The Sun Also Rises Annotated Bibliography
Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises
A Transformation Of Values
Mara L. Tyler
American Literature II
In The Sun Also Rises, during the transition of society from World War I to post-war, values transformed from the “old-fashioned” system of what was morally acceptable to a system that held the basic belief that anything of value, whether tangible or intangible, could be exchanged for something of equal value. This novel specifically pinpoints the transformation of the values of money, alcohol, sex and passion (aficion), friendships and relationships, and even one’s pain.
An Introduction To The “Lost Generation”
In the pages prior to Book I of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway quoted Gertrude Stein: “You are all a lost generation”, which, Hemingway used to identify his post-war generation in this novel. Jim Potter more appropriately defines this roaring twenties generation as “All in all it can be said that the bread-and-butter problems of survival of the earlier decades were now replaced for a majority by the pursuits of wine, women, and song” (Potter, 48). This transformation of the economy served as a heavy influence as to why values drastically changed. During the roaring twenties this post-war generation intentionally dismissed traditional values, as they concluded the values of which they were raised did not allow them to avoid the life-altering dramatics of World War I. This is seen in The Sun Also Rises as Jake and other characters struggle with their own involvement with the war, how it changed them either mentally, physically, or both, and most importantly how it changed their interaction with the new world that surrounds them.
The Transition of Values
Prior to the First World War, values were based off moral consciousness. However, “World War I had been the catalyst agent in releasing the stark factor of nothingness and absurdity at the very roots of traditional values” (Wilentz, 189). Hemingway places, potentially, the largest value of exchange
A Transformation Of Values
Mara L. Tyler
American Literature II
In The Sun Also Rises, during the transition of society from World War I to post-war, values transformed from the “old-fashioned” system of what was morally acceptable to a system that held the basic belief that anything of value, whether tangible or intangible, could be exchanged for something of equal value. This novel specifically pinpoints the transformation of the values of money, alcohol, sex and passion (aficion), friendships and relationships, and even one’s pain.
An Introduction To The “Lost Generation”
In the pages prior to Book I of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway quoted Gertrude Stein: “You are all a lost generation”, which, Hemingway used to identify his post-war generation in this novel. Jim Potter more appropriately defines this roaring twenties generation as “All in all it can be said that the bread-and-butter problems of survival of the earlier decades were now replaced for a majority by the pursuits of wine, women, and song” (Potter, 48). This transformation of the economy served as a heavy influence as to why values drastically changed. During the roaring twenties this post-war generation intentionally dismissed traditional values, as they concluded the values of which they were raised did not allow them to avoid the life-altering dramatics of World War I. This is seen in The Sun Also Rises as Jake and other characters struggle with their own involvement with the war, how it changed them either mentally, physically, or both, and most importantly how it changed their interaction with the new world that surrounds them.
The Transition of Values
Prior to the First World War, values were based off moral consciousness. However, “World War I had been the catalyst agent in releasing the stark factor of nothingness and absurdity at the very roots of traditional values” (Wilentz, 189). Hemingway places, potentially, the largest value of exchange
Cited: Baldwin, Marc D. Reading The Sun Also Rises: Hemingway’s Political Unconscious. Vol. 4. New York: Peter Lang, 1997. Print. Baldwin provides a thorough analysis in his last chapter on the values of Jake and his friends. [This relates to my thesis as…] Baldwin examines and discusses how commonly these values are conveyed as a form of monetary value. These values are used to trade (in terms of buying and selling) and as a form of payment. Donaldson, Scott. “Hemingway’s Morality of Compensation.” American Literature Nov. 43.3 (1972): 399-420. JSTOR. Web. 3 Mar. 2013. Donaldson’s “Hemingway’s Morality of Compensation” promotes the idea that the more money one has, the more social superiority one also has. [This relates to my thesis as…] the cross examination of how money influences one’s social role shows that the value of exchange of “payment” reserves a spot for you within the group; i.e. Brett doesn’t have the monetary characteristic, but, her primary lover, Mike, does, which buys her, her social status within the group. Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York, NY: Scribner, 2006. Print. Potter, Jim. The American Economy Between the World Wars. London: Macmillan, 1974. Print. This is not a secondary source review of The Sun Also Rises. Jim Potter discusses the worldly environment from an economic standpoint, expressing to readers how the world changed after the first World War, during the roaring twenties. [This relates to my thesis as…] Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises takes place immediately following the First World War, during the roaring twenties; it gives us an insight to the economy and behaviors of the post-war generation. Wilentz, Gay. “(Re)Teaching Hemingway: Anti-Semitism as a Thematic Device in The Sun Also Rises.” College English 52.2 (Feb, 1990): 186-93. JSTOR. Web. 15 Mar. 2013 Wilentz uses his analysis of Hemingway to illustrate the moral and value gap between Cohn and Jake, along with the rest of the “crowd”. [This relates to my thesis as Hemingway was illustrating how traditionalists, like Cohn, threatened the values founded by the post-war generation.