‘The Sun Also Rises’ by Ernest Hemingway is a book that reveals a lot of deep understandings of life. The idea that all most of the characters in the book belong to a lost generation, can be related to any generation that ever lived. Of course the fact that they just came out of war and therefore belong to these people living in the interwar period makes it even more obvious. The whole generation is trying to experiment with their new roles in society and while some succeed to be a ‘new woman’ or a successful writer, others can’t seem to find their place. This sense of being ‘lost’ is mostly portrayed through alcohol. The book ‘The Unbearable Lightness Of Being’ by Milan Kundera deals with the same generation and it is clear that this situation isn’t sure what to do with their new powers and lack of boundaries. Sexuality is explored in a whole new different way, which is also pertinent in ‘The Sun Also Rises’ (TSAR). On top of a new freedom with sexuality, alcohol becomes a big part of the character’s lives in TSAR. The main character Jake drinks almost every day, and all his close friends including the woman he loves, are in the same situation for various reasons.
Jake lost a big part of his masculinity in the war. He can’t have sexual relations anymore and that seems to be a big bother for him. He tries to get close to Brett, but whenever he does, he knows that he can’t go any further and just leaves it. She knows it too and goes off and engages herself with Mike, the count, or fools around with Robert Cohn, the Jew. Even if someone could argue otherwise, alcohol is a form of escape for him. While Brett seems to drink in order to feel something, he drinks to forget about his emotions. When he sees Brett flirting with guys at the bar, he takes a drink. When Cohn annoys him, he pours himself a drink. It seems to be a pattern that can easily be associated to an alcoholic.
Other characters in the book, like Mike, drink rather for pleasure than to forget about their problems. Whenever he drinks, he describes the delicious taste of his fancy wines of the exclusivity of the champagne he bought. He loves a good bottle of wine even though he knows that whenever he gets drunk, he misbehaves. Even though he doesn’t drink for a reason, he still can’t live without it.
It is interesting that nowadays a lot of teenagers drink to forget about their stress at school, their problems with love, fights in the family etc. Adults that still tend to reach for the bottle in times of a crisis, are those that couldn’t work past their problems earlier in their lives and are therefore part of a ‘lost generation’. While the people in TSAR are all perceived to be part of THE lost generation, it is important to know that every generation is in some way lost. Not only war, but all events and situations can have a drastic effect on the life of an individual. 911 for example was a day that changed the lives of many people forever and irreversibly, and I’m sure that many members of families that lost someone on this day have been in contact with alcohol more often than they should have. Alcohol has been in the midst of humans for a long time, but still a lot of people don’t know their boundaries in the consumption of it, because it has the ability to make problems look a little lighter than usually, or in Brett’s case, to make you feel something.
Monique commented below that Jake has different forms of escape, such as nature and reading, which I found very interesting and thought was worth adding to my post. When Jake goes fishing with Bill, he shows his strong comfort towards nature by describing the water of the river in its best tone and by showing how comfortable he is with slicing a fish open.
On Saumya's blog (Saumya's blog (ending the day)) you can see that she interpreted Jake's behavior towards alcohol a little differently. She says that Jake avoids alcohol because he doesn't want to be confronted with his emotions. I disagree with this, as Jake brings wine bottles to a moment as idyllic as fishing, where no alcohol would be needed at all and would be easy to avoid. During the fiesta, he drinks every day until he seems so 'tight' that he can't think straight anymore and needs to go to bed or take a bath. Even though I understand Saumya's argument, I would still argue, that Jake does not avoid the consumption of alcohol.
On Saumya's blog (Saumya's blog (ending the day)) you can see that she interpreted Jake's behavior towards alcohol a little differently. She says that Jake avoids alcohol because he doesn't want to be confronted with his emotions. I disagree with this, as Jake brings wine bottles to a moment as idyllic as fishing, where no alcohol would be needed at all and would be easy to avoid. During the fiesta, he drinks every day until he seems so 'tight' that he can't think straight anymore and needs to go to bed or take a bath. Even though I understand Saumya's argument, I would still argue, that Jake does not avoid the consumption of alcohol.
Hi Jorina!
ReplyDeleteYour post mentions some very insightful comments which I hadn't thought about when reading TSAR. You have used very good language to express your opinions clearly so excellent job!
I do agree that alcohol is something that many of the characters in the novel use to escape from their realities. Did you recognize that nature is also another element that Jake describes to escape from his sorrows? Reading too! There are many times when Jake picks out a book to read. We all know the power of books - they give us the opportunity to travel to other worlds! Jake reads after fishing, he also reads back at a hotel. What do you think about the effect of nature personally? Does it help you escape from some sorrows and distractions in life?
Monique!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment first of all.
Second of all, I had never thought of that! The fact that Jake reads a book to escape from the world never was apparent to me, but you're right! I guess it makes sense that he would read to escape, because he's a writer and therefore has some close affiliation to literature. Thank you for that idea!
As for nature, you're right too, and I hadn't thought of it. The fishing part is descrcibed as the most peaceful and calm part of the whole book, where he uses the most positive diction in the whole piece.
As for your question, if I like to escape in nature... I do sometimes. I love to be alone on the beach, looking at the waves and just make up my mind about things that weren't clear before. Nature brings us back to our elements and has the possibility to help us clear our mind. What do you associate with nature?
Jorina you definitely make some good insights in terms of alcohol consumption and I in fact chose to write about the same thing. But what I thought was different and could be argued is that Jake avoids alcohol instead because he does not want to feel emotions. At one point of the novel he says "not drunk enough to be careless" and relative to the other characters he doesn't drink enough. But despite this I think you are somewhat right about Brett she uses her alcohol to escape but at the same time indirectly begins to feel something as she keeps on saying "I'm so miserable." As Monique said there are other forms of escape like books but more than Jake, Robert Cohn definitely uses books to escape just like he wants to go to South America after reading Purple Land. AS for the nature part I think both you and Monique are right there is definitely an affiliation with serenity and calm when sitting on a beach or relaxing around nature. It makes you think about things that are possible more simple or outside of your hands.
ReplyDeleteJorina, what do you mean by "positive diction"? Do you mean that the diction that Hemingway uses has a positive connotation?
ReplyDeleteI find that throughout the novel, the detail that Hemingway incorporates in his descriptions of nature is so powerful that it has a truly mesmerizing effect.
I find that when surrounded by nature, in the forest or by the beach, you can get lost and your mind has that opportunity to become liberated. I feel that my mind is a bird trapped in a cage, and then when I am surrounded by nature, my mind can escape to other worlds and the bird can finally stretch its wings.
Hello Saumya!
ReplyDeleteI found your comment about Brett very interesting! But I am confused about one thing, are you saying that Brett too wants to forget her emotions? I believe that she does not want to forget her emotions, but rather wants to be certain of them. Currently she is lost. She is lost between the attention of Jake, Michael and Cohn. And she repeatedly says "I'm so miserable" because of the battle of love she is in. What do you think?
Saumya,
ReplyDeleteI would tend to disagree about what you said about Jake avoiding alcohol because he doesn't want to feel emotions. He's the narrator and he mentions the words 'drink', 'wine', 'brandy', 'bottle', 'tight' etc at least once every two pages. If he was avoiding alcohol, he would try not to talk about it so much. He also drinks at every occasion, when he goes fishing for example he makes sure the wine bottles are stored in a cool place so that him and Bill can enjoy them later. He's not even able to understand what's going on when Cohn hits him to the ground after a fight.
Monique,
you're right that I probably shouldn't have used the words 'positive diction' as they are very vague. What I meant to say was that when he goes fishing in the mountains, his tone is very light and it becomes clear that he really enjoys being outside in the beautiful scapes of nature.
Monique,
ReplyDeleteI think you misunderstood what I was saying, I meant that Brett uses alcohol as somewhat of a scapegoat to a certain extent but after drinking she does manage to express herself. I guess you could say as Jorina's title suggests that she uses alcohol to blame her outbreaks of emotions which is totally against what she tries to project, which is the "new woman" sort of persona.
Jorina although Jake does mention drinking he doesnt drink as much as the other people and he usually describes a lot of the drinking habits of the characters. I think he enjoys and does have some sort of dependency on alcohol but I would argue that this dependency is not as much as the other characters and Jake to a certain extent avoids alcohol to be able to not say too much whhen hes drunk. I think this is because he is trying to hide his emotions and alcohol brings them out.
Nice to see you still involved, Qui Qui. XoXo! Ms. M
ReplyDelete