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Literature For MA Students

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Study Notes for Students pursuing English Literature at BA and MA level.

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  1. 1 Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises Unit 1: Introduction — The Life and Times of Ernest Hemingway STRUCTURE: 1.1: Objective 1.2: A Brief Biographical Sketch of Hemingway 1.3: Events that shaped Hemingway's outlook: A historical perspective of his novels 1.1: Objective The objective of this unit is to introduce the learners to the socio-political aspect of the novel and its relation with American culture and tradition before giving a brief summary of the work. Also, after comprehending these minor things, it will be easier for them to grasp the larger issues that will be discussed in subsequent units of this Study Material. 1.2: A Brief Biographical Sketch of Hemingway Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) one of the most significant American writers of the Twentieth century has left an indelible mark in the minds of not only his contemporaries but also the future generations. Although most often remembered for his economical and understated style of fiction, he was also a noted journalist. In 1954, Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hemingway is also known for his heroic, adventurous and often stereotypically "manly" public persona. His signature style was a white beard and a mug of beer. In fact, it is because of this stereotype that he was called 'Papa' Hemingway by his followers. The myth he cultivated about himself as a man of action aided the important Modernist reading of many of his works. Throughout the twenties and lasting until the fifties, Hemingway produced a plethora of writing, most of which was in his familiar stringent style with the economical use of words, coupled with his "believable" characterizations of the modern-day world. All these were the hallmark of his prolific writing-style. On July 21, 1899, Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, just south of Chicago. He was the first son and the second child born to Clarence Edmonds "Doctor Ed" Hemingway, a country doctor, and Grace Hall Hemingway. While his mother hoped that her son would develop an interest in music, Hemingway adopted his father's 'outdoors' hobbies of hunting, fishing and camping in the woods and lakes of Northern Michigan. The family owned a house called Windemere on Michigan's Walloon Lake and often spent summers vacationing there. These early experiences in close contact with nature instilled in him a lifelong passion for outdoor adventure and for living in remote or isolated areas. At school he excelled both academically and athletically; he boxed, played football, and displayed a particular talent in English classes. After high school, young Hemingway did not want to go to college. Instead, aged eighteen, he opted for a writing career as a junior reporter for The Kansas City Star. An early role model for the young Ernest Hemingway was the sports journalist Ring Lardner. Once out of high school he himself became a journalist, and used an objective journalistic style throughout his writing career. However, after only a few months in the role he tried to join the army, but failed the medical examination due to poor vision, and at the start of the First Word War, drove an ambulance on the Italian front for the Red Cross in 1918. On his journey to the Italian front, he stopped in Paris, which was under constant bombardment from German artillery. Instead of staying in the relative safety of his hotel, Hemingway tried to get as close to combat as possible. In July of that year, he was wounded by a mortar fragment. The Italian government later presented him with a medal for dragging a wounded Italian soldier to safety in spite of his own injuries. Although he had to return home due to his injuries, the time spent at the Italian front had a long-lasting impression on his life and it provided the material for his celebrated work A Farewell to Arms. Later on, those events were depicted in the film, Hemingway in Love and War, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough.
  2. 2 After his return to the United States, he became a reporter for Canadian and American newspapers and was soon sent back to Europe to cover such events as the Greek Revolution. He had also written some travelogues (covering subjects including fishing and bull fighting.) In 1922, Hadley lost a piece of luggage containing Hemingway's manuscripts and the author was distraught over this event. During the 1920s, he lived in Paris with his first wife Hadley Richardson, whom he married in 1922 and working as a foreign correspondent. He was eventually introduced to the writer Gertrude Stein, who became his mentor and led him to join the American expatriate circle that became known as the Lost Generation - which he described in his first important work, The Sun Also Rises also known as Fiesta (1926). After Hadley became pregnant in 1923, the Hemingways' left Paris and moved to Toronto, where he wrote for the Toronto Daily Star and waited for their child, John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway, to arrive. It was at Toronto that Hemingway's Three Stories and Ten Poems was published. The family soon returned to Paris, with Hemingway determined to make a name for himself. Between 1925 and 1929, he produced some of the most important works of 20th century fiction, including the landmark short story collection In Our Time (1925) which contained 'The Big Two-Hearted River'. In 1926, he published The Sun Also Rises, followed by Men Without Women in 1927. Two years later, he published A Farewell to Arms, arguably the finest novel to emerge from World War l. In four short years he went from being an unknown writer to being the most important writer of his generation, and perhaps the 20th century. Hemingway was soon tired of Toronto and returned with his family to Paris. He became an active member of the so-called Lost Generation, a community of expatriates who were patronised by Gertrude Stein. In fact, Hemingway popularised the term 'Lost Generation' after a chance utterance of the words by Stein. This community included many writers who were beginning to explore the possibility of Modernist writings. Hemingway and Ford Maddox Ford (actually, Ford Maddox Hueffer) edited a review which published the work of writers like Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and John Dos Passos. Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald formed a close friendship. Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby inspired Hemingway to write larger texts. Hemingway's first novel The Sun Also Rises was published four years after his first arrival in Paris. Hemingway spent much time at Gertrude Stein's salon. In this social context, Hemingway met influential painters including Juan Gris, Joan Mir6, and Pablo Picasso. Eventually their strong personalities would clash and a decades-long rift would form between Hemingway and Stein. He met Ezra Pound in 1922 and the two men toured Italy throughout 1923. In 1924, the writers moved on to the same street. Pound nurtured him Pound and introduced the younger writer to James Joyce. Joyce and Hemingway would go on bouts of drinking. In 1927, Hemingway sought a divorce from Richardson. The relationship between Hemingway and Hadley began to break down while he was writing his first novel. Hadley also discovered that Hemingway was having an affair with the American Pauline Pfeiffer. As Part of the divorce settlement, Hadley was to receive the revenue from The Sun Also Rises. After the divorce, Hemingway married Pauline Pfeiffer. In June 1928, Hemingway and his second wife had a son, Patrick, in Kansas City and a third son, Gregory, came along a few years later. After Pauline gave birth, Hemingway and his family travelled to Wyoming, Massachusetts and New York. In the fall, Hemingway discovered that his father had committed suicide. He began to have premonitions that he himself would also end his life by his own hands. Throughout the 1930s, he would spend his winters in Key West, Florida and in the summers, Hemingway would return to Wyoming where he indulged in big game hunting and fishing. This love would encourage his sense of adventure. In 1933, Hemingway travelled to East Africa for a safari. This trip inspired much of his works including Green Hills of Africa, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". Hemingway was infected with amoebic dysentery, resulting in a prolapsed intestine. He would take an emergency flight to Nairobi for medical treatment. But, further adventure awaited him as he suffered two plane crashes on two consecutive days. In 1936, Hemingway met a journalist, Martha Gellhorn in Key West, Florida. The following year, Hemingway travelled to Spain to work as a war correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance during the Spanish Civil War. At that time, he was associated with a film project known as The Spanish Earth by John Dos Passos. But, Dos Passos abandoned the film after José Robles was executed. Hemingway accused Dos Passos of being a coward; however, Dos Passos was disgusted by the brutality of the leftist republicans. The war put a strain on his marriage. His wife Pauline was a devout Catholic and, as such, sided with the fascist, pro-Catholic regime of Franco, whereas Hemingway supported the Republican government. Shortly after Franco's Fascists assumed power in Spain, Hemingway returned to Florida and from there, sailed to Cuba in early 1939 and lived in a hotel in Havana. This signalled the increased efforts to separate from his second wife. Martha Gellhorn was to join Hemingway in Cuba and in 1940, married her, after divorcing Pauline.
  3. 3 She had been his companion of four years. This marriage too did not last long and ended when Hemingway met Mary Walsh in Wyoming. However, he would change his summer home to Ketchum, Idaho. However, during the intervening years, Gellhorn gave Hemingway the inspiration to pen his most celebrated novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls which was published in 1940. The book, the events of which take place during the Spanish Civil War, was based on real events and tells of an American named Robert Jordan fighting with Spanish soldiers on the Republican side. It was largely based upon Hemingway's own experience of living in Spain and reporting on the war. It is considered to be one of his most notable literary accomplishments. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for this work. In 1941, Martha Gellhorn accepted an assignment for Colliers' Magazine that required her to travel to. During the second half of 1944, Hemingway travelled to the European front of the Second World War. He was at the D-Day landing; but, was protected as a "precious cargo." However, some people doubt the validity of the assertions that he went ashore during the Allied invasion. During the conflict, Hemingway broke the Geneva Convention by leading an armed group of military resistors. As a journalist, he was expressly forbidden to engage in military action. However, he escaped punishment by claiming that he had only given advice. For his actions in the war, Hemingway was given a Bronze Star for bravery. On returning to Paris, he was able to heal the rift with Gertrude Stein. In London, Hemingway met Mary Welsh, a Time Magazine correspondent. On their third meeting, Hemmingway offered a marriage proposal. The wedding was solemnised in 1946. During a return trip to Europe, Hemingway became infatuated with the teenaged Adriana Ivancich. This romance would inspire Hemingway's book Across the River and into the Trees. When the book was released in 1950, it had a very poor reception among the reading public. After the war he moved to Cuba, where he lived until he was forced to leave in 1959 after Fidel Castro's Communist revolutionaries took power. The Old Man and the Sea was written and set in Cuba, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1952 and two years later, the Nobel Prize in Literature for the same. His mental and physical health had already begun to deteriorate during this period. Things were made worse because of alcoholism. From 1955 to 1956, he was confined to his bed and although his doctors told him to stop drinking, he did not comply. In 1960, Hemingway visited Spain once again before returning to Idaho. Henceforth, he began suffering from manic depression (bipolar disorder), and had been treated with electroshock therapy. Hemingway blamed these sessions for disrupting his memory. Following an unsuccessful attempt in the spring of 1961, he committed suicide a few months later. He was 61. Hemingway's legacy is at times seen as being sexist and homophobic. His zealous pursuit of masculine ideals has been severely criticized; yet, undoubtedly Hemingway's writings and life have had a profound impact on literature. 1.3: Events that shaped Hemingway's outlook: A historical perspective of his novels Events occurring almost four decades before Hemingway's birth were responsible in some way, in shaping his outlook to life. While still a rather young nation, America was plunged into a Civil War between the Northern Union and the Southern Confederate States in the 1860s. The cause was chiefly surrounded around the abolition of slavery that was rampant in the Southern cotton-producing states, where they were employed by the migrant European farmers who had prospered because of an immensely fertile land. The crisis ended with the defeat of the South by the North and the historic declaration by President Abraham Lincoln that all men would be free thereafter. Thereafter, America witnessed a long period of isolation from international politics and this was marked by an attempt at reconstruction of the nation's economy which had been shattered by the Civil War. This was done with the help of rapid industrialisation and drafting new laws or amending the existing ones. Consequently, numerous cities sprung and there was a huge migration of labourers not only from the villages to the cities but also from Europe. Another reason for the drive to earn riches was the influence of Horatio Alger, whose cheap dime-novels was a craze among the youth for his idealisation of the rags-to-riches hero who rose from ignominy by the use of native intelligence and hard work. Although Alger cannot be classified as a writer who shaped the cultural identity of the country, yet it cannot be denied that it was he who had predestined the nation to be an economic superpower and was also responsible for the after-effects that were felt in the 30s and 40s of the next century. However, America felt the need to come out of the isolation in the late 90s to counter the rising powers of both Japan and Russia who posed a threat to her because of their imperialistic designs. Thus, the country began its role of mediator between these two powers who were themselves warring with each other. But, her plans of neutrality fell through as Japan bore a grudge towards America for denying them an indemnity from Russia after the latter's defeat in
  4. 4 the Russo-Japanese War at the start of the twentieth century. This grudge came out into the open during the First World War. At that time, America herself had intended to remain neutral and again play the part of the mediator for the European countries. However, her sympathies were more for the English and their Allies because of a blood relationship — one must not forget that the Americans largely comprised of the descendents of Puritan English emigrants who had fled their motherland for fear of being persecuted by a Catholic monarch. Gradually, the relations between the two nations had also strengthened during the latter half of the nineteenth century because of the ironing out of mutual disagreements by diplomacy. Most Americans had initially had voted for maintaining the isolationist policy but later gave into the call of the President because they wanted to show how a Democracy could prove stronger than any autocratic country and how such a nation could defend her ideals in the face of adversity. Also, young Americans were enthusiastic to experience the thrill of real warfare, an emotion that had been denied for more than four decades. But, they were in for a rude shock as it became increasingly apparent that war is actually a hoax — the idea of nationalism is a mask for personal ambitions of world domination. This was compounded by the ferocity of the war experience itself. Consequently, these young enthusiasts were soon disillusioned and found themselves in a void upon their return to their motherland. They wondered whether they had actually killed were enemies or not and if so, then the question that haunted them was, why those people were enemies because nobody knew anything about each other. Upon returning to their homelands, these young American war-veterans were welcomed like heroes for upholding the principles of democracy in the face of the greatest adversity. But, they found it difficult to adjust to their new-found status as they realised that there was not greatness in killing unknown people. Those that they had killed on the battle- field were also guided by the same misconceptions of democracy and freedom. Naturally, most of them found it difficult to stay back in the country with such a dual personality. Such people, for whom all the established morals and social beliefs had collapsed, were continuously trying to escape from the haunting images of their war experiences. With an abundance of wealth, accumulated in the initial years of the War, they flitted about Europe and the rest of the world, with their permanent address being Paris. Paris was the cultural capital of Europe and lots of expatriates ('expats') preferred to stay in that city for its scope of endless fun and entertainment. Relationships had acquired no meaning; rather, they seemed to have lost meaning altogether. People kept falling in and out of love — uninhibited sex with numerous partners and endless drinking and feasting was what these 'expats' preferred to indulge in. All were trying to consume themselves in pleasure but nobody was able to find any real happiness and love. It is in this context that the expression 'Lost Generation' became a catch-phrase. This was a chance utterance by Gertrude Stein to express her vexation at something and Hemingway brought it into popular currency by using it in his novels. Since then, the expression has come to mean 'a generation of young people who had come to lose all meaning in life because of the collapse of the established morals and ideals of society in the aftermath of the First World War'. In the political front, America show in the post-War era, an opportunity to establish its world supremacy by diplomatic means. After the War, the European economies were in a state of collapse and so they applied to America foe financial aid so that the economies of the individual countries could be revived. Having made huge profits by supplying arms and ammunitions to the Allied forces in the initial years of the War and by the rapid increase of foreign investments, the country used this as a tool to assert her influence upon Europe. Coupled with this was the huge amount of ill-planned investments in South America that was totally ruled by Dictators. However, what they had not foreseen was the looming large of an even more devastating War and their own financial collapse in the 1930s. The indiscriminate manner, in which aid was given to the collapsed European and South American economies, resulted in bad debts as those sums could not be recovered. As a result, the stock market collapsed in America, many large business houses were shut down, there was large-scale unemployment and retrenchment and salaries were cut to reduce losses. But the greatest sufferers were the small-time investors. This period of American history is known as the years of the 'Great Depression'. These domestic problems were compounded by the threat to democracy that was being posed by General Franco in Spain, Adolf Hitler in Germany and Benito Mussolini in Italy. These three were the faces of Fascism and they were the men responsible for the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. Thus, these conflicts indicated further financial hardships not only for the world, but also for America. It felt threatened by these forces because it was feared that the Fascists would throttle the independence of the people. The Civil War in Spain was followed by the Second World War and again, America intended to be neutral, but was unwittingly embroiled in the conflict when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. These were again years that increased the financial hardships of the people back home because the prices of essential commodities had spiralled which added to
  5. 5 the woes of joblessness. But, the spirit of America was not broken and soon after the War, the country again started the mammoth task of re-construction. And within a short span of time, it bounced back as one of the two major economic forces in international politics. The American spirit proved to be tough and unshakable during the years of the Cold War with the erstwhile U.S.S.R. or Soviet Union. During this time, the two countries indulged in indirect conflicts all over the world, starting from Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba and extending up to Afghanistan, Vietnam and Philippines. (A History of the United States of America; Ed. Henry Bamford Parkes; Khosla Publishing House, 2001) www.us.archive.org Unit 2: Introduction — Summary of The Sun Also Rises STRUCTURE: 2.1: Objective 2.2: Summary of the Novel 2.3: Characters in the novel 2.3.1: Jake Barnes 2.3.2: Brett Ashley 2.3.3: Robert Cohn 2.3.4: Mike Campbell & Bill Gorton 2.3.5: Other Minor Characters 2.4: Critical Reception of the Novel 2.1: Objective The objective of this Unit is to provide a summary of the novel before delving deeper into the critical issues related to it. 2.2: Summary of the Novel The Sun Also Rises opens with the narrator, Jake Barnes, delivering a brief biographical sketch of his friend, Robert Cohn. Jake is a veteran of World War I who now works as a journalist in Paris. Cohn is also an American expatriate, although not a war veteran. He is a rich Jewish writer who lives in Paris with his forceful and controlling girlfriend, Frances Clyne. Cohn has become restless of late, and he comes to Jake's office one afternoon to try to convince Jake to go with him to South America. Jake refuses, and he takes pains to get rid of Cohn. That night at a dance club, Jake runs into Lady Brett Ashley, a divorced socialite and the love of Jake's life. Brett is a free-spirited and independent woman, but she can be very selfish at times. She and Jake met in England during World War l, when Brett treated Jake for a war wound. During Jake and Brett's conversation, it is subtly implied that Jake's injury rendered him impotent. Although Brett loves Jake, she hints that she is unwilling to give up sex, and that for this reason she will not commit to a relationship with him. The next morning, Jake and Cohn have lunch. Cohn is quite taken with Brett, and he gets angry when Jake tells him that Brett plans to marry Mike Campbell, a heavy-drinking Scottish war veteran. That afternoon, Brett stands Jake up. That night, however, she arrives unexpectedly at his apartment with Count Mippipopolous, a rich Greek expatriate. After sending the count out for champagne, Brett tells Jake that she is leaving for San Sebastian, in Spain, saying it will be easier on both of them to be apart. Several weeks later, while Brett and Cohn are both traveling outside of Paris, one of Jake's friends, a fellow American war veteran named Bill Gorton, arrives in Paris. Bill and Jake make plans to leave for Spain to do some fishing and later attend the fiesta at Pamplona. Jake makes plans to meet Cohn on the way to Pamplona. Jake runs into Brett, who has returned from San Sebastian; with her is Mike, her fiancé. They ask if they may join Jake in Spain, and he
  6. 6 politely responds that they may. When Mike leaves for a moment, Brett reveals to Jake that she and Cohn were in San Sebastian together. Bill and Jake take a train from Paris to Bayonne, in the south of France, where they meet Cohn. The three men travel together into Spain, to Pamplona. They plan on meeting Brett and Mike that night, but the couple does not show up. Bill and Jake decide to leave for a small town called Burguete to fish, but Cohn chooses to stay and wait for Brett. Bill and Jake travel to the Spanish countryside and check into a small, rural inn. They spend five pleasant days fishing, drinking, and playing cards. Eventually, Jake receives a letter from Mike. He writes that he and Brett will be arriving in Pamplona shortly. Jake and Bill leave on a bus that afternoon to meet the couple. After arriving in Pamplona, Jake and Bill check into a hotel owned by Montoya, a Spanish bullfighting expert who likes Jake for his earnest interest in the sport. Jake and Bill meet up with Brett, Mike, and Cohn, and the whole group goes to watch the bulls being unloaded in preparation for the bullfights during the fiesta. Mike mocks Cohn harshly for following Brett around when he is not wanted. After a few more days of preparation, the fiesta begins. The city is consumed with dancing, drinking, and general debauchery. The highlight of the first day is the first bullfight, at which Pedro Romero, a nineteen year-old prodigy, distinguishes himself above all the other bullfighters. Despite its violence, Brett cannot take her eyes off the bullfight, or Romero. A few days later, Jake and his friends are at the hotel dining room, and Brett notices Romero at a nearby table. She persuades Jake to introduce her to him. Mike again verbally abuses Cohn, and they almost come to blows before Jake defuses the situation. Later that night, Brett asks Jake to help her find Romero, with whom she says she has fallen in love. Jake agrees to help, and Brett and Romero spend the night together. Jake then meets up with Mike and Bill, who are both extremely drunk. Cohn soon arrives, demanding to know where Brett is. After an exchange of insults, Cohn attacks Mike and Jake, knocking them both out. When Jake returns to the hotel, he finds Cohn lying face down on his bed and crying. Cohn begs Jake's forgiveness, and Jake reluctantly grants it. The next day, Jake learns from Bill and Mike that the night before Cohn also beat up Romero when he discovered the bullfighter with Brett; Cohn later begged Romero to shake hands with him, but Romero refused. At the bullfight that afternoon, Romero fights brilliantly, dazzling the crowd by killing a bull that had gored a man to death in the streets. Afterward, he cuts the bull's ear off and gives it to Brett. After this final bullfight, Romero and Brett leave for Madrid together. Cohn has left that morning, so only Bill, Mike, and Jake remain as the fiesta draws to a close. The next day, the three remaining men rent a car and drive out of Spain to Bayonne and then go their separate ways. Jake heads back into Spain to San Sebastian, where he plans to spend several quiet days relaxing. He receives a telegram from Brett, however, asking him to come meet her in Madrid. He complies, and boards an overnight train that same day. Jake finds Brett alone in a Madrid hotel room. She has broken with Romero, fearing that she would ruin him and his career. She announces that she now wants to return to Mike. Jake books tickets for them to leave Madrid. As they ride in a taxi through the Spanish capital, Brett laments that she and Jake could have had a wonderful time together. Jake responds, "Yes, isn't it pretty to think so?" 2.3: Characters in the novel 2.3.1: Jake Barnes Jake is the protagonist of the novel and is the typical Hemingway hero, whatever it connotes. The key events in the formation of Jake's character occur long before the novel's action begins. As a soldier in World War l, Jake is wounded. Although he does not say so directly, there are numerous moments in the novel when he implies that, as a result of his injury, he has lost the ability to have sex. Jake's narration is characterized by subtlety and implication. He prefers to hint at things rather than state them outright, especially when they concern the war or his injury. Early in the novel, for example one must read the text very closely to grasp the true nature of Jake's wound; it is only later, when Jake goes fishing with Bill, which he speaks more openly about his impotence. Jake's physical malady has profound psychological consequences. He seems quite insecure about his masculinity. The fact that Brett, the love of his life, refuses to enter into a relationship with him compounds this problem. Jake, with typical subtlety, suggests that she does not want to because it would mean giving up sexual intercourse. Jake's hostility toward Robert Cohn is perhaps rooted in his own feelings of inadequacy. In many ways, Jake
  7. 7 is a typical member of what poet Gertrude Stein called the "lost generation," the generation of men and women whose experiences in World War I undermined their belief in justice, morality, manhood, and love. Without these ideals to rely on, the Lost Generation lived an aimless, immoral existence, devoid of true emotion and characterized by casual interpersonal cruelty. Part of Jake's character represents the Lost Generation and it's unfortunate position: he wanders through Paris, going from bar to bar and drinking heavily at each, his life filled with purposeless debauchery. He demonstrates the capacity to be extremely cruel, especially toward Cohn. His insecurities about his masculinity are typical of the anxieties that many members of the Lost Generation felt. Yet, in some important ways, Jake differs from those around him. He seems aware of the fruitlessness of the Lost Generation's way of life. He tells Cohn in Chapter Il: "You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another." Moreover, he recognizes the frequent cruelty of the behaviour in which he and his friends engage. Most important, perhaps, he acknowledges, if only indirectly, the pain that his war injury and his unrequited love for Brett cause him. However, though Jake does perceive the problems in his life, he seems either unwilling or unable to remedy them. Though he understands the dilemma of the Lost Generation, he remains trapped within it. 2.3.2: Brett Ashley Brett is a strong, largely independent woman. She exerts great power over the men around her, as her beauty and charisma seem to charm everyone she meets. Moreover, she refuses to commit to any one man, preferring ultimate independence. However, her independence does not make her happy. She frequently complains to Jake about how miserable she is—her life, she claims, is aimless and unsatisfying. Her wandering from relationship to relationship parallels Jake and his friends' wandering from bar to bar. Although she will not commit to any one man, she seems uncomfortable being by herself. As Jake remarks, "She can't go anywhere alone." Indeed, there are several misogynist strains in Hemingway's representation of Brett. For instance, she disrupts relationships between men with her very presence. It seems that, in Hemingway's view, a liberated woman is necessarily a corrupting, dangerous force for men. Brett represents a threat to Pedro Romero and his career—she believes that her own strength and independence will eventually spoil Romero's strength and independence. Because she does not conform to traditional feminine behaviour, she is a danger to him. As with Jake and his male friends, World War I seems to have played an essential part in the formation of Brett's character. During the war, Brett's true love died of dysentery. Her subsequent aimlessness, especially with regard to men, can be interpreted as a futile, subconscious search for this original love. Brett's personal search is perhaps symbolic of the entire Lost Generation's search for the shattered pre- war values of love and romance. 2.3.3: Robert Cohn Cohn has spent his entire life feeling like an outsider because he is Jewish. While at Princeton, he took up boxing to combat his feelings of shyness and inferiority. Although his confidence has grown with his literary success, his anxiety about being different or considered not good enough persists. These feelings of otherness and inadequacy may explain his irrational attachment to Brett—he is so terrified of rejection that, when it happens, he refuses to accept it. The individuals with whom Cohn travels to Spain only compound his insecurities. Not only is he the only Jew among them, but he is also the only nonveteran. Jake and his friends seize on these differences and take out their own personal insecurities on Cohn. It is important to note that Cohn's behaviour toward Brett is ultimately not very different from that of most of the men in the novel. They all want to possess her in ways that she resists. But Cohn's attempts to win Brett are so clumsy and foolish that they provide an easy target for mockery. Cohn adheres to an outdated, pre-war value system of honour and romance. He fights only within the confines of the gym until his rage and frustration make him lash out at Romero and Jake. He plays hard at tennis, but if he loses he accepts defeat gracefully. Furthermore, he cannot believe that his affair with Brett has no emotional value. Hence, he acts as a foil for Jake and the other veterans in the novel; unlike them, he holds onto traditional values and beliefs, likely because he never experienced World War I firsthand. Sadly, Cohn's value system has no place in the post-war world, and Cohn cannot sustain it. His tearful request that Romero shake his hand after Cohn has beaten him up is an absurd attempt to restore the validity of an antiquated code of conduct. His flight from Pamplona is symbolic of the failure of traditional values in the post-war world.
  8. 8 2.3.4: Mike Campbell & Bill Gorton Mike Campbell is a constantly drunk, bankrupt Scottish war veteran with a terrible temper, which most often manifests itself during his extremely frequent bouts of drunkenness. He has a great deal of trouble coping with Brett's sexual promiscuity, which provokes outbreaks of self-pity and anger in him, and seems insecure about her infidelity as well as his lack of money. Bill Gorton, like Jake, is a heavy-drinking war veteran, though not an expatriate. Bill uses humour to deal with the emotional and psychological fallout of World War l. He and Jake, as American veterans, share a strong bond, and their friendship is one of the few genuine emotional connections in the novel. However, Bill is not immune to the petty cruelty that characterizes Jake and Jake's circle of friends. 2.3.5: Other Minor Characters Pedro Romero is a beautiful, nineteen-year-old bullfighter. Romero's talents in the ring charm both aficionados and newcomers to the sport alike. He serves as a foil (a character whose attitudes or emotions contrast with, and thereby accentuate, those of another character) for Jake and his friends in that he carries himself with dignity and confidence at all times. Moreover, his passion for bullfighting gives his life meaning and purpose. In a world of amorality and corrupted masculinity, Romero remains a figure of honesty, purity, and strength. Montoya is the owner of a Pamplona inn and a bullfighting expert. Montoya sees bullfighting as something sacred, and he respects and admires Jake for his genuine enthusiasm about it. Montoya takes a paternal interest in the gifted young bullfighter Pedro Romero and seeks to protect him from the corrupting influences of tourists and fame. Frances Clyne is Cohn's girlfriend at the beginning of the novel. A manipulative status-seeker, Frances was highly domineering early in their relationship and persuaded Cohn to move to Paris. As her looks begin to fade, she becomes increasingly possessive and jealous. Count Mippipopolous is a wealthy Greek count and a veteran of seven wars and four revolutions. Count Mippipopolous becomes infatuated with Brett, but, unlike most of Brett's lovers, he does not subject her to jealous, controlling behavior. Amid the careless, amoral pleasure-seeking crowd that constitutes Jake's social circle, the count stands out as a stable, sane person. Like Pedro Romero, he serves as a foil for Jake and his friends. Wilson-Harris is again a British war veteran whom Jake and Bill befriend while fishing in Spain. The three men share a profound common bond, having all experienced the horrors of World War l, as well as the intimacy that soldiers develop. Harris, as Jake and Bill call him, is a kind, friendly person who greatly values the brief time he spends with Jake and Bill. Georgette is a beautiful but somewhat thick-witted prostitute whom Jake picks up and takes to dinner. Jake quickly grows bored of their superficial conversation and abandons her in a club to be with Brett. Belmonte is a bullfighter who fights on the same day as Pedro Romero. In his early days, Belmonte was a great and popular bullfighter. But when he came out of retirement to fight again, he found he could never live up to the legends that had grown around him. Hence, he is bitter and dejected. He seems to symbolize the entire Lost Generation in that he feels out of place and purposeless in his later adult life. Harvey Stone is a drunken expatriate gambler who is perpetually out of money. Harvey is intelligent and well read, yet he cannot escape his demons of excessive drinking and gambling. Like many of Jake's friends, he is prone to petty cruelty toward Cohn. 2.4: Critical Reception of the Novel Fiesta or The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926, was one of the first novels of Hemingway that saw any recognition. Prior to this, he had only written some poems, short stories and the novel The Torrents of Spring (1926) where he had criticised his contemporary, Sherwood Anderson. At that time, Fiesta was a craze among the younger generation and was like the Bible of the 1920s America, although in later years, the popularity of the novel declined when it was eclipsed by such other Hemingway novels like A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.
  9. 9 When Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises was published, it soon became the quintessential novel for the Lost Generation. Malcolm Cowley asserts: "It was a good novel and became a craze- young men tried to get as imperturbably drunk as the hero, young women of good families took a succession of lovers in the same heartbroken fashion as the heroine, they all talked like Hemingway characters" (Cowley, Exile's 3). Cowley's observation underscores The Sun Also Rises as an archetypal novel for the 'lost" generation, but the book appealed to broader circles as well. The novel was the central text of the Lost Generation and according to Maxwell Geismar in The Last of the Provincials (1947), if Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise was 'the generation's masculine primer', Fiesta was 'the second reader for both the sexes'. Hemingway's quasi-autobiographical novel following American exiles around Europe would earn him a respected reputation as a legitimate American author with modernist sensibilities and establish his popularity within the reading public. The novel is conceived in the expatriate tradition which sought broad new cultural horizons in order to explode America's traditional values and boundaries, yet The Sun Also Rises provides evidence that the frontier myth persisted in the impulses of American literary consciousness. Unit 3: Themes and Issues of The Sun Also Rises STRUCTURE: 3.1: Objective 3.2: 'Papa' Hemingway and his 'Code' 3.3: The 'Lost Generation' 3.4: Spain 3.5: Autobiographical elements in the novel 3.6: Hemingway's Language 3.7: Significance of the Title and the Epigraph 3.8: The Beginning and the End 3.9: Conclusion 3.10: Model Questions 3.11: References and Bibliography 3.1: Objective The objective of this Unit is to comprehensively discuss the major issues of the novel and provide their in-depth analysis. 3.2: 'Papa' Hemingway and his 'Code' Hemingway's signature pose was the overflowing beer-mug in his hands and the iconic white beard. This lent to his persona an aura of machismo, which was somewhat true and somewhat, dexterously cultivated to make him a successful commercial entity. His fans (it would be wrong to say readers because, over time, Hemingway had become more than a writer — he was a celebrity figure because such a lot of merchandise was being marketed, bearing his name and even today, an annual Hemingway look-alike contest is held, when people from all over the world gather to down gallons of alcohol and pose like him) endearingly called him 'Papa' Hemingway. This nickname is rather misconstrued because, the general and erroneous perception is that he was like a father-figure to millions of youngsters in his era. But, in reality, this term of endearment is a complex code, which when deciphered, reveals a great deal about his psychology and his style of writing. In fact, the term 'Papa' alludes to the Code that he adhered to in his works. According to Nancy R. Comley & Robert Scholes (Hemingway's Genders: Rereading the Hemingway Text; Yale University Press; New haven & London; 1994) the word 'papa' was a cry of pain in ancient Greek. In fact, the ancient Greek tragedian, Sophocles, has used it in such a manner in his play Philoctetes (line 746, Laurentian Manuscript). It was
  10. 10 only later on that translators reduced that Greek cry of pain into 'ah' from 'papa'. In Philoctetes, Sophocles has given us the story of how the Greek hero, Achilles' son Neoptolemus is initiated into manhood, who had been commanded by Odysseus to lie to Philoctetes and thereby dishonour himself. According to the Homerian mythology, a prophet had predicted that Troy could only be made to fall if Philoctetes could use the bow of Hercules on behalf of the Greeks. But they, and in particular, Odysseus, had earned his undying hate when Philoctetes was abandoned on an uninhibited island after being bitten by a serpent that gave him a fowl-smelling wound and a terribly hoarse cry of pain which could not permit anybody to stand near him. Ten years on that island had not healed his wound and Philoctetes used the bow and arrows of Hercules not to perform any heroic deed but to shoot birds and animals for the sake of sustenance. Odysseus, who was ordered to bring back Philoctetes, resorted to trickery as was his bane, and enlisted Neoptolemus as his messenger. Neoptolemus was first asked to cultivate the friendship of Philoctetes and then obtain the weapons of Hercules. However, the young boy was soon overcome by remorse at the treachery and revealed everything to Philoctetes and returning the weapons. His personal Code of honour definitely led him to be a failure in his first mission but it did initiate him to manhood. Ultimately, Sophocles used the technique of the dues ex machina by bringing down Hercules to earth and resolving differences. Thus, it is evident in the play, a conflict between the codes or moral standpoints of Odysseus and Neoptolemus. While, for the former, the end justifies the means, for the young Neoptolemus, the worthy son of Achilles, personal honour and self-respect comes first. Hemingway, in mind, spirit and in every other thing is the Neoptolemus of the twentieth century. And the events of the play, written when Sophocles was almost ninety years old, have been re- rendered by Hemingway in In Our Time. It would also be worthwhile to understand that these 'Codes' have been part of military discipline and not always written down in black and white. The existence of such codes and such discipline is of great importance because it teaches the martial men to impose self-restraint and neither to make a brute and blatant display of power, nor to lose their composure. Thus, a deviation from such ideology meant loss of honour and respect. The existence of such unwritten and ideological military codes has been dealt at length in the Tom Cruise and Demi Moore — starrer movie, A Few Good Men. At this point, it would be worthwhile to analyse Hemingway's novel on the basis of the 'Code'. The first and foremost rule of Hemingway's 'Code' is that the characters will never talk about their own misfortunes or disabilities for the sake of gaining sympathy. Doing so, is a manifest sign of weakness and an inability to endure. In The Sun Also Rises, Robert Cohn, in spite of all his machismo as a boxer, fails to emerge as the Hemingway-character because of his continuous attempts at gaining sympathy and consequently, he makes a rather ignominious exit after collapsing into his bed, crying. On the other hand, Jake, Bill and Mike, all adhere to this code and emerge as men worthy to be honoured. Jake had received a war-wound, rendering him impotent for the rest of his life, but he did not discuss with anybody, not because he was ashamed of losing his manhood, but because he did not want the sympathy of others. Thus, for the ideal Hemingway characters, spiritual and moral stamina is more important than physical prowess. Secondly, according to the 'Code', men were not allowed to hang around with those women who had rejected them. Thus, Jake and Lady Brett Ashley, although they are lovers, realise the fact that they'll never make a happy couple because Jakes' impotency will not allow a family to be established. Consequently, they have a tacit understanding that Brett would marry and settle down, and the two would continue to be good friends. So, even against his will, Jake allows her the independence that Brett deserves and does not at all try to prevent her. He quite manfully accepts her decision to marry Mike Campbell, her flirtations with Count Mippopolis and the other men and her elopement, first with Robert Cohn and then with Pedro Romero. Similarly, at the end of the festivities in Pamplona, when Mike learns that his would- be bride has eloped with the champion bull-fighter, he does not react adversely to go after them or curse them; Mike simply regrets that the woman did not love him and swallowed down all his grief and regret with a pull of the bottle of liquor. Unlike Jake and Mike, Robert is a man who loses all dignity and makes himself obnoxious to Brett and her people. He fell in love with her after meeting Brett at a party and since then, followed her like a shadow. His relationship with Jake deteriorated after the latter refused to divulge to him anything about Brett or introduce him to her. To Robert, Brett was a far more worthy woman compared to the nagging old Frances. When Jake and Brett left the party, Robert followed them around, even interrupting their moment of privacy. Also, when the brief affair between Brett and Robert fails and their elopement to Austria falls through, the latter decides to follow her to Pamplona where she was supposed to meet her fiancé, Mike Campbell. At Pamplona, he is continuously humiliated by Mike and ignored by Brett, Jake and
  11. 11 Bill but he persists upon hanging around with the group like a leech. Robert's ultimate predicament is that he has to make a disgraceful exit after learning of Brett's elopement with Pedro. Lastly, the Hemingway characters are lively in spite of their personal tragedies. They drink and party a lot and have a great love for adventure and outdoor sports which test man's character and spirit. Thus, we find Bill Gorton arriving in Paris after witnessing a boxing match in Austria and describing it at great length. Also, Bill and Jake are very eager to witness the bull-fighting at Pamplona and proceed towards it after a week-long fishing trip in Spain. Even Mike Campbell and Brett Ashley are eager to watch bull-fighting. All these sports are about strength, stamina and intelligence. On the other hand, although Robert was a champion boxer at Princeton, he really did not like the sport and participated in it only to vent his anger at being snubbed for being a Jew and also to establish an identity of his own. These 'Codes of Conduct' have not been spelled out anywhere but are strictly followed like military discipline. In fact, it should be noted that Jake, Brett, Bill and Mike are all war veterans and consequently, they not only understand, but also honour these codes. Also, they have learnt how to control their emotions and maintain their dignity. But, Robert has had no experience of the war and this is the reason why he is impervious to these 'codes'. Ultimately, his physical strength is overshadowed by his mental and spiritual weakness. At a personal level, such 'Codes' are manifest in Hemingway's works because he himself had been closely associated with the military and warfare. Although poor eye- sight did not allow him to be a member of the regular army, yet he had worked as a Red Cross ambulance driver for the Italians during World War I and won a medal for exemplary show of courage in trying to save an Italian soldier at the Austrian border. Later on, during the Second World War, Hemingway was involved in leading an armed-resistance against the enemy. And, all his life, he had displayed a love for outdoor sports that required a great deal of intelligence and technical skills. 3.3: The 'Lost Generation' The 'Lost Generation' was the catch-phrase of Hemingway's era, along with the 'Jazz Age' (popularised by his friend, F. Scott-Fitzgerald). In fact, the phrase was first used by Gertrude Stein, the mother-figure of all the expatriate writers in Paris ('expats' in short) to express her anger over a trifling but frustrating incident and Hemingway overheard it. Thereafter, he used it in his works and brought it into popular currency. Both the expressions — 'Lost Generation' & 'Jazz Age' — point to the prevailing mood of disillusion and escapism. The generation of Hemingway and Fitzgerald were directly involved in the First World War and saw from close quarters, its horror and hoax. All morality had collapsed and chivalry had evaporated as the only purpose of the soldiers was to kill the enemy at all costs or be killed. In fact, the War itself was found to be a hoax because nations were not fighting each other for the greater interests of their citizens but to fulfil the ambitions of individual leaders who were sacrificing men and women in large numbers without any pricks of conscience. The initial enthusiasm to save Democracy from the ambitious designs of imperialist forces, at the call of the President soon waned. America was witnessing war for the first time since the Civil War of the 1860s and this was turning out to be a bitter experience already. Thus, the Lost Generation had lost all faith in the age-old beliefs, ideologies and chivalry associated not only with war but society at large. They may have been given the 'Hero's Welcome' upon returning home for upholding the virtues of Democracy, but these men and women were finding it really difficult to adjust their realisation with their new-found and exalted status. Consequently, they preferred to escape from the reality of home to a new place where the truth would not gnaw at them. Paris naturally became the meeting point of such disaffiliate individuals as it soon grew up to be the cultural capital of the world. Paris was a city of endless parties where men and women met in large numbers, guzzled barrels of alcohol and indulged in uninhibited sex. Thus, there was plenty of pleasure in store for these disaffiliates and yet, people were trying to continuously escape from some unknown memories or fears which were tormenting them. Happiness was elusive and people were reluctant to express their frustrations lest they be considered weak and shunned, but in reality, realising that everyone's cup of woes was full to the brim and consequently, there was no more space to accommodate the woes of others. The tone of the literary outputs of this era was melancholic by nature and resembled the melancholic rhythmic beats of Jazz music that had been popularised by Negroes and Creoles. This can be best understood by a thorough reading of Fiesta and of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. These novels are marked by unending display of opulence and unceasing socialisations and yet, all the individuals were lonely and poor in terms of meaningful relationships. The
  12. 12 protagonists of the novels of this era were not attractive because they performed any heroically impossible tasks but because of their stoic resilience in the face of perpetual agony and hopelessness. Their heroics lay in facing adversities with a bold disposition and head held high. The attitude can be best understood by Santiago's observation in The Old Man and the Sea: 'A man can be destroyed by not defeated' or, by the dying admission of Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls: 'l have fought for what I have believed in ...' Thus, the term 'Lost Generation' implied a generation of men and women in Europe and America who had lost all their faith in traditional values, cultural ethos and hope in everything. They were literally living for the moment and were constantly fearful of a gnawing loneliness that might overpower them when left alone. 3.4: Spain For the lover of the outdoors in Hemingway, Spain had been a second home. This is because he was very much enamoured by the pristine beauty of the Spanish topography which is dotted with hills and forests and which is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Straits of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, what attracted him greatly was their hardy lifestyle which was an admixture of bull-fighting, drinking and grand feasting. These Spaniards had also proved their mettle as hardy guerrilla warriors during the Civil War. All these aspects of the country made him visit Spain time and again. Also, Hemingway had a long sojourn in Cuba, a small Caribbean Communist country that was a constant threat to America, because the inhabitants were mostly descendents of Spaniards and the national language of this country is Spanish. It was during this sojourn that he wrote the Nobel-winning novella, The Old Man and the Sea. Thus, it is in Spain that he has based most of his short stories, plays and novels. In both The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway has provided a graphic description of the Spanish hinterland, its cultures, practices, beliefs, fiestas and bull-fighting. In fact, Spain seems to be an unending holiday destination. In the latter novel, we find towards the conclusion that Robert Jordan, the protagonist lies on the Spanish earth, awaiting the end. This is of no mean significance. It implies the ultimate absorption of the human race into the pristine earth and tends to remind us of the Biblical saying: "From dust thou ariseth, to dust thou returneth"; and, this is the same for almost all religions of the world. 3.5: Autobiographical elements in the novel All of Hemingway's works are remarkable for the autobiographical elements that have been so skilfully blended into the fiction. Firstly, after World War l, Hemingway was rather disillusioned by his experiences and like the other contemporary disaffiliates, settled in Paris, the cultural capital of the world, to embark upon a literary journey. In the War, he was severely wounded in the knees but the mental trauma was greater. Like him, our protagonist, Jake Barnes, is also a war veteran, who has settled in the same city after being rendered impotent due to the war wound and there he is the local correspondent of an American newspaper. While Jake's impotence is real and physical, Hemingway's is imaginary. Secondly, Jake and his friend go holidaying in Spain and participates in the wine-guzzling fiesta and enjoys the bull-fighting, Hemingway also did likewise in real life. He made frequent adventurous trips to Spain for fishing, hunting of game birds and was a great enthusiast of bull-fighting. His love and capacity for alcohol is no secret. Thirdly, Hemingway's first love interest was with a British nurse, Agnes Von Kurowski, who treated him during his shrapnel injury at the Italian-front. The relationship broke down because Agnes was nearly seven years older than him and she did not want to spoil the life of her younger lover. This incident has recurred in many of his novels, especially the early ones like in this novel and in A Farewell to Arms. While in The Sun Also Rises, the character of Agnes has been represented in the persona of Lady Brett Ashley, in the latter novel, it has been done so by Catherine Berkley.
  13. 13 Both of them have been nurses during the war and seen innumerable and horrifying casualties during the War. Brett and Jake are never physically united because of his impotence nor are they separated from each other. Moreover, in this novel, Brett is shown to break-off an affair with the young and star matador, Pedro Romero, on the issue of age — Brett was over thirty and Pedro only nineteen. Fourthly, we find in the novel, frequent reference to pugilism — Robert Cohn is a champion pugilist and Bill Gorton boasts about his witnessing of a boxing match in Austria before arriving to Paris. This has another autobiographical connotation because Hemingway himself was a boxing-enthusiast, a game which depends more on technical skills, stamina and agility more than any superhuman physical strength. 3.6: Hemingway's Language The secret behind Hemingway's immense success is the sparse language that has been used in his works. Also, the descriptions are rather terse and have been accompanied by a lot of idiomatic expressions. Such a style was a direct outcome of his training as a journalist, where brevity of language was encouraged in communication and the author's own distaste for ornate and pretentious literary style that was tagged as classical. Such a notion led Hemingway to route out redundant words with expressive vocabulary. The aim was to achieve vividness in expression and thereby, modernise literature and language. Another important aspect of his technique was the use of inset anecdotes during the narrative, so as to give it a touch of reality and liveliness. In doing so, all formality in mannerisms and literary usage have been done away with, leading to an individualistic style. To achieve the effect, Hemingway has intelligently repeated a particular word in a single sentence for the purpose of over-emphasis, tied up numerous clauses with the conjunction 'and' and has utilised colloquial idioms to their fullest. In tone, he is sardonic and wry and it successfully conveys the prevalent mood of cynicism and disillusion, which represented the predominant mood of the 'Lost Generation'. 3.7: Significance of the Title and the Epigraph This early novel of Hemingway was published in1926 under the name of Fiesta although the title, The Sun Also Rises was used in America. Both the titles are significant and meaningful in their own ways. 'Fiesta' is a Spanish term meaning 'feast' or 'public celebration' and it aptly sums up the meaning and tempo of the novel. After reading the novel, we realise that it is a tale of sorrow in the midst of endless parties and entertainments. All these were desperate attempts to escape from the haunting images of the past and the painful realisations of the present. The American title was taken from the Epigraph, which has again been lifted from the Old Testament of the Bible, Book of Ecclesiastes 1:4-7: One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever... The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose... The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to its circuits... All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return again. In brief, this extract means the eternity of Nature and the transitoriness of human beings. Nature continues in its own cyclic motion while one generation of human beings comes and is soon replaced by another generation. Thus, Nature is nonchalant about human sufferings and it is our lot to continue suffering silently, with the only emancipation in death. The Sun rises and it sets, without worrying about anything and continues in its own diurnal motion. There can also be a different interpretation to the above Epigraph. It might also be taken to mean that at the end there is always hope for the brave because they have the strength to endure. In fact, thematically speaking, this interpretation is more appropriate in the context of the novel. Jake and Brett only endure and even though try desperately hard to move on with life, fate seems to throw them together continuously. And they have taken their misfortune in their stride. So, for them, in spite of their misfortune, the sun also rises.
  14. 14 The other Epigraph has been taken from a chance expression of Gertrude Stein, the mother-figure of all the expatriate writers and painters in Paris. She had once observed, 'Every man becomes civilized between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. If he does not go through a civilizing experience at that time of his life, he will not become a civilized man. The men who went to war at eighteen missed the civilizing ... All you young people who served in the war are a lost generation. You have no respect for anything' and the young writer immediately seized upon the expression and used it in his novel. Soon, the expression became the catch-phrase of Hemingway's generation and it came to define the disaffiliates of society who were very much affected by their experiences during the First World War. 3.8: The Beginning and the End The concept of the Code Hero is nowhere more explicitly defined than in the contrasting descriptions of the characters in the beginning and the conclusion of the novel. Hemingway starts by describing Robert Cohn, a character who is detested by everyone for his lack of self-esteem and who does not have any of the strength, stamina or spirit of the other Hemingway characters. He has been described as the scion of a rich Jewish family who has been educated at Harvard, where he was a champion boxer, a game which he thoroughly detested but participated in, only to vent his anger and get noticed. However, although he his physically strong, mentally he is not so as Robert loses all his pride and dignity in his shameless pursuit of Brett Ashley, a woman who has summarily rejected him after a brief affair and elopement. In the end, he ends up crying in his bed and then making an ignominious exit the following morning. On the other hand, in the concluding chapter of the novel, we find Jake and Brett travelling to Madrid station in a car and getting pressed closer to each other as the vehicle moves to a stop. Although both of them know very well that Jake's impotence will not ever allow them to have a happy married life and are desperately trying to move on in life but, fate always throws them together and they bravely accept their lot without complaining. So, Robert Cohn's physical strength is diametrically opposite to Jake and Brett's mental strength. 3.9: Conclusion Thus, through this material, I have tried to comprehensively analyse and discuss the text of the novel The Sun Also Rises so that the students may develop a clear concept of it and tackle all possible types of questions that they might encounter while pursuing it. 3.10: Model Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. How does the American spirit get revealed through Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises? What is the concept of the 'Code Hero' in the context of Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises? Elaborate. Make a detailed discussion about the significance of both the titles of Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises. What is the 'Lost Generation'? How is its concept explicated through the text of Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises? What idea of Spanish culture and tradition do you derive after reading Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises? Provide a commentary about both the Epigraphs in Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises. Make a character analysis of: a) Jake Barnes, b) Brett Ashley, c) Robert Cohn, d) Mike Campbell and Bill Gorton. 3.11: References and Bibliography (http://emile.uni-graz.at/pub/05W/2005-12-0046.pdf) (http://www.egs.edu/library/ernest-hemingway/biography./)
  15. 15 (http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/ernest-hemingway.html) (http://www.lostgeneration.com) (http://2009class.blogspot.in/2008/11/farewell-to-arms-vocabulary.html) (http://www.neabigread.org/books/farewelltoarms/hemingway04 about.php) Changing Landscapes: American Frontier Mythology And "Place-Making" In Popular Western Narratives by Kylee Duran-Cox, Spring 2010

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