Preview

In Search for Hope (the Sun Also Rises)

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4677 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
In Search for Hope (the Sun Also Rises)
In the search for hope for the protagonists of “The Sun Also Rises”
Is there any hope for the Lost Generation?
Do the title of the novel and the seemingly hopeful epigraph indicate that the Lost Generation still have the possibility to regain any of the values they have lost during the WW1?
The epigraph to “The Sun Also Rises” contains a quote from Gertrude Stein, saying: “You are all a lost generation”. This proclamation is juxtaposed with the passage from the beginning of the Book of Ecclesiastes: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever”. The message of the former quote clearly conveys that the WW1 generation, of which Jake Barns, Robert Cohn, Brett Ashley and Mike Campbell are the representatives, is forever deprived of moral, emotional, spiritual and physical values. On the other hand, the latter passage gives a lot of hope: “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.” This statement, from which the title of the novel comes, as well as the content of the whole Book of Ecclesiastes, may be the reason for upholding this hope, the hope given by the rising Sun, the hope of forever abiding Earth.
It is a common knowledge that war - “the calamity for civilization”, as the narrator Jake names it - disorganises or even destroys human’s inner life, his priorities, his code of values; that war causes a lot of chaos in the way one perceives oneself as well as others; that war deprives man of dignity and (self-)respect. The lives of the (dis)affiliates of the Lost Generation, who have gone through the tragedy of the World War1, epitomise this universal truth. They are constantly coping with finding themselves in the world after the war. It is highly probable that the ethics and morality for them is to be found in the book of Ecclesiastes. The preacher provides the reader, or rather the members of



Cited: Backman, Melvin. "Hemingway: The Metador and the Crucified." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. Benson, Jackson J. Hemingway: The Writer’s Art of Self-Defense. Minnesota: the University of Minnesota, 1969 Kashkeen, Ivan. "Alive in the Midst of Death: Ernest Hemingway." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. Maloney, Michael F. "Ernest Hemingway: The Missing Third Dimension." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. Spilka, Mark. "The Death of Love in The Sun Also Rises." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. (http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/pamplonaweb/riauriau.htm) (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-178,pageNum-51.html)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The protagonist of the All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer, says, "I believe we are lost" (Remarque 123). The soldiers themselves recognize that they are part of a lost generation. They are, "forlorn like children, and experienced like old men" (123). Lost Generation is revealed in All Quiet on the Western Front through the young soldiers loss of innocence, loss of life, and loss of home. The First World War has no positive effect on the lives of the young soldiers.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, on page 134 it states, “Oh the effects of it were real the rising prices, the shortages of everything, the news that so-and-so had been killed in some far away battle.” Because of this, everyone is affected. Most farmers need to buy some of their supplies, so the rising prices make it harder for them to make a living. Many people will lose their jobs and starve. On page 190, it says “I didn’t see how they could find Sam guilty, he’d fought for three years, he’d risked his life, how could they decide to punish him for something he hadn’t done? It just didn’t make sense.” This shows that many people die unfairly. The generals don’t care for their soldiers as much as they should. They don’t give any soldiers the justice they deserve. This is unfair to many families because their sons die without glory. In Sam Meeker’s case, he died without justice. He joined the army for the glory of it and never got any. As a result of many people run out of business and some of their family end up in the grave. The Meeker’s experienced things no family should ever endure. This ranges from wrongful death to almost losing their business. Life Meeker once said, “In war the dead pay the debts for the living.” This stays true as Life had to give up his life so that his wife and son could enjoy all their moments on…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Baldwin, Marc D. Reading The Sun Also Rises: Hemingway’s Political Unconscious. Vol. 4. New York: Peter Lang, 1997. Print.…

    • 1767 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is his works, such as Hills like White Elephants, which subtly address modern issues that bring forth the question of morality and purpose to a general population (A Farewell to Arms, 3). It is his short, direct style, exemplified by his six word story “Baby shoes for sale, never worn.”, allows for a clear and deep expression of emotion (A Farewell to Arms, 4). His involvement of incorporating the reader through active reading breaks an emotional barrier set forth by usual text. This action allows for the reader to directly examine Hemingway’s characters, and thus reflect on their own behavior. Hemingway’s mastery of language, subsequent to his fluency in the Romantic languages, allows his works to be overall reflective of human behavior and relate to the reader in an emotional context (A Farewell To Arms,…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A generation of young men was fresh out of school with the world at their fingertips, but they realized it was their duty to enlist in the war and have lost the innocence of youth because of it. They became a lost generation because, as is stated in the preface, they were, "A generation of men who, even though they may have escaped the shells, were destroyed by the war. The young men had to deal with their friends dying at only the…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many scholars have spoken about American expatriates and alcoholism in their reviews with a pessimistic point of view and with negative comments, like Cowley in his writing saying that “The Sun Also Rises is, in fact, a major example of a drunk narrative, in which alcohol is inseparable from the modernist ethos of despair”. However, I’d like to point out that all these critics have been written in the light of each scholars’ period, and that no one asked himself what Hemingway meant when writing about those themes and that precise moment of the…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Hemingway, Ernest. "Soldier 's Home." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2005. 170-75.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Argument Readings

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ivins, Molly. "Get a Knife, Get a Dog, but Get Rid of Guns." Weiner, Harvey S. Major Themes for Modern Writers. Custom Publishing, n.d.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants”. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 7th ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 171-175. Print.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many authors, critics, and everyday social readers define Ernest Hemingway as the prime example of 20th century American literature. Hemingway’s works transcend time itself, so that even readers today analyze and criticize his works. His works, of course, have drawn praises and animosity from all corners of the globe. Critics often applause Hemingway on his short simple prose, for which many people recognize him for. His writing builds upon the masterful usage of “short, simple words and short, simple sentences” (Wagner, 3) to create clear and easy to understand pieces of art, so that even the simple everyday reader can enjoy his art. One may even say that “no other novelist … [has] had an equivalent influence on the prose” of today’s modern writing (Young, 39). Naturally, while supporters exist, so do the debunkers. They say that Hemingway’s prose “is too limited … [making his] characters mute, insensitive, uncomplicated men (Weeks, 1)” in society. The simplicity of his writing strips away the information that a reader may interpret, which fuels the debate that Hemingway utilizes no creativity in his writings; everything simply presents itself as it truly represents.…

    • 3970 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Bäumer and his generation feel separated from the rest of the world. These boys’ lives were drastically changed by the war, and “even though they may have escaped its shells, they were destroyed by the war,” (Remarque Epigraph) describing that even though they survived the war physically,they were mentally destroyed by the dangers and chaos of war. Paul expresses that “he has been crushed without knowing it” and “does not belong anymore, it is a foreign world” (Remarque 168). The generation of men who fought in the war are “pushed aside,” (Remarque 249) as an unpleasant reminder of a war that society would like to disregard. After surviving such dreadful…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author, Eric Remarque, depicts this notion of a lost generation. He brings this idea to attention throughout the book in conversations between soldiers and through the thoughts of the main character, Paul Baumer. Remarque emphasizes separation between the older and younger generations caused mainly by the false romanticism the older generation attributed…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Great Gatsby-Santiago

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This may be true in all cases, but it is clearly predominant in Ernest Hemingway 's Old Man and the Sea. It is evident that Hemingway modeled the main character, Santiago after his own person, and that the desires, the mentality, and the lifestyle of the old man are identical to Hemingway 's.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    after he served in World War I. It deals with the postwar life of expatriates and veterans…

    • 3271 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics