Devastation and Love in The Sun Also Rises Essay

The book THE SUN ALSO RISES By ERNEST HEMINGWAY contains 251 pages filled with sadness, devastation and lost love. The plot is based on real people the Hemingway knew and that angered a lot of his friends, if any. Robert Cohn, the main character, is feeling inferior because he is Jewish and starts a boxing career to feel better about himself. He married the first girl he meets out of college. Then, he meets a new woman in CA and then takes her to Europe with him while he is working on his novel. He returns to the U.S. to get it published. His friend, Jake Barnes, who lives in Paris, is asked by Cohn to travel to South America with him to watch bull fights and meet women to "fall in love with". Jake, not interested, stays close to home. "Listen Robert, going to another country doesn't make any difference. I've tried all that. You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There's nothing to that."(11). However, by staying home, Jake finds trouble.

Jake goes to a cafe and meets Georgette, a beautiful woman with an awful smile whom Jake finds boring. Jake takes Georgette to BAL, a dance club and while there, he meets Lady Brett Ashley, the "love of his life" and she is also an alcoholic nymphomaniac. Cohn shows up and also gets infatuated with Brett. However, Brett leave with Jake and Cohn is now extremely jealous, while Georgette is left alone but later leaves with someone. Jake and Brett ride around Paris talking about how they want to be together but can not. Jake goes home later that night, thinks about Brett and ends up crying himself to sleep. "This was Brett that I had felt like crying about. Then I thought of her walking up the street and stepping into the car, as I had last seen her, and of course in a little while I felt like hell again." (34). He wakes up at 4 am to the sound of a drunken Brett arguing with the landlord of Jake's building. She gets up to his apartment but soon leaves and instead, asks Jake to meet her the next day. Brett, either confused or playing with Jake's mind, also has a Count meeting her. Cohn stops by the next day and takes Jake to lunch. Cohn keeps bugging Jake about Brett until Jake tells him that Brett is engaged at the moment. Cohn "confesses his love" for Brett. Then, Jake annoyed by Cohn's questions tells him to "Go to hell...I misjudged you...You're not a moron. You're only a case of arrested development." (44). Brett unfortunately never shows up to meet Jake. Though Jake runs into his old friend Harvey Stone who is a unlucky and at the time poor gambler. Cohn shows once again that he is a fighter, not a lover. He and Stone nearly fight and Frances embarrasses Cohn in public and he took it in silence. Brett and the Count show up later that night at Jake's house for drinks and Brett and Jake talk more about how they "love" each other. After they dance together, Brett tells Jake that she is leaving to San Sebastian for a while. Jake later that week spots Brett at a cafe with Mike Campbell, her fiance.

Mike succeeds at inviting himself and Brett on Jake's trip to Spain. When they arrived in Spain, it was a week full of partying and drinking. They party all night and Brett meets Pedro Romero, a Spanish Bull fighter. Brett falls in "love" which only causes more trouble for her and Jake. On one day of the "fiesta" it rains and there are no bull fights. Jake and friends have a drink with Romero and while Brett talks to Romero, Mike is very rude. Once again, Cohn almost starts a fight. After Jake helps arrange a meeting between Brett and Romero, Cohn demands to know where Brett is and when Jake does not tell him, Cohn calls Jake a pimp and beats him up. Jake then returns to the hotel only to find Cohn crying and begging for forgiveness. Jake is reluctant but finally forgives him. Cohn then plans to leave Spain in the morning. The next morning, Jake finds out that Cohn also beat up Romero and Romero asked him to leave in the morning. Brett still spends most of he time with Romero. Romero does very well in the last bull fight. Brett leaves with Romero and does not say good-bye to Jake. After, the festival is done Jake heads north to San Sebastian where he swims and relaxes after being in Spain. Only there a few days, Jake receives a telegram from Brett who is in Madrid and needs help. Jake cuts his trip short and heads to Madrid. Jake locates Brett in a poor motel. Brett tell Jake that she asked Romero to go because she did not want to hurt his feelings. Jake comforts her and they leave the hotel together and again, talk about their lost romance.