The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is a novel of moral ambiguity at best, immorality at worst. For many who believe in a moral universe the novel borders on pointless because there is little or perhaps no growth in the lives of the characters. The characters in the book seem vague about the need for morality and don’t seem interested in learning more about it. The main reason for the attitude of Hemingway’s characters is their time and place in history.
Hemingway’s Characters are The Lost Generation
Hemingway and his fellow expatriates were, as Gertrude Stein puts it, the Lost Generation. They survived the First World War, but were deeply scarred by the viciousness of the war. The war left them questioning God and His goodness. Surely a God who would allow such a massive destruction of human life was not to be believed and if He was not to be believed then surely His laws and moral instructions are irrelevant.
Because Hemingway’s characters (and their real life counterparts) felt betrayed by God and the moral/value system that they previously adhered to, they began to experiment and explore alternative lifestyles in an attempt to make sense of a world that seemed to have suddenly gone mad. As a result, drinking, promiscuity, and cruelty become normal and acceptable as they try to make sense of the world.
Value/Moral Shifts in the Book
In the book, The Sun Also Rises, Brett provides a serious moral threat to the three main male characters. Her behavior threatens and destroys their understanding of morality.
Jake Barnes’ Moral Shift
Jake’s moral shift is from that of an actor to that of an enabler. Jake and Brett profess to love each other but agree that Jake’s impotence (which is a result of the war) makes it impossible for them to be together. While Jake doesn’t necessarily approve of Brett’s lifestyle, he willingingly helps her engage in promiscuous, thoughtless, and cruel behavior.
Jake inadvertently brings Cohn and Brett together, which ruins Cohn’s relationship with his supposed fiancé, Frances. Jake intentionally brings Romero and Brett together even though he recognizes the threat Brett poses to Romero’s brilliant career as a bullfighter. It is one thing for a character to surrender his own morality but to willingly sabotage the morality of others and maintain an attitude of moral superiority is the worst kind of immorality.
Brett Ashley’s Moral Wavering
Brett is a promiscuous, alcoholic and often cruel woman. Yet men are attracted to her like moths to a flame. When she first enters her relationship with Romero, it seems as if she is going to sacrifice another victim to the flames of her passion and ruin another man’s life. However, Romero has a stronger moral backbone than the other men.
He wants to marry Brett but only if she behaves like a proper woman, which means she would have to give up her rebellion and strong-willed behavior, becoming chaste and ladylike. Whether it is Brett’s unwillingness to change or whether she has a true change of heart is not fully apparent. However, Brett chooses to leave Romero. She claims that she left Romero because she didn’t want to be one of those “bitches that ruin children.”
It is not apparent if Brett’s decision reveals a true moral shift in her personality or whether it simply reveals a momentary trend in her life. However, the end of the book suggests that is simply a momentary trend. After all, she and Jake have ended up right back where they started.
Robert Cohn’s Moral Slip
Cohn has very defined ideas about women and how they should act. Among his ideas is the idea is that women should not be promiscuous (yet promiscuity is romantic among men as suggested by his willingness to treat his relationship with Frances as an affair). Cohn believes that if a well-bred woman acts inappropriately, it is the man’s job to rescue the woman from her behavior. Cohn attempts to do this for Brett when he beats Romero up while trying to force Brett to see that she is wrong. Cohn seems to think that if Brett stays with him she can learn to behave properly.
When Cohn realizes that he cannot save Brett because she doesn’t want to be saved, he creeps away like a whipped dog. Cohn’s slinking away from Brett isn’t much of a change from his behavior when his wife left him for a painter.
Learn more about Ernest Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises at Suite101.
Melissa Howard - I am a stay-at-home Mom. My college education was in English and History and my last job was as a Technical Writer. Now that I ...
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