Jake Barnes: The Wounded Man Jake is the narrator. He was wounded in the war. The wound has made him impotent. He cannot have sex. He loves Brett. She loves him. They cannot be together. Jake represents the Lost Generation. He is physically wounded. He is spiritually wounded. He cannot act. He watches. He drinks. He fishes. He goes to Spain. He does not change. He cannot change.
Brett Ashley: The New Woman Brett is beautiful, independent, and promiscuous. She wears her hair short. She drinks. She smokes. She has affairs. She is engaged to one man, sleeping with another, and in love with Jake. She is not a villain. She is lost. She says, “I don’t want to go through that hell again.” She means love. She has been hurt. She hurts others. She represents the New Woman of the 1920s. She is free. She is also trapped.
Robert Cohn: The Outsider Robert Cohn is a Jewish writer. He is not a veteran. He did not fight. He is sensitive. He is insecure. He is in love with Brett. She uses him. He follows her to Spain. He fights with Jake. He loses. Cohn is the novel’s scapegoat. Hemingway disliked him. The reader dislikes him. He is not a hero. He is not a villain. He is a man who does not belong.
The Fiesta: The Bullfights The climax of the novel is the fiesta in Pamplona, Spain. The characters watch bullfights. The bullfights are the novel’s moral center. The bull is brave. The matador is brave. The spectators are not. The bullfight is a ritual of death. It is also a ritual of masculinity. Jake cannot be a matador. He can only watch. He drinks. He passes out. He wakes up. The fiesta ends.
The Ending: Isn’t It Pretty to Think So? The novel ends with Jake and Brett in a taxi. They are in Madrid. Brett has sent away her young bullfighter. She is alone. She says, “We could have had such a damned good time together.” Jake says, “Yes. Isn’t it pretty to think so?” The ending is famous. It is also devastating. Jake and Brett cannot be together. They never could. The past is past. The future is empty. They have only the present. The present is a taxi. The taxi is moving. They are not.
Conclusion: “The Sun Also Rises” is a novel about nothing. The characters do nothing. They go nowhere. They feel nothing. Hemingway called his style the “iceberg principle.” Only one-eighth of the story is on the surface. The rest is hidden. The hidden part is the war. The hidden part is the wound. The hidden part is the despair. The reader feels it. The reader cannot see it. That is the genius.
