Jake Barnes & Ernest Hemingway – A Comparison
“'Hey, Kitty,' said Ernest, 'I'm taking your advice. I'm writing a novel full of plot and drama.' He gestured ahead towards Harold and Bill. 'I'm tearing those bastards apart,' he said. 'I'm putting everyone in it and that kike Loeb is the villain.“
- Hemingway
(Baker p.234)
Table of contents:
1. Setting, Characters & Background
2. Impotence & War Wound
3. Women
4. San Fermín
5. Interests & Characteristics
Bibliography
The Sun Also Rises was Hemingway's first novel, published in 1926, written several years after he served in World War I. It deals with the postwar life of expatriates and veterans living in Paris (Europe), who are also called the Lost Generation. They all go to Spain together, to enjoy the bullfights.
The book, like most of his early fiction, is based on Hemingway's experiences and acquaintances, therefore many parallels can be found by comparing the novel with
Hemingway's life during the twenties. In this essay I want show similarities and differences between the narrator Jake Barnes and Hemingway himself.
1. Setting, Characters & Background
In the beginning, the story of The Sun Also Rises is set in Paris in the twenties: expatriates and veterans living an aimless and unfulfilling life with a lot of drinking and parties and travelling. There is for example Jake Barnes, the narrator and protagonist of the story. He is an
American expatriate and veteran of World War I, where he also got wounded, and works as a journalist in Paris.
Robert Cohn is a Jewish American writer and tennis partner of Jake. He used to box at
Princeton. He did not serve in the war and therefore stands out of the rest of Jake's friends.
In the beginning of the novel he has a girlfriend called Frances Clyne, who is manipulative and tries to find status through their relationship. The three of them sometimes meet up for dinner or go out together, but Cohn abandons her later on.
Bill Gorton is an
Bibliography: Hemingway, Ernest. Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises. London: Arrow Books, 2004 Meyers, Jeffrey. Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row, 1985 Baker, Carlos. Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story. Great Britain: Penguin Books, 1972