Love, lust, and friendships are some of the minute details that Ernest Hemingway employs in his writing. As lust becomes love and love becomes friendships, the main characters live their lives to the fullest in The Sun Also Rises. A story that takes place just after The Great War and when romance is on the rise, this story takes a new perspective on how love affects a group of people. One of the greatest American literature writers, Ernest Hemingway, cemented himself as a world-class writer in the writing of this novel. Through Hemingway’s use of symbolism, imagery, setting, and tone, the reader is able to clearly see Hemingway’s warning of how romanticism can affect a group of people.
One of the most prominent symbols of the story, the bulls, is very symbolic of the masculinity of the men in the story. The symbol, which appears multiple times in the story in the form of bulls and bullfighting is symbolic of the men’s personalities and characteristics. For example, Romero, who is a bullfighter, is always winning the attention of Brett. This makes the other men jealous, however, Jake being a gentleman, still helps Brett find Romero when she wants to find him. Romero can be portrayed as the manliest of the men as he fights against the bulls in a gruesome way, and at the end of the day, he gets Brett. Brett is ultimately the prize in the fight between the men.
Cohn, on the other hand, was initially unimpressed by the bullfighting and then eventually he believes that the bullfighting was horrid. Cohn can then be perceived as unmanly, therefore losing the fight to win Brett. Cohn was seen throughout the entire story as chasing Brett. This would be another example of how Cohn was unmanly, as an expatriate chasing around a girl after the war. Jake is a fan of bullfighting but he is more intrigued in the way that the bullfighter interacts with the bull. Jake is also there to explain what is happening to Brett. We learned earlier in the story that Jake is unable to please Brett, therefore never being able to win her over. From these exchanges we learn that Jake is manly, however, he is unable to please Brett so he is automatically out of the chase for her. The bulls in the story are one of the most apparent symbols as they clearly represent the masculinity of the men in the story. With the many different styles of masculinity in the story, there are many events that occur in which the men become high tempered, resulting in problems within the group.
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Another symbol that does not stand out as much but is definitely present is the idea that water symbolizes purification. Throughout the story, the reader sees that the characters spend most of their time drinking alcohol. However, there are subtle moments of the story where Hemingway uses water to symbolize purifying the characters. For example, Brett who is portrayed to have many partners throughout the story mentions many times that she is going to bathe. Usually, she says this after a night out, maybe after a sexual encounter. Hemingway uses the bath and water to symbolize her purifying herself and becoming clean. Hemingway also uses water when the men decide that they are going to go out on a fishing trip. Being out on the water and fishing is a relaxing activity for the men.
When they are out on the water there is not much for them to focus on and they can forget about what bad things have happened in their lives. The men fought in one of the deadliest wars of history so for them to get time to relax and purify is satisfying to them. The also use the river to chill a bottle of wine which will also help the men relax. The symbol of water reappears at the end of the novel when Jake is in San Sebastian. Jake had lunch and then slept for a while, when he woke up he immediately grabbed his swimsuit and went to the beach. “As a roller came I dove, swam out under water, and came to the surface with all the chill gone” (Hemingway 238). Hemingway uses a play on words here by saying that the chill is gone. He is referring to both the coldness of the water as well as the stress of life. When Jake is in the water he only focuses on perfecting his dives and practices many types. He is not focused on life, he is too busy purifying himself and spending time on himself. Hemingway’s use of water as a relaxation symbol is subtle, however, it clearly plays an important role in the life of the Lost Generation.
Another important literary device that Hemingway focuses on is the use of imagery. Hemingway does an exemplary job of using the colors of the city to liven the story. The story begins in Paris where Hemingway describes the colors as bland and dimly lit. Hemingway even has Robert Cohn admit that “I’m sick of Paris” (Hemingway 19). The story then moves to various cities in Europe, mostly in Spain, these cities are described with vibrant colors and peaceful scenes. Peaceful scenes such as “trees along both sides of the road, and a stream and ripe fields of grain… and the great brown cathedral” (Hemingway 99). The beauty of the scene helps set the mood that this is a romantic place. Much of the romanticism happens here in the story as the group of friends meets new people. These descriptions of the cities are ironic in the sense that Paris is known as the city of love, however, Hemingway shows that it is not really what it seems. Hemingway uses the characters of his novel to prove that a change in scenery can be an important aspect to relationships.
This theory of scenery is also shown through Hemingway’s use of setting to strengthen relationships. While in Paris the relationships are meaningless and are simply just hookups. All of the characters including Jake are prone to these encounters. The third chapter of this novel describes one of these affairs that Jake has. However, while in Spain, these simple hookups begin to become relationships. Brett begins to have real emotions for Romero. As the setting changed from Paris to Spain, simple one night stands changed to real relationships. The group was severely changed from the change in scenery.
One last literary device that Hemingway used is tone. Hemingway decided to use a very subtle tone in this novel. Hemingway uses a very faint somber tone throughout the story. There is not much excitement in the lives of the characters as they live a very plain life and drink lots of wine. Hemingway uses his tone when describing Jake’s night with Brett and the count, “We dined at a restaurant in the Bois. It was a good dinner. … The count was in fine form during the meal. So was Brett. It was a good party” (Hemingway 68). Hemingway’s tone is quite somber here as Jake is not very excited instead he uses short descriptions and says that the events were “good.” The tone between the characters can also be seen as a hostile tone. Jake, Cohn, and Bill get into several heated conversations that add hostility to the group. Both tones, somber and hostility are apparent in the relationships of the characters and add to the interactions of the group. The somber tone can be seen many times between Jake and Brett as Jake helps Brett several times and they always have nice conversations with each other. The hostility tone affects the masculinity of the men as Cohn always try to be the manliest of the men.
Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises is loaded with literary techniques that are used to show the way relationships can change. Hemingway uses symbolism, imagery, setting, and tone to show that relationships within a group can be easily affected by many factors. Through the use of symbolism, it is apparent that relationships can be changed through the competition of masculinity. Through imagery Hemingway shows the reader that relationships can be changed by the romanticism of the city. The setting also shows the reader that the city and location of a relationship can have major effects on the relationship. Hemingway’s great use of tone allows the reader to see that the interactions between people greatly have an effect on the relationship. Hemingway’s novel does an amazing job of showing the different effects of romanticism can harm a group of people.
