the sun also rises

What is the main idea of the epigraph from Ecclesiastes?

Based on the novel’s opening, what appears to be Jake’s attitude toward Robert Cohn?  Explain.

Why does Cohn suggest that he and Jake go to South America?  How does Jake respond to this proposal?

How are Cohn’s problems typical of members of “the lost generation”?

Who is Georgette and why does Jake pick her up?

How does Jake first describe Bretty Ashley?  With whom does she arrive at the dancing-club?

What does Jake think of the men at the dancing-club?  Why do you think he reacts this way?

What seems to be the history of Brett and Jake’s relationship?  What is the status of their relationship right now?

Jake keeps referring to his wound from WWI, but he never identifies it explicitly.  What do you think his wound is?  How does it affect him?

Why do you think Jake tells us the balance of his checking account?  Why should this seemingly insignificant detail matter?

How does Jake cope with his wound?

When Brett speaks of the Count, she tells Jake that “he’s one of us, though.  No doubt.  One can always tell.”  What does she mean?

What kinds of wounds does the Count have?  How does he cope with his wounds?

So far, jakes has noted that the Count is a very large man (in Chapter IV, for example, he calls him “fat”).  Why is this detail important?

What is the relevance of Michael’s sudden “outbursts of affection” towards Brett at the Rotonde?

What is Jake’s reaction to Cohn admitting that he had gone to San Sebastian with Brett?  Why do you think he reacts this way?

It is clear that many of the characters in the novel self medicate in the attempt to conceal their problems.  Give two specific examples of incidents where characters are self-medicating.

Discuss the scene when Jake is at the cathedral.  How does he feel about God/religion?  Why do you think he feels this way?

Explain the new development of Jake’s relationship with Cohn.  How do they feel about each other?  How has Cohn changed?

As Bill and Jake are fishing, Bill states, “You drink yourself to death.  You become obsessed by sex.  You spend all of your time talking, not working.  You are an expatriate, see?”  How does this fit into the description of someone who is part of the Lost Generation?  Is Jake part of this crowd?

Finally, Jake and Bill go fishing.  What is the significance of including this fishing scene?

What is an aficionado?  What is it about Jake that makes him an aficionado?  How do other people who also have aficion react to Jake?

What is the significance of the detailed description of the steers and bulls?  What is the difference between the physical characteristics of steers and bulls, along with the differences in how they act?

Many times throughout Chapter XIII, Mike mentions that Robert Cohn does not drink as the others do.  Why do you think Cohn does not drink?

Discuss Jake’s stream of consciousness rant in Chapter XIV.  What is on his mind and why does he keep bringing up morals, values and paying?

Describe Jake’s first impression of Pedro Romero in the hotel room.

According to Jake, what makes Pedro Romero the best of the bullfighters?  Provide details.

What comments do Jake and Montoya make about bullfighters and American or foreign interference?  What advice does Jake give to Montoya?  Why?

Discuss the development of Pedro Romero’s character.  What happens when Montoya walks into the cafe and sees Romero with Jake and his friends?

What does Brett reveal about herself and about her awareness of her own weaknesses?  What does she want from Romero?  What does Jake end up doing for her?  Why does he do this?

Why do you suppose Hemingway included the character of Pedro Romero?  What is his function in the novel?

How does the tension among Robert, Mike, and Jake come to a climax?

Who is Vicente Girones and what happens to him at the running of the bulls?  Why do you suppose Hemingway includes this little story?

What happens between Cohn and Pedro Romero?  How does Romero hold up?

What do we learn about Brett’s marriage with Ashley?

Compare and contrast the bullfighting of Belmonte and Pedro Romero.

Brett says, “Don’t we pay for all the things we do, though?” (34).  What do you think Brett is suggesting about morals?  About post WWI society?  Do you think we pay for the things we do?

• Actions have moral weight, and you can pay for them through suffering or regret

• The war was a result of society’s worst tendencies getting the better of them, reflects the personal failings of the characters 

• There haven’t been tangible ‘consequences’ for Brett’s actions, but she still pays for her mistakes and worse tendencies emotionally

Jake states, “It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another  thing” (42).  What happens at night?  Why is it harder for him?  Is this a universal concept?

• He is left alone with his thoughts; nothing there to distract him. His vulnerability and true emotions are revealed.

• This is a universal concept, as many people find it difficult to face their emotions when faced with solitude

Discuss the Count.  He’s certainly an odd character in the text.  Is he there for a reason?  Is he there for comedy?  Is he a realist or a romantic?  Or both?

• Poses as a contrast between the other Lost Generation characters

• Wealthy, lavish, and participates in drinking for joy rather than emotional need

• Mix of both a realist and romantic, as he acknowledges that suffering is a natural part of life, but also acknowledges that you should live life to the fullest.

Discuss Harvey Stone.  Why does Hemingway include him in the text?

• Very blunt and straightforward, straight out calling Cohn “a moron”.

• Implied to be both an alcoholic and potentially a gambling addict

• Another example of the lost generation, perhaps standing in for the tangible lowest members of it could go.

• Stone is similarly cynical to Barnes, but far more honest and lacking in inhibition. Barnes debatably seems to like Stone more than he likes Cohn, possibly because Barnes himself is so guarded, and admires the shamelessness of Stone regardless of how unpleasant it can be

Discuss the steers vs bulls metaphor that begins on page 138.

• Steers, castrated bulls that are present to keep the other bulls calm; parallels Jake and his war wound, being forced to keep the other men in line

• Bulls = masculinity

• Bulls full ‘men’ whereas steers are castrated while still maturing, but ironically have to play the mediator; reflects Jake’s awkward position as man, being incapable of fighting over Brett in the same way the other men do, and therefore being forced to keep a level head despite his own damage; steers sometimes get gutted, reflecting how Jake is also liable to take emotional damage from these conflicts even if he isn’t a direct ‘combatant’

Discuss Montoya and what it means to be an “aficionado.”

• Montoya the hotel keeper for the bullfighters, in some sense the facilitator of the sport in that area, favors bullfighters and fans who are ‘aficionados’, or have a real passion for bullfighting; points out differences between excitement and ‘aficion’ or passion, not enough to love or be excited about the sport, one must understand it on an almost philosophical level

• “aficionado” = To be passionate about something

Reread the description of Jake’s swim in San Sebastian on page 241. What is the significance of this passage? What does the water symbolize?

• Water represents the purification of Jake and his mind

• “I would like to swim across the bay but was afraid of cramp” - wants to find peace but afraid, showing internal struggles and physical limitations

• Peaceful and self reflective

• Helps escape turmoil of the Lost Generation

• Motif of drying off in TSAR -ex; hand drying after the cathedral in Pampolona- sort of not healing, but callusing ritual for jake;

On page 249, Brett & Jake discuss God’s place in their lives. What does this suggest about the Lost Generation? How does Brett simplify her moral code at this point in the text?

• Highlights how the Lost Generation distanced themselves from their faith and religion, and they have a more uncontrolled outlook on life because they don't rely on faith to guide their life

• Loss of religious faith due to WWI being extremely destructive

• Brett resorts to personal ethical beliefs rather than religious ones

Discuss the ending of the text, particularly when Jake says, “Isn’t it pretty to think so”? (251). What does Jake mean? Where does this leave Jake and Brett?

• Not realists, defeated romantics 

• Although Jake is emotionally unstable from his relationship with Brett, he has come to terms with the fact that Brett will never be his 

• Acknowledges their fantasy that is impossible, given their situation

Revisit the epigraph that includes the quote from Ecclesiastes. Now that you’ve read the novel, why do you think Hemingway chose to include this passage at the start of the text? How does it relate to the text as a whole? How does it specifically relate to the ending?

• Generational Gap between Romero and the Lost Generation; relates to how Romero is more hopeful and how the relationship went full circle back to Brett and Jake after it ended with Romero (who she does not want to ruin)

• Jake has to live the rest of his life knowing that him and Brett can not be together – time goes on