Juxtaposition

On page 221, Hemingway has a strange way of depicting the bull-fight. "It was as though he were rocking the bull to sleep." How can you go to a bull-fight and think of the word sleep? Bull-fights are all about excitement and energy and danger! The author portrays a picture of Romero doing his job so perfectly that the bull actually becomes tired. Bulls are aggressive animals and want to kill. The statement adds humor to the novel. Readers who have ever attended a bull-fight will soon realize that it is contrasting. Bull-fighting and sleeping would never go together!

Paradox

On page 226, I came across a paradox. Bill and Jake are talking about the fiesta and Bill calls it a "wonderful nightmare". How can something be wonderful, but be a nightmare? Nightmares are scary dreams that impact a person in a negative way. However, something wonderful makes a person feel good and allows to have good memories. In a sense, I can see why Bill would call the fiesta a "wonderful nightmare". It is wonderful because it is a fiesta! Parties are always fun and memorable. But, it resembles a nightmare because of the troubles that arose. Cohn got angry and hit Jake and Romero. They ended up hurting their friends. Even though at first we would never put wonderful and nightmare together, in the end, we can kind of see the truth in the statement.

Situational Irony

On page 12, an ironic situation occurs. "As he had been thinking for months about leaving his wife and had not done it because it would be too curel to deprive her of himself, her departure was a very healthful shock." Cohn wanted to leave his wife, but in turn, he did not know she wanted to leave him as well. It truly is funny how life plays out, especially when a person least expects it. Cohn was a good person. He always tried to do what was best;however, he is never fully aware of what is best. In the very beginning, the audience can tell Cohn is going to have some pretty tough situations to endure. He is just built up to be that character.

Metaphor

On page 171, I came across a metaphor. " The others twisted themselves like cork-screws."During this part of the novel, the bull-fights were going on. "Others" refers to the other matadors beside Romero. Romero was the best matador. He did not make any contortions to stray away from the bull. He was just that good. However, the others were afraid of being hit. So, they moved there bodies in different ways to keep away from the oncoming bull. Cork screws are very winding. They move in all directions. The author compared them to these by means of how they could not stand still. Reading further on, we come to know that they did these movements to give a "fake look of danger".

Vernacular

Since the characters in this novel travel alot, we get a feel for some of the language used in different parts of the world. Brett, Jake, and Cohn are all English. However, they travel to Spain and are surrounded by spanish speaking people. They go to Spain to watch the bull-fights. Moreover, a huge seven day fiesta takes place during this time as well. Words such as: "arriba", "fiesta", "pelota," "tolero", "suerte", "muy bueno", and many others are used in chapter XV. Not only do the spanish people speak these words, but so do Jake and his group. By adding in words that particularly come from a specific place, allows the reader to become part of that culture. Hemingway could have used he english translation for those words;however, by using the vernacular the reader gets more out of the novel. It adds depth to the readers understanding.

Motif

I'm pretty sure everyone is using this in their blogs, but this literary term stuck out the most to me. The number one thing that is repeated over and over throughout this novel is drinking. The subject appears on almost every page. I commented on Kelsi's blog about how I could not go a page without seeing some form of this taking place, or seeing key words that define what was happening. On page 78, Hemingway uses the phrase "pie-eyed." This took me awhile to understand what was being said. Being "pie-eyed" is another phrase for being drunk. "Cock-eyed", page 166, is another phrase used as well as "tight". The word tight is used throughout the novel on many pages. All these characters drink whenever they are around eachother. Their actions are solely based on them drinking and getting to carried away.

The Sun Also Rises-climax?

This book was hard for me to finish. I could not get into to what was happening. Actually, it seems to me that nothing ever really happened. The characters just kept moving and the same occurances just kept happening. There never seemed to be a climax to the story. Maybe that was just my own interpretation of the novel, but it never seemed to reach a dramatic high point. Throughout the novel, Hemingway portrays many different characters. A few characters consist of: Cohn, the Jew, Jake who is the Catholic, Brett who is the love interest, Mike the drunk who is Brett's fiance, and Bill. Bill is an interesting character who i will blog about later. By combining all these characters and more, the novel took its form. However, I found it to be very boring.