens me as well, when an individual is so judgmental. Brett will undoubtedly get on my nerves through the novel.

Stereotype

I figured it was about time to start finally reading The Sun Also Rises. I've heard from most people that the book is fall-asleep-while-reading boring, but hopefully I can make it through painlessly. As I began to read, I quickly recognized a few different stereotypes in relation to Robert Cohn in the first novel. The most obvious stereotype to me was in regard to Cohn's religion. Hemingway (or Jake in the novel) writes that Cohn had feelings of "inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton." He makes clear the difference between the average student & Cohn, which I think displays stereotyping. Not too much later, the writer states "he got his nose permanently flattened... [which] certainly improved his nose." I read this as him adding to the stereotype that Jewish people have large noses; however, I might have read too much into the paragraph. Jake then writes of Cohn's background. He writes of how Cohn was "through his father, one of the richest families in New York, and through his mother, one of the oldest." To me, this is the perfect portrayal of the stereotype for a typical child who attends an Ivy League college; one must have a powerful family name and/or a great deal of money. The stereotyping in the first chapter leads me to believe much of the book will be written in the same way with very strong opinions on issues, people, events, etc.