Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” is about a group of friends that share similarities with their lifestyles. Lady Ashley, also known as Brett, likes to drink, dance, have sex, and take advantage of men. She has been through two marriages already one ending with the death of her husband, and the other is ending because he is a mentally and emotionally abusive husband. Robert Cohn, who is a boxer and Jewish, also likes to drink. He is infatuated with Brett, but he can’t tame her and he feels as though it is diminishing to his manhood. He lives off of his parent’s money and is immature in many aspects.
One issue with him is that he is currently engaged yet he has no really motivation to continue on into the marriage itself. Jake Barnes on the other hand, a newspaper writer, is also infatuated with Brett but they have a certain understanding with each other in their friendship. Jake loves her but she doesn’t completely want to be in a relationship with him past friendship, yet he is still willing to accept her for who she is even though she has strong feelings for him. He goes to the point of giving up his own happiness just to please Brett, for example, he helped her find Romero and left her be with him so that she would be happy.
Brett enjoys being in the presence of many men either in bed for pleasure or having the guys pay for everything Their similarities begin to show while in Europe by partying and having personal relations with each other through out the book. Some problems arise throughout the book with Jake and Robert because they both like Brett but with them being as close of friends as they are it causes tension in their relationship. Also, the Braddock’s play an important role with their happy marriage mainly because they are the only loyal married couple in the book, yet others perceive them as dumb and obnoxious.
This may depict that Hemmingway’s view on marriage is of an impossible and unimportant factor in life. So does having the title of being married or in a relationship automatically mean that both partners are going to be faithful and loyal while together? There are different views on how marriage is looked at that can change between person to person. In The Sun Also Rises Hemingway shows that the titles of relationships do not secure the partners and can be looked at in multiple ways. Is it not in human nature to stay monogamous? If so then what does marriage truly mean and why do some people take it seriously while others don’t.
