David

            In the great 20th century novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway uses the backdrop of a post World War 1 society as the representation of the characters' sentiments.

            Written in 1926, the novel was used to inform others of the mindset of the "Lost Generation", the name given to people within the period between 1920 and 1930. The "Lost Generation" was essentially an outcry of anti-romanticism which is the defying of romantic ideas. The "Lost Generation" was perpetual and proposed thoughts of uncertainty and drafted the start of existentialist writing which challenged the meaning of life and sought the worst in people. This style of writing was widely used within the 20s but was successful in Hemingway's novel because he uses a location (Paris) to maintain the ideals of the "Lost Generation" in the characters and uses a different location (Pamplona) to be juxtaposed within the confines of the "Lost Generation" with a place characterized as an Eden whereas Paris would be character the Land of Nod. Hemingway creatively provides a transition between the two locations through the inclusion of the bus ride up the mountain to Pamplona where the stresses of Jake Barnes lift off of him and drift away.

            Pamplona itself is characterized by aficion-the love of doing something you enjoy to do. The idea of aficion is employed most in Pedro Romero, a young and talented bullfighter in Pamplona. Hemingway uses this successfully to bring about the difference between Paris and Pamplona.

            The characters in The Sun Also Rises are what makes the book excellent. Hemingway's lack of extreme social conflict in the novel reflects the stagnant nature of the era and the characters are essential in this interpretation. Jake Barnes is ironically sculpted as a strong and hardworking man yet he is impotent because of an explosion in World War 1. Lady Brett Ashley is my favorite character in the story because she holds the masculinity that Barnes lacks. Brett's masculine features such as her short hair and her clothes create an interesting situation when paired with Jake Barnes who yearns to have her. The dislike of Robert Cohn by all characters -which brings up ideals of anti-semitism- makes him the novel's punching bag which makes him the output of comic relief which Hemingway perfectly plants at the right moments in the novel. Mike Campbell, Brett's boyfriend, is the bully that Hemingway sculpts in the novel and is the source of anti-semitism toward Robert Cohn.

            The beautiful and simple writing of Hemingway holds immense depth and meaning within the margins that makes a short book a deceivingly long read. A long read is suggested to be able to enjoy the masterpiece that Hemingway had written.