The Sun Also Rises... and a true artist along with it

Seldom does a novel emerge that is both powerful in its deliverance of the moral convictions being heretofore stressed by the author and at the same time written with such passion, with such finesse and delicacy that you could actually “taste” the fine details of the lifestyles of the characters that constitutes up the very foundation of this exemplary novel. And while Fiesta is a book of only less than 220 pages, nonetheless in every page can be found passages of exquisite empathy and meaning due to the author’s deep understanding of main situation and his clear discernment of the issues that flows through it.

The novel takes place after the cease of the First World War, where numerous survivors, combatants and non-combatants alike, battle their own demons each day to search for a meaning to their lives that has been shattered by the global conflict. The novel, being borne out of Hemingway’s own personal experience, focuses on a group of expatriate individuals living in luxury and elegance in the city of Paris, where the first half of the novel takes place. Paris was a popular place for literary figures during the time, and as mentioned, several of the key characters in this novel are writers that are yet to be granted with global fame. The characters in this novel searches for their lost ideals, living in alcoholism and grandeur that the city of Paris has to offer, and while the Hemingway portrays his characters to do so, he uses the bullfight as a symbol of that moral struggle. The ability to confront your fears, to stand in the way of danger and NOT BREAK, is in direct contrast with the way he paints the lifestyles of his characters. Hemingway uses the perspective of Jake Barnes, the main protagonist, to present the action as it takes place first in the city of Paris, then in some quiet countryside where the novel takes a more “tranquil” turn, then in the city of Pamplona where the fiesta takes place, and lastly in Barcelona, where the novel ends.

Jake, who supports himself as a journalist, is madly in love with a promiscuous woman, Lady Brett Ashley, who is in turn engaged to Michael Campbell, one of Jake’s companions during the fiesta. Unfortunately, Jake had been injured during the war that left him sexually incapacitated, which served as his scar that shall forever separate him from the woman he loves. Then there is Robert Cohn, who is also in love with Lady Ashley but somehow portrays himself as a guy who sort of “just won’t get the message” that he is actually unwanted and that creates tension among the individuals even before the fiesta ever started. (Note: I don’t know but somehow I get the feeling that Robert Cohn is actually a physical manifestation of Jake, who is in turn himself is still unable to get over himself and his feeling. But on the other hand, Jake reacts very much differently to Cohn and that somehow Lady Ashley still leans on Jake on some issues regarding her sorrows which she is not able to confess to any other person). And lastly, of the expatriate group, there is Bill Gorton who, a writer just like Cohn, is also Jake’s best-friend and much preferred companion than anyone else. And there is also Pedro Romero, the young matador who appears much later in the book, who shall soon participate in a love affair with Lady Ashley and is also a person of great respectability, who faces his fears and struggles “without falsity”, which plays an important aspect in his career in the bullfight as well as in the lives of the expatriate personalities, such as Jake and Lady Ashley.

Just like the way he wrote his more accomplished novels like A Farewell To Arms or For Whom The Bell Tolls, Hemingway’s gift of writing has already been established right from the start. The Sun Also Rises being his first published novel, Hemingway wrote in laconic, yet crisp prose and his dialogue never ceases to generate tension and anxiety between his characters, making this short-length novel a fully pledged work of art.

One of the most significant aspects of this novel is maybe the part which is mostly overlooked, which is the part where Jake and Bill goes fishing before they proceed to Pamplona, where the Fiesta de San Fermin is to take place. That part, where Jake goes fishing, somewhat signifies the contentment that Jake has long been yearning for, which shall serve as the catalyst that soon make Jake a different person altogether after the fiesta. With the feeling he experienced during that brief period of time in the midst of a fast-paced novel, he shall soon grow to accept that “he shall never possess the woman he loves” and that universal acceptance is the way where he shall finally be able to attain peace and contentment. By the end of the novel, Lady Ashley learns that too, when she “made him [Pedro] go” and decided not to ruin the young man’s life. She said she shall go back to Michael Campbell, to whom she says her “sort of thing”, and Jake learns to deal with it. And although he once again tried to lean on alcoholism, Lady Ashley prevented him from doing so and soon in the final scene, they were able to overcome their struggles and live a more normal life.

Even though the book focuses merely on the expatriate community in Paris, its moral convictions could adapt to the lives of numerous people, even “normal” people like us. By way of accepting the truth and trying to move on, we are able to break free of the past and in turn be able to adapt to the present world. The Sun Also Rises tells us that everything has a beginning and so is an end, but the earth shall stay forever across generations and that we are but “actors on stages” in this great pattern, and that life is but an unalterable destiny that we should learn to live with.