I have now finished reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I must say, Hemingway has a very interesting and powerful style of writing. This book is a story of love, and jealousy and tension. And all of this tension circles around Brett with whom the main characters are in love with. Brett is engaged to Michael Campbell. The main character, Jake Barnes, and his friend, Robert Cohn, are also in love with Brett.
Brett is a complicated character. She has several love affairs which leaves men believing that she still loves them. As I was reading this book I noticed some reasons why Brett is considered to embody the sexual freedom of the 1920s. Brett has short hair and her attitude and behavior are much bolder than women in earlier times. She also cannot decide who she loves, even when she is engaged. (Spoiler alert)She uses her beauty and bold personality to eventually even seduce a 17 year old matador whom she was in love with later on in the book(by the way, Brett is 34). But she makes him leave because she feels guilty for what she has done. And she finally realizes that this is not what is right for her to do. And she decides to marry Mike Campbell.
Although I really didn’t support what Brett was doing, I felt sympathy for her when she was crying. She regretted what she had done. As she was talking to Jake she said “I don’t wanna be one of those b*tches.” And I think that she made the right choice in the end, although I also felt bad for Jake and Robert Cohn, and Pedro Romero as well as any other men who were in love with her. And I believe that we all make mistakes. A lot of us make a big mistake that affects our whole life, but there is always some kind of hope and forgiveness that could be given for nearly any wrong doing. And there’s bound to be something positive that comes from something very negative.
“one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever…the sun also riseth and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose…the wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits…all the rivers run into seas; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”-Ecclesiastes
i must say... i tried reading that book but i kept dozing off, but this post just makes the book seem a whole lot more interesting.
ReplyDeletep.s(the i must say... part needs to be read with a brittish accent)=)
with ernest hemingway you've got to keep reading and the book will get more interesting.
ReplyDeletehey liza, I really like your amazingly awesome blogpost. It is really good and very interesting to me. First of all the story of the book itself interests me, and that automatically pulls me into your blogpost. I think the book explores a deep issue of love. Sometimes identifying exactly who you feel real love for is almost impossible, and I might read this book. I think you explore the issues in the book well, and make your self think about what is going on in your book. Great response.
ReplyDelete