Literature Analysis #1

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

1. Jake Barnes is an American expatriate WWI veteran living in Paris, France working as a journalist. Jake was wounded in the war making him impotent. Jake along with his friends Robert Cohn, Jewish the only non-veteran expatriate is a wealthy Princeton graduate American ex-boxer in Jake's Clique and Lady Brett Ashley, very independent and strong English expatriate woman whom is the love of Jake's life  and aimlessly wander around the bar scene. Jake and his friends aside from Cohn are all alcoholics. The purpose of this novel is to emulate the feeling and outlook on life held by The Lost Generation. Brett loves Jake, but is unwilling to give up sex making the relationship impossible. The rising action of the novel begins during the group's drift through Paris' bars Jake introduces Brett to Cohn. Cohn becomes infatuated with Brett which results in the two having an affair. The Jake and his friend Bill Gorton, another American veteran, decide to go to the Spanish countryside for a fishing trip. Cohn being in San Sebastian offered to meet them and join them. Brett and her fiance Mike Campbell, a bankrupted Scottish veteran, ask to join Jake and Bill. Jake and Bill meet Cohn in San Sebastian, Cohn decides to wait for Brett. Cohn infuriates Mike and makes Jake jealous and insecure with his manhood by following Brett around. After Jake and Bill's fishing trip the friends stay in Pamplona for the Fiesta and bullfights. Brett falls in love with a young matador Pedro Romero. This makes Cohn whom is madly in love and still retaining innocent, romantic, pre-war, ideals gets angered by this and knocks Jake and Mike out in a fight fighting for the one he loves making the climax of the story. In the falling action  Jake later finds out that Cohn found Brett and Romero together and subsequently beat up Romero. The group finishes watching Fiesta and Brett goes to Madrid with Romero, while the Mike and Bill go back to France. Jake goes to San Sebastian to relax and swim in the ocean for a week. During this Jake gets a telegram from Brett asking for help. Jake goes to Madrid to find Brett had broken up with Romero. The two start to leave Madrid in a taxi and Brett says "We could have had a damned good time together. Jake responds, “Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so?”
2. There are a few themes in the novel, the most prominent of which would be the aimlessness and desperation of The Lost Generation.
3. Hemingway expresses a very detached and even cynical tone through Jake's point of view. "Oh Jake" Brett said, "We could have had a damned good time together... “Yes," i said, "isn’t it pretty to think so?" There is also a detached tone present through much of the novel, like this exerpt "You're from Kansas City they tell me," "yes" "do you find Paris amusing" "yes" or "Oh Darling, please stay by me. Please stay by me and see me through this ." "sure"  
4. Allusions. There are a few references to The Great War.
Dialect. In Pamplona the waiter had a Spanish accent.
Colloquialism. The story is full of slang such as "tight" meaning drunk numerous other words.
Foreshadowing. The bulls behaved as the characters did later on.
Irony. Jake and Brett love each other, but will not enter a relationship.
Anti-hero. Jake is an Anti-hero because although he is a good guy for the most part he still can be downright hateful like he was to Cohn.
Foil. Cohn is a foil to all of the characters in the book. Cohn is not a veteran, Cohn is wealthy, Cohn is Jewish, and Cohn has an optimistic outlook in contrast to the veterans' pessimistic outlook.
Conflict. The main conflict is the unwillingness of Brett to form a relationship with Jake.
Motif. The amount of drinking the group does to avoid their problems and slip into fantasy.
Imagery. Through out the novel the use of words to describe mostly food was very imageable.

Characterization
1. "Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton." This is an example of both direct and indirect characterization. It depicts the type of person Cohn is, but also the type of person Jake can be especially towards Cohn. “You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”
Is another example that has both direct and indirect characterization. It shows how insightful Jake and how Cohn still has his youthful dreams of grand adventure. I feel I rather liked Cohn throughout the novel even more so for knocking out Jake and Mike who were superficially portrayed better as men, but when you looked at the reasons for their hatefulness towards Cohn and realize it was their own insecurities, you start to understand how terrible of people Mike, Bill, Jake could be.
2. For the most part Hemingway's diction/syntax stays the same, but the way Hemingway writes is hard to understand. Hemingway writes little yet implies so very much, it is hard to grasp the entire meaning in just one read.
3. Jake is static and round. He doesn't change throughout the novel. Although during the fishing trip he seems truly sincere and even happy.
4. I felt like I met a person. Everything I read felt so real. The way the story was portrayed I felt like I was reading Jake's diary and then when I got to the end It felt like I actually understood him as a person.