The Setting Sun: Research on the Sun Also Rises

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The Sun Also Rises is a novel of great acclaim that challenges the reader to change perspective, to examine the world in which he or she lives, and to re-evaluate priorities and moral principles. Earnest Hemingway, the author, relates his life to that of his characters, in order to demonstrate the lost generation. The lost generation represents the ex-soldiers of World War 1, people haunted by memories, which can only be escaped through detachment. The characters of The Sun Also Rises suppress memories through drinking, dancing, partying, bullfighting, and gambling. As a result the war not only affects the land on which it is fought but also in the minds of those fighting. Hemingway’s goal is to demonstrate this principle of the negative effects of war. In order to demonstrate the negative effects of war, Hemmingway’s characters are lost generation members searching for entertainment, either through the nightlife in Paris or in the bullfighting arenas in Spain. The novel begins from the perspective of Jake, an American expatriate, in Paris working as a writer for a newspaper. A fellow writer along with Jake, Robert Cohn, is Jake’s friend and also an expatriate, as are all of Jake’s friends. Cohn, in the first chapters of the book, desires to travel to South America in order to have adventure, and wants Jake to go with him. Jake refuses and brings him to a nightclub where he finds Brett, a woman he met in a hospital in Italy. Jakes love her, but she does not love him, and has had relationships with many different men. Brett tells Jake she wants to marry Mike Campbell a war veteran. She also states that she is leaving for San Sebastian. When she leaves, Cohn also leaves, leaving Jake alone, till his friend, Bill Gorton, arrives. They both make plans to fish in Spain and then attend a fiesta in Pamplona. When Brett and Cohn are back, they meet up with Jake along with

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