Summary of the Plot

The story of "The Sun Also Rises" is mainly focussed around a complex love affair. Hemingway, in the beginning of this novel, introduces the main characters: Jake Barnes, a war vetern of World War 1 who is now working as a journalist in Paris, Jake's best friend- Robert Cohn, an American expartriate, Lady Brett Ashley, the attractive woman who leads on men, Mike Cambell, a heavy drinker, scottish war vetern, and Brett's initial finace, Bill Gorton, a former acquiantence of Jake's who is also an American war vetern, and Pedro Romero, a nineteen year old prodigy bullfighter who is well known in Spain.

In the rest of Hemingway's novel, Hemingway goes on to describe that Jake's true love is Brett. For several years Jake and Brett had a flirtatious "relationship." However, Brett never wanted to pursue this relationship with Jake because she feared she would loose her virginity to him. Brett then shortly gets over Jake and follows her heart to be with Mike. Meanwhile, Jake still loves Brett but Jake's best friend Cohn has also fallen head over heels for Brett. Brett decides she wants to get away from Jake to make him understand that she doesn't want him and to be aloofed from their situation so she travels to San Sebastian with Cohn(as "friends") for a relaxing vacation.

Once she returns from San Sebastian with Cohn, Brett immediately flees to her "new" lover and fiance Mike. Jake hears of the news that Brett had fled the country to Spain with Cohn and is infuriated. The now melancoly and depressed Jake calls his acquintances Bill and Cohn and asks the two men if they will accompany him on an adventure to Pamplona(Spain) to get away from his problems. Both Bill and Cohn agree and the men fly to Pamplona for a fishing and partying expidiction.

Consequently, Brett and her finace Mike had wanted to get away as well and they travel to San Sebastian where they accidently encounter Jake, Cohn, and Bill. With all animosities and previous quarrels put aside, the group enjoys a pleasant vacation in Spain. When touring the beautiful countrysides of Spain, the group decides to see a classical Bullfight that Spain is highly recognized for. While at the bullfight Brett "falls in love" with the young and famous bullfighter Romero. After the bullfight is over Brett makes an effort to meet this talented teenager; Brett's efforts were succesful and she fianlly is introduced to Romero. Later that same night, Brett abandons her group and runs off to be alone with Romero. Evidently, Brett spends the evening at Romero's apartment.

The following morning, Jake meets up with his friends Mike and Bill. Shortly after, Cohn interrupts their meeting and demands to know where Brett had been last night. Once Jake reveals where Brett had spent the night Cohn is outragged and gets in a fight with the three men. Then, randomly, Brett discreetly packs up her belongings and travels to Madrid(capital of Spain) to be with Romero.After Brett, again, flees the city with another man, Jake, Mike and Bill seperate and each return home.

Once Brett's vacation with Romero promptly ends, she begs Jake to come to Madrid so they can "talk things out." Being that Jake is still in love with Brett, he happily agrees to go to Madrid to finally be united with Brett. Once Jake arrives in Madrid, Brett proclaims to him that she no longer is in love with Romero and wants to return to her fiance Mike. Heartbroken that Brett didn't proclaim her love to him, Jake sadly arranges a flight for him and Brett out of Madrid. While on the plane, Brett hints to Jake that they "could of had a wonderful time together." Jake maturally responds by saying "Yes, isn't it pretty to think so?"

5 Universal Themes in the novel

• Prejudice: "No money, Jake. All we could get was nigger's clothes,"(Hemingway 77). Hemingway in his novel uses a blunt vocabulary when describing the prejudice issues occurring during this time period around the world. Hemingway utilizes words such as "nigger" to directly receive an emotion out of his readers. With using these negative and cruel words, Hemingway creates an emotion from the reader that better aides the reader in discovering the prejudice in his novel. This theme relates to Spain in that not just America has been faced with racial or sexism prejudices. It describes the realism of Spain and that the country and its people also have problems.
• Religion:"I was a little ashamed, and regretted that I was such a rotten Catholic, but realized there was nothing I could do about it, at least for a while, and maybe never, but that anyways it was a grand religion,and I only wished I felt religious and maybe I would the next time,"(Hemingway). Another common Universal theme in "The Sun Also Rises" novel is religion. A manifold of times, Hemingway uses his characters as representatives of a particular religion. The most discussed and practiced religions in the novel are mainly Catholicism, some references to Judaism, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. With how Hemingway utilizes religions(mainly the Catholic religion) it identifies the geography and historical significance of Spain. During the Dark Ages, between 1200 BC and 800 BC the Byzantine Empire that took over a majority of Western Europe spread the Catholicism religion. They were active converts and as a result a majority of the population in Western Europe converted to Catholicism. Historically, the monarchy of Spain were also Catholic. The monarchy's influence over its citizens highly encouraged them to be Catholic. Ultimately, the impact of Catholicism on Spain helped the world identify Spain as a religious entity. By Hemingway making a majority of his characters Catholic this helps the reader identify the region of Spain and its historical and religious background.
• Friendship: "I rather liked him..."(Hemingway 15).Throughout Hemingway's novel all of his characters have created friendly bonds with each other. These bonds of friendship a reader can easily identify with when reading "The Sun Also Rises." This easily recognizable universal theme can been seen all around the globe, as well as here in the novel set in Spain. Friendship is a theme of life everyone can relate to. Hemingway creates friendships through his characters in how they relate and act towards each other. The theme of friendship in the novel I think helps the reader relate better to the characters, the characters' struggles, and where the characters are coming from.
• Insecurity:"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,"(Hemingway 19). The familiar feeling of insecurity is common amongst everyone. In this novel, several times you can see through a character's actions or appeal that they have a sense of self doubt and insecurity. Hemingway, in this quote portrays the notion that running away from your problems(in this case by traveling to a totally new country) will solve everything. However, the feeling of being insecure is still left imprinted on your heart. This universal theme i believe is expressed throughout the book with the women problems that continuously arise.
• Jealousy:"I was blind, unforgivingly jealous of what had happened to him. The fact that I took it as a matter of course did not alter that any. I certainly did hate him,"(Hemingway 105). Jealousy, another regular theme in this novel is used for the reader to be able to relate to the characters and their emotions. Hemingway doesn't not necessarily use this theme to particularly describe Spain, but it just assists him in having the audience make connections with the characters and what they are experiencing in Spain.

5 Allusions in the novel

• Anti-semitism:"Oh darling, dont be difficult. What do you think it's meant to have that damned Jew about, and Mike the way he's acted?"(Hemingway 187). In the novel Hemingway freely describes common prejudice issues during this time period and region. Multiple times Hemingway deliberatly points out the prejudice towards Jews, or Anti-semitism. Occasionaly Hemingway directs his characters use anti-sematic jokes to create a dark tone and to display the animosity between groups of different individuals.This helps leave a negative connotation on the reader so they will be able to relate to the prejudice occuring in the book.

• World War 1: "It was like certain dinners I remeber from the war. There was much wine, an ignored tension, and a feeling of things coming that you cound not prevent happening,"(Hemingway 150).Throughout the novel Hemingway has frequently brought up the allusion to World War 1. His reoccuring allusion to the war helps create a gloomly tone and also helps aid in imagery and picturing the atmosphere at the current time/setting.
• Pamplona, Spain:"We got into Pamplona late in the afternoon and the bus stopped in front of the Hotel Montoya. Out in the plaza they were stringing electric light wires to light the plaza for the fiesta. A few kids came up when the bus stopped, and a customs officer for the town.."(Hemingway 135). Hemingway uses the common allusion to Pamplona, Spain to create his main setting. Pamplona, a real town in Spain, is beautiful and active. Hemingway uses this allusion to the historical place in Spain to better establish his setting for the reader.
• Alcoholism:" I'm not so damned drunk as I sounded,"he said."We're none of us sober," I said. "But you put it so badly,"Brett laughed, (Hemingway 147). Hemingway in his novel makes a few of his characters, on more than one occasion, get drunk and participate in not so safe situations. Hemingway uses his characters' drinking obsessions to tie in the allusion to alcoholism. Alcoholism, similiar to today, can be seen in the novel as a serious problem and Hemingway tries to bring awareness to this problem through his characters.
• Bull-fights in Spain:"The first bull was Melmonte's. belmonte was very good. But because he got thirty thousand pesetas and people had stayed in line all night to buy tickets to see him, the crowd demanded that he should be more than bery good. Belmonte's great attraction is working close to the bull. In bull-fighting they speak of the terrain of the bull and the terrain of the bull-fighter,"(Hemingway 217). Hemingway multiple times makes allusions to the bull-fighting in Spain. Since most of this novel is set in the villas of Spain, Hemingway makes sure to note the tradictional and famous bull-fights that Spain is famous for. He uses great detail and supportive information to portray to the reader the events and emotions found at the bull-fighting arena. Hemingway makes allusions to Spain bull-fights in order to correctly and effiecently create the setting of his novel.

Symbol for this novel

I believe that an appropriate symbol for this novel would be a passport. A passport represents a "key" for a person who is a citizen of one country that can then open doors and travel to another country. The novel's symbol being a passport can represent the main characters and how they are constantly traveling from one location to the other, can represent the obvious fact that they are tourists engulfing themselves in a foreign culture, and can also represent movement of people, locations, and ideas that happens frequently in the novel.

15 examples of Imagery in the novel

• Simile: " He looked a great deal as his compatriot must have looked when he saw the promised land,"(Hemingway 29).
• Parallelism:"I've talked too ruddy much. I've talked myself all out to Jake,"(Hemingway 65).
• Hyperbole:"It's enough to make a man join the Klan,"(Hemingway 93).
• Alliteration:"The chauffeur came out, folding up the papers and putting them in the inside pocket of his coat,"(Hemingway 98).
• Parallelism:"I knelt and started to pray and prayed for everybody.."" then i prayed for myself again..""so i prayed that the bull-fights would be good.."(Hemingway 103).
• Imagery:"In the Basque country the land all looks very rich and green and the houses and villages look well-off and clean. Every village had a pelota court and on some of them kids were playing in the hot sun,"(Hemingway 97).
• Simile:"Let's bet on something else. Can you bet on bull-fights?""You could," Bill said."It would be like betting on war..."(Hemingway 104).
• Hyperbole/Alliteration:"I do not think I ever really hated him until he had that little spell of superiority at lunch,"(Hemingway 105).
• Foreshadowing/Parallelism:"Don't get sore at this stage of the trip. How did you ever happen to know this fellow anyway?" "Don't rub it in,"(Hemingway 107).
• Personification:"It's and honest face,"(Hemingway 108).
• Personification:"You ought to wake up with your mouth full of pity,"(Hemingway 118).
• Repetion: "Look at Ford. Look at President Coolidge. Look at Rockefeller. Look at Jo Davidson,"(Hemingway 129).
• Metaphor:"Enjoying living was learning to get your moneys worth and knowing you had it,"(Hemingway 152).
• Simile:"I stood up. I had heard them talking from a long way away. It all seemed like some bad play,"(Hemingway 196).
• Metaphor:"You're not a moroon, You're only a case of arrested development,"(Hemingway 51).

5 Archetypes in the novel

The most apparent and reoccuring archetypes in the novel were:

• The middle class workers:"They thought we were snappers, all right,"the man said. It certainly shows you the power of the Catholic Chrich. It's a pity you boys ain't Catholics. You could get a meal, then, all right,"(Heminway 93). This quote depicts the average working man by there use of colloquialism with the words "snapper", "ain't", and the phrase"you could get a meal". Hemingway subtly describes the two men conversing in this passage as the middle class by how he makes them talk. Throughout the book, Hemingway uses this same stradegy to classify other characters into the social hierchy as well.
• The typical upper class/aristocrats: "What was it? About your going to England?" "Yes, about me going to England. Oh Jake! I forgot to tell you. I'm going to England!""Isn't that fine!""Yes, that's the way it's done in the very best families,"(Hemingway 55).

"You were only going to give me a hundred pounds,weren't you, Robert? But I made him give me two hundred. He's really very generous,"(Hemingway 55,56). In these quotes from the novel, Hemingway portrays the typical wealthy, upper class of society individuals. The obsession with money and the proud and flamboyant attitudes are all archetypes we associate with the wealthy. Hemingway plays off this archetype very well in his novel.

• Immigrants:"He hasn't got any passport..."""What will he do?" I asked. The guard spat in the dust. "Oh, he'll just wade across the stream.""Do you have much smuggling?""oh,"he said,"they go through,"(Hemingway 98). Hemingway in the novel describes quite a few of his characters as being prejudice. An example of one prejudice in the novel is the "issue" with immigrants entering Spain. He portrays the guard in this passage to be unsympathetic and not concerned with the issue or the lives of these people. With the tone of the passage and the attitude the guard exerts the reader can easily pick up on the archetype of the "invader" or immigrants.
• Classical tourist:"Robert Cohn tried to say he did not want any of the second meat course, but we would not interpret for him, and so the waitress brought him something else as a replacement, a plate of cold meats, I think,"(Hemingway 100). In this passage, Hemingway deomonstrates the classical experience most foreigners experience in a new culture. He portrays the archetype of a tourists by having Robert not clearly and efficiently communicate with the waitress; as a result, he gets something totaly bizare and not anything close to what he wanted.
• A faithful individual:"I knelt and started to pray and prayed for everybody I thought of.." "Then i prayed for myself again, and while I was praying for myself I found I was getting sleepy, so I prayed that the bull-fights would be good.." "i thought i would like to have some money, so I prayed that I would make alot of money,"(Hemingway 102,103).I think in this passage, Hemingway goes over the top with describing an individual with faith. However, Hemingway is effective when describing the archetype of a faithful individual by having them frequently pray.