last one!

Finally! My summer reading is over! This book dragged on for me. For my last blog, I want to tie in my title to the book, just as I did for The Things They Carried.
Peace- Throughout the novel, the characters endure pain and circumstances that require peace to settle them. However, Robert does not use peace when he hurts Romero.
Hope-Robert has hope that one day Brett will realize that he is the one for her. He loves her and wants to be with her. But, as we all know, Brett does not have those feeling for Robert. Also, they all have hope to make it happy in life and travel together.
Love-Well, I'm pretty sure we are all aware of all the "loves" in Brett's life. She loves basically all the guy characters in the book. Eventhough she is engaged, she still goes off with Romero and still loves Jake.

Bill's Song

"Irony and Pity. When you're feeling...Oh, Give them Irony and Give them Pity. Oh, give them Irony. When they're feeling...Just a little irony. Just a little pity..." Bill Gorton is singing this to Jake. I was confused as to why he was telling him this. He is trying to make Jake be a writer and use techniques to help him. When he asks him to say something "ironical" Jake fails. When he asks him to say something pitiful, he says RObert Cohn. Bill says, "you ought to be ironical the minute you get out of bed. You ought to wake up with your mouth full of pity." These quotations occur on page 118-119.

Epigraph

"You are all a lost generation." -Gertrude Stein

I saw this quote at the beginning and wondered how it would play out in the novel. After I finished, it became very clear to me. Every character does not truly know what they want out of life. They just travel in a circle it seems, never moving forward, or never reach a high point in their life. This quotation is universal. Every generation is lost at some points in their life. People everywhere are confused and in a stand still at some points of their life. Brett, Jake, Robert, and the others are all experiencing this throughout the book. From the beginning to the end, they seem to make a circle. Yes they travel, but they dont progress in their lives.

Foreigners?

"Hurray for Wine! Hurray for the Foreigners!" was painted on the banner".
"Who are the foreignors?" -RObert
"We're the foreignors."-Bill

During the fiesta, dancers and band members lined the streets. Robert is confused about who the foreignors are. It is weird to think about, but when they went to spain they became the unusual ones. We often don't think of ourselves as foreignors when we enter into another country. I have been in Robert's position before. When I went to Mexico, my family and I were the foreignors, eventhough we always say the mexicans are foreignors in the US. They still fit in and had fun at the fiesta. Of course it helped that they had seven days to party in Spain.

Robert Cohn

"He went in and found Brett and the bull-fighter chap in the bull-fighter's room, and then he massacred the poor, bloody bull-fighter.....he nearly killed the poor, bloody bull-fighter." (page 205) Romero and Brett started to have a thing going on and Cohn could not handle that. His jealousy got the best of him and he wanted to punish Romero. Jealousy was his motivation. When people get angry and upset sometimes it gets the best of them. Cohn really did not want to hurt Romero, but he could not take it because he loves Brett. They shared a special time together, yet Brett does not feel the same way about Robert. Robert now feels there is nothing left to live for. He left Jake and the rest of his friends. Noone really knew where he went but Jake has the idea he went back to Paris.

Point of View

The Sun Also Rises is written in first person. One of the main characters, Jake, is the one who tells the story. We come to know the characters by how he describes them. When it comes time for him to describe the bull-fight, I felt as if we were reading his journal. Jake gave us many details to make it seem as if we were there. One of the reasons I enjoy reading novels in first person is because it gives the audience a chance to truly connect to the feelings and lives of the characters. Hemingway uses I and me to speak of Jake in the book. This book was hard for me to read, but it did help that it was in first person. The audience gets a chance to connect with Jake more than any other characters. I think Hemingway chose Jake to be the narrator because he is involved with almost every other character in the novel.

Money Buys Everything?

The typical expression is "money can't by happiness." However, Jake seems to think so. "I tipped every one a little too much at the hotel to make more friends." (page 237) Jake paid them more so that they would like him. He wants to have a few friends when he comes back to visit. Noone should have to buy their friends though. He also stated that "if they remembered me, their friendship would be loyal." I don't know if this is the case for anyone today, but my friends that are loyal to me did not happen because I paid them. Jake is a complex character. Always doing things and keeping busy. When he endures something, he just moves right along. Money never seems to be an issue in the novel. The only one we learn that is bankrupt is Mike.