The Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway
Table of Contents
Chapter 11 to 13
Chapter 11 Summary
Jake and Bill take a lovely bus ride to the small village of Burguete, where they plan to go fishing. The bus is very crowded, full of festive and friendly local Basque peasants. Jake and Bill share their bottles of wine with the people on the bus. In turn, the locals show Jake and Bill how to drink from the traditional wineskins. Everyone drinks a lot of wine. One elderly Basque man impresses everyone by speaking English, and politely asks Jake and Bill where they are from and why they’re visiting Spain. Jake says they’re here for the bullfighting, and for the fishing. The old man wishes them luck on their fishing trip.
At their hotel, Jake questions the hotel owner about the high price of their rooms. He thinks it is too expensive. She explains that they charge more because it’s the busy season. He asks if wine is included, and she says yes, so Jake agrees to the fee. They drink rum punch before dinner. It’s cold in Burguete, and Bill worries that it will be too cold for fishing the next day. They have a pleasant dinner during which they drink many bottles of wine, and then they retire to their beds, where they sit up smoking and reading “to keep warm.”
Chapter 12 Summary
Jake wakes up early, and the weather is fine. He goes out and digs up bait for the fishing trip. Then he asks the hotelier for coffee and a packed lunch. Bill is awake when Jake returns, and he’s in a bantering mood. As Jake packs their fishing things, Bill gets dressed for breakfast and jokes around, encouraging Jake to say something with “irony and pity.” Bill sings a song about irony and pity, and continues to urge Jake to express one or the other during breakfast. He explains to Jake that it’s all the rage in New York, and that Jake doesn’t understand because he’s an expatriate. He then tells Jake that people wonder how he supports himself. According to Bill, some people claim that women support Jake, while other people claim he is impotent....
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