Captivity In The Sun Also Rises

A person can be anywhere in the world, yet remain in the same place—inside a head. In The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, this sense of captivity is the source of many behaviors that prove to be problematic. Discontent sets in at every new location, and it is rarely considered by the characters that their lack of contentment is rooted inside themselves as opposed to their current environment. Running from one café to some bar, then to another country and city, sleeping in a drunken string of hotels, the characters seem to think that their feelings of loss and disillusionment can be fixed by the outside world or some other third party, like alcohol or a partner of sex. Hemingway plants a queue to this theme early in the textual dialogue
This suggests that the form of the novel as a whole is like that of a major storm, such as a tornado or hurricane. Geographically, Jake is going fishing in Burguete, but through his observer mentality, the reader can see how he takes his physical location and translates it to inform his mental state. Jakes says that “up here [Burguete] the country [is] quite barren and the hills [are] rocky” (111). While in Burguete, Jake catches fish, has light-hearted philosophical talks with Bill, and he sleeps well and takes naps in the grass. He can only enjoy himself in a barren land. He can only enjoy himself in the eye of the storm, where the animations and dynamics of sex are quelled by the definitions of the world around him. Robert is not around to let him know that he is dying, and Brett is not around to let remind him that he cannot love. Jake is only fishing. The metaphors surrounding fishing are endless. Fishing is a contemplative act, and its very nature of bating something, putting it into the unknown, and then bringing it back with something new is at the core of the process of obtaining knowledge and alleviating confusion. In a dialogue with Bill, Bill asks Jake if he is a Catholic, and Jake says “Technically” (129) and then is able to fall right asleep. Upon waking, Jake retorts to Bill saying he had a lovely dream with “I don’t think I dreamt” (129). Jake does not need to dream in a barren land. A barren land, where new life is not being made and his life is the only one that counts, is his dream. The reader sees Jake in an extended period of euphoria and is prompted to wonder why he and Bill ever left, to which Jake says “We have to go into Pamplona” (132). The preposition “into” is italicized in the text. Nothing good ever lasts in this world. Nothing good can last, and Jake has to go back into the storm. He has to wake up, and Hemingway—choosing to italicize—lets the reader know that