Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises'" and World War I
Initially printed in 1926, The Sun Also Rises turned out to Ernest Hemingway's first huge success. Not more than ten years after the end of World War I, the novel found a way to define what his generation was like: young people that were disillusioned whose lives were deeply touched by the war. Not even Hemingway himself was any kind of a soldier, but he saw more than enough action by means of his adventures as an ambulance driver while in Italy, where he was injured and was in fact presented a medal from the Italian government for his courage. Hemingway stood the emotional and physical scars of the war for the rest of his life, just like the concerned characters he produced in The Sun Also Rises, and the novel has been able to express the doubt and pointlessness of what is considered to be the "Lost Generation." With that said, this essay will explore "The Sun Also Rises'" and explain how World War I is tied into this novel.
When it comes to the connection of World War I, the Sun Also Rises gives a remarkable document of the individuals who came to be acknowledged, in Gertrude Stein's words as the "Lost Generation." However, the young generation she speaks of had their dreams and innocence shattered by World War I, arose from the war bitter and wandering, and spent much of the wealthy 1920s partying and drinking away their frustrations. Jake exemplifies the Lost Generation; emotionally and physically wounded from the war, he is disenchanted, cares little about conventional sources of hope -- religion, friends, family, and work -- and indifferently drinks his way through his emigrant life. Even travel, a rich source of possible experience, typically turn out to be an excuse to drink in exotic settings. Because of World War I, recklessness also marked the Lost Generation; Jake hardly ever interferes in other's businesses, even when he could help (especially with Cohn), and Brett hastily hurts men and reflects herself as being some that is powerless to stop doing so (Leed). Even though Hemingway critiques the superficial, empty arrogances of the Lost Generation, he also articulates the hope that future generations may remember themselves after enduring World War I.
The novel displays that World War I brought in a sense of unhappiness. It is critical to take notice of the fact that Hemingway did not at any time explicitly make the point that Jake and his friends' lives are adrift, or that this aimlessness is an outcome World War I. As an alternative, he makes the suggestion that these ideas through his depiction of the characters' mental and emotional lives. These remain in stark difference to the characters' upfront actions. World War I, caused a lot of them to just not be happy and for instance, Jake and his friends' continuous riotous behavior does not make them content. Very often, their celebration is joyless and driven by a lot of alcohol. At the end of the day, it permits them not to think about their inner lives or about World War I. Even though they spend approximately all of their time going to parties in one way or another, and yet they still remain sorrowful or frustrated. Therefore, their dancing and drinking is just a fruitless distraction, a pointless activity characteristic of a drifting, aimless life.
World War I brought on what is considered to be the emasculation and ineffectiveness. It interesting to note that one of the key changes Hemingway was able to show in the Lost Generation is that of the new male mind, battered by World War I and recently trained. Jake expresses this new emasculation; most probable physically ineffective, he is not able to have any kind of sex and, for that reason, can never have the voracious Brett. As an alternative, he is controlled by her "Sexuality and bull-fighting,"), much in the same way Cohn is in the story, who is also mistreated by the other women in his life (Allen). Jake is even threatened by the homosexual men who
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