The Sun Also Rises

I must say that I was rather disappointed with the ending of the story, especially considering what I expected from a novel by the great Ernest Hemingway. I have previously stated that the humor and the Anti-Semitism he uses in the novel are extremely surprising mainly because I was intimidated to read one of his novels; the same can be said about the ending. I expected some grand extravagant plot twist that held some deep meaning like in Star Wars when we discover that Darth Vader is really Luke Skywalker's father. Unfortunately that did not occur, as the novel ends with Brett Ashley leaving Pedro Romero and meeting Jacob Barnes in an anticlimactic bar scene, one of the many in the novel. In fact, the entire Book III was pretty bland, as it merely depicted all of the characters, Mike, Bill, and previously Robert Cohn, leaving and the main character Jacob Barnes being left alone and reflecting upon himself. There is one interesting point in th final section of the novel and that is in the last dialogue between Jake and Brett. Brett states that "Oh, Jake, we could have had such a damned good time together" (Hemingway 251). Jake replies "Yes, isn't it pretty to think so" Hemingway (251). Research I have done indicates that the lines are some of the more famous lines ever written by Hemingway and it is easy to see why. It is almost as if all of the events of the novel have been leading up to the scene where the two character, Brett and Jake, have gone through a series of experiences only to end up back to where they were in the beginning with only each other. In the opening scenes of the novel, Jake and Brett proclaim that they are in love with each other, yet can not be together for reasons I still do not completely understand. This relationship between the two is the only constant thing that remains throughout the novel as Robert Cohn, Count Mippipopolous, and Pedro Romero each take turns trying to get Brett but each fails, a failure indicative of how only Jake has a position of love with Brett. Not only is the last line famous because of its deep quality, but is also very sad and you can practically feel the futility that Jake feels. I am guessing that the reason Brett doesn't want to be with Jake is that he can not have sex due to injuries from the war. This is something that Jake can not help as he received the wound while serving for his country. Because Jake can not control his injury, sadness is given off by the last scene.
Another thing that is interesting is how Hemingway attempts to use Pedro Romero as a perfect foil to Robert Cohn. Robert is a weak individual and is most importantly a "Jew" so is looked down upon. Romero is a beautiful and handsome man with the courage to actually fight and kill a bull in a fight. This is not their only difference as Brett's reactions toward the gentlemen can also be seen as a major difference. Brett constantly rejects Cohn, but readily accepts Pedro Romero. There are also underlying themes of individuality such as how Brett loses her individuality when going with Pedro and regains it when she leaves Romero.

Ernest Hemingway- Anti-Semitic?

This past week in class, we had our second Literature Circle discussions about different books and their relation to gender roles; in my case it was The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. The first thing that caught my interest when reading through the book up until the fifteenth chapter is Hemingway's style. In my mind, I had held Ernest Hemingway up to be an author of epic proportions. I expected his novels to be profound with a deep meaning starting from the first couple of pages. I expected an author whose writing was so difficult to understand that it would feel like a foreign language to me. Frankly, I was intimidated to even try to read the novel, especially after my mom told me I might have to read the novel six times to even scrape the surface of understanding it. The LAST thing I expected was to find humor in the first pages of the novel. He actually seemed to be making fun of Jews and their stereotypically long noses. Robert Cohn, one of the characters in the book, was a Jew without a characteristically long nose, but the reason for this was that his nose was permanently flattened by a punch according to the book. Because this stereotype occurred in the beginning of the novel, it can be seen as merely an attempt to insert humor into the beginning of the novel. But, it is not just limited to the beginning of the novel as I learned through closely looking at the rest of the novel. The Jewish character, Robert Cohn, is repeated referred to as a "Jew" in a derogatory way, and whenever he does something wrong, it is because of his "Jewish" nature. He is clearly portrayed as an extremely different character than the rest in the novel and seems almost like an outcast. He is extremely weak, as shown when he turns green when he sees a bull fight, and is the only character not to participate in WWI, a fact that Hemingway feels is not very thing. Also, if you look at it from a gender roles perspective, he is constantly controlled by women. Whether it be his first girlfriend as presented in the book named Frances, who has him wrapped around her finger, or Brett, his later interest whose looks have enraptured Robert's mind, Robert is always chasing after the skirt tails of one women or another. All of this points to Hemingway trying to point to Robert Cohn being a weak character mainly due to his Jewish nature. This brings about the question of whether or not Hemingway is trying to portray his hate of Jews in the novel because it is accepted that Hemingway did not particularly like Jews. Granted, the early 1900s were a time when a decidedly Anti-Semitic sentiment was widely prevalent, and Hemingway could just be trying to show this through the animosity towards Jews in the novel. But, there is likely a specific reason for this. What that reason is, I don't know yet, but hopefully the end of the novel will enlighten me.