The Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway
Table of Contents
Chapter 14 to 19
Chapter 14 Summary
After dinner, Jake goes up to his room. He is very drunk. Jake can faintly hear Brett and Cohn saying goodnight in the hallway, and then Brett chatting with Mike in their room next door. He reflects bitterly that a man can only be friends with a woman if he is in love with her. Jake embarks on another stream-of-conscious meditation in this chapter, his thoughts flickering around from the meaning of life, to morality, to Brett and his other friends, to the nature of the English language. He turns on his light and reads for a bit, going to bed near sunrise.
The next two days pass peacefully, without any more fighting between Mike and Cohn. On the last day before the fiesta, Brett asks if she can go to the church with Jake and hear him confess. He says it’s no good listening to someone confess, but that she can go with him anyway. Afterwards, they have a pleasant walk to the gypsy camp with Cohn, where Brett has her fortune read. Jake reflects that everyone “felt good” and “healthy” and that they couldn’t possibly be upset about anything when they felt like that. It is the last day before the fiesta of San Fermin.
Chapter 15 Summary
The fiesta, Jake tells us, “exploded” on July 6. People from all over are arriving in Pamplona. Jake attends a morning mass at the cathedral, then meets up with Cohn and Bill at a sidewalk café. They are drinking sherry together when the rockets go off in the square announcing the official beginning of the fiesta. Suddenly, it is total mad, happy chaos. There is a huge parade. Dancing and music fill the streets and the wine shops. Jake and his friends are swept up with a crowd of friendly locals at a wine shop. Brett is the object of admiration, and several of the locals put her up on a wine cask and dance around her. Jake goes out to buy some wineskins, and when he comes back, Cohn is gone. No one else seems to care, but Jake finds Cohn sleeping in a back room. After more wine and a huge dinner, Jake goes to...
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