Disillusionment in The Sun Also Rises Essay

Henry Louis Gates believes Ernest Hemingway, one of the most prominent Lost Generation writers, has a style that was fundamentally shaped in reaction to [his] experience of world war. Hemingway and other writers of the generation lost faith in the central institutions of Western civilization, by reacting against the elaborate style of previous writers. One of the most quintessential examples of this reaction is Hemingways legendary novel The Sun Also Rises. This iconic work portrays the characteristics of disillusionment of the generation through the characters actions and their conversations.

The behavior of the main character, Jake Barnes, exhibits the era of disillusionment throughout the novel. One notable example is through finding oneself though religion which is demonstrated in the novel by Barnes actions. When Barnes is going to pick up his bullfighting tickets, he stops and prays in a cathedral. However, his mind keeps wandering from subject to subject that he is praying about. When he is finishing up his prayers he thinks about how he regretted that I [Barnes] was such a rotten Catholic. His thought process continues into his opinion of Catholism when he states, I [Barnes] only wished I felt religious and maybe I [Barnes] would next time. Barnes periodically looks for comfort in his religion, but his faith is not sufficient to anchor him mentally and spiritually in a period of such frenzied disillusionment. One of the Lost Generation characteristics is the people searching for something new to believe in because many people lost faith due to World War I; Many looked towards religion in order to find themselves.

Even though actions speak louder than words, conversation can often provide insight into the characters thoughts. In the beginning of the novel, Robert Cohn, a friend of Barnes, is trying to convince him to go to South America with him. As they are chatting Cohn says, I cant stand it to think my life is going so fast and Im not really living it. Cohn is not living how he imagined himself living; he cannot figure out what is lacking in his life. Like many of the characters, Cohn thinks that traveling will fix his discontented life. Barnes knows that Cohns unhappiness isnt from his physical location but his mental location. His personality and lifestyle issues that are causing him to be unhappy would follow him wherever he goes. Therefore, going to South America would be just as aimless and unfufilling as his current life in Paris as an expatriate who came to Paris to runaway from his problems in the first place. Barnes realizes knows the root of Cohns unhappiness is his personality and lifestyle but he doesnt offer any solutions to this dissatisfaction; however, he plainly tells Cohn, You cant get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.

The classic novel, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, is the epitome of the Lost Generation era literature and the book demonstrates this through the actions of the characters and the conversations between them. The characters know that they are somewhat skewed; however, none of the characters provide a solution to this issue. As Ernest Hemingways great mentor is quoted in the epigraph, You are all a lost generation.