Earnest Hemingway The Sun Also Rises analysis

Hemingway made acquaintances with great authors and artists alike during his time in Paris following his first marriage to Hadley Richardson. These artists encompassed legends such as Pablo Picasso, Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce and Ezra Pond. It was at this time that they became the embodiment of what Gertrude Stein referred to as “The Lost Generation”. Hemingway and his first wife had a son and shortly after, in the year 1925, he and his wife joined up with American and British expatriates in taking a trip to Spain’s Festival of San Fermin which functioned to inspire his work on The Sun Also Rises. It was around this time that he and his first wife divorced owing to his affair with Pauline Pfeiffer; who later on became his second wife.

In retrospect, the individual experiences that Hemingway underwent through the course of his life, including his childhood and his time on the battlefields of war influenced his creation of numerous stereotypical characters whose behaviorisms reflected society at that time. The stereotypes he uses resonate with the reader; for instance a cheating lover whose husband cannot rise to satisfy her pleasure. This stereotype could be taken to refer to the idealisms of humanity. This form of idealism is the one that leads individuals to change their interests. Understanding the changes that occur depending on the individuals’ situation functions to enable the bibliophiles to gain a deeper understanding of Hemingway’s characterization of individuality and the accuracy behind what the writer actually felt during some events.

This functions to make one a consequence of the other thus removing other variables that could be states as the reason for the aimlessness (Gottlieb, Madeline 2018). From the story’s title, The Sun Also Rises, it becomes clear that Hemingway uses satire to evaluate and criticize the on-going societal behaviors of deviancy caused by negative personal experiences. Through its irony it is clear that society’s behaviors are dictated by the experiences the person goes through. Behind the title’s words, there lies a metaphoric statement that juxtaposes the life of Hemingway through his characters prior to and subsequent to a war. At a quick glance it is almost as if the title states ‘life goes on’. It hints at the conclusive thought of sex as a means to destruction and danger.

This symbolism takes the important role of connecting sex to violence. It does so in a way that makes them complementary to each other and is further reinforced by the portrayal of Cohn’s being cuckolded by his promiscuous wife following his inability to get an erection. He had been hurt in the war; hurt in such a way that he would not be able to participate in intercourse again. As such, the war, arguably being the embodiment of violence, leads to multiple sexual proclivities. It is thus arguable that the use of actual life situations as well as the inclusion of forms of human nature into characters in a plotline adds dimension; and that, is what readerships have an affinity for.