Final Entry

Whenever war is mentioned there is the generalization that "War is hell." It is also mentioned in The Things They Carried. Tim O'Brien said, "True war stories do not generalize. They do not indulge in abstraction or analysis. For example: War is hell. As a moral declaration the old truism seems perfectly true, yet because it abstracts, because it generalizes, I can't believe it with my stomach" (page 78). This idea leads me to my next thought. It is actually said by Hawkeye Pierce. There are many good quotes in MASH. He says, "War is worse than hell." Somebody asks why and he responds, "Because there are no innocent bystanders in hell." Many people in the war are innocent bystanders. Jake was an innocent bystander. He did not start the war or choose to be wounded in it. Many peoples' lives changed, especially after WWI because it was the first World War. People did not know what to expect. Little did they know there would be a WWII shortly after. People have trouble transitioning from life as a soldier to the life of a civilian. The lost generation did not know what to do with their lives anymore.

The End

I finally made it to the end. The ending of the book was expected. There was no resolution, no happy ending. Jake and Brett did not end up together. I would have liked Brett to have said, "
Oh, Jake, we CAN have a damned good time together." I still do not understand why she believes her relationship with Jake would never work out. I read the back of the book before I read the book and I noticed the line "unrealized love." I read the whole book and I did not find it in the book. Brett knows Jake loves her and she loves Jake. Was the line referring to another set of characters? I have read so many other good books. Why did we have to read The Sun Also Rises? There just had to be a better option out there.

(I AM) Bored Out Of My Skull

I was reading some other people's blog entries and some of them felt like I wrote them. I had written almost the same things other people had. I read an entry Emily Looney wrote about Brett and how her actions were confusing and stupid. She also mentions how much they drank. Did anybody ever do anything else? Many people seemed to have the same reaction when they read The Sun Also Rises. It was boring. I have had the hardest time finding things to write about and it feels like I keep writing the same thing. It is probably because a lot of the events happened more than once. The amount of drinking was very annoying and boring! Did I mention it was boring?

Between the lines

When I finished the book my second thought was, "Why did I have to read that book. It was nothing like The Things They Carried." My first thought, "It is finally over!" After I finished reading I talked to my mom and told her the reading seemed pointless. The books were nothing alike. She suggested maybe they were not supposed to be alike. There were some similarities if I dug deep enough. I guess it is not one of those books that is just about the story. The feelings and emotions are in the story but not clearly written. The main characters are both suffering because of the war. Jake would not have met Brett if not for the war. He could have found another person to love and he might have been happy. Brett might not have a drinking problem.

Simile

I just recently counted my literary terms entries and found I had forgotten to do one! Sorry simile, nothing against you. "I slept like a log" (page 105). Jake says this because Robert asked him how he slept. I really liked this line because I have heard so many people say it. It is a saying that almost everybody has probably said in their life. I did like that about this book. There were many lines in the book that seemed realistic. The lines were not too overdone, nor were they too simple. There were times when a character would respond with a terse one syllable word but at other times characters would ramble on about their personal opinions. That is how real people talk. The conversation moves back and forth and the amount of words spoken varies.

Robert

"Breeding be damned. Who has any breeding, anyway, except the bulls? Aren't the bulls lovely? Don't you like them, Bill? Why don't you say something, Robert? Don't sit there looking like a bloody funeral. What if Brett did sleep with you? She's slept with lots of people better than you" (page 146). Mike is very drunk and is verbally attacking Robert. Robert still just stands there and takes the insults. He was a boxer but he does not like to fight people. I think it is wise to avoid confrontation, especially with a drunk person, but Robert needs to stand up for himself. Robert does eventually fight Jake and Mike, but for a stupid reason. He wants to know where Brett is and they will not tell him so he gets angry. I feel bad for Robert because he loves Brett but she does not love him. He needs to get over her and find someone else.

Gored

"You hear? Muerto. Dead. He's dead. With a horn through him. All for morning fun. Es muy flamenco" (page 202). Jake is speaking to a waiter about the man who was killed by a bull. He left a wife and two kids. I could not believe it when the event was described. People are running from a bull that was set loose. It is a miracle that nobody else was gored. The man had risked everything just to see a bull. He risked seeing his wife and children again just to participate in a stupid sport. I do not understand why people want to watch other people play with the bulls and then kill them. I do not support animal cruelty.

Drown your troubles

"It was like certain dinners I remember from the war. There was much wine, an ignored tension, and a feeling of things coming that you could not prevent happening. Under the wine I lost the disgusted feeling and was happy. It seemed they were all such nice people" (page 150). This quote made me think of MASH. Hawkeye and B.J. have a still in their tent and they drink often. Radar comes in and asks for a drink and he takes a sip saying, "Hey, I thought this stuff was supposed to make you feel good." B.J. replies, "No, its supposed to make you feel nothing." The war has a very negative effect on people and they will always have to live with the trauma of war. Many soldiers become alcoholics because of the war. Is Jake an alcoholic? I really do not know but it seems like he is because he drinks almost all of the time.

Never Endng Cycle

The book reminded me of listening to a song that was on repeat one hundred times. The same events seemed to happen in the book over and over again. Jake hangs out with his friend, they drink, talk, drink, fight, drink, get drunk, then go to bed. That seemed to be the chain of events that happened throughout the book. The location the friends drank at changed but not much else. Everywhere Jake went he had to have a drink. I was not sure if people just drink a lot when they are on vacation or if people in France and Spain drink a lot. I think Jake might be struggling with personal problems as a result of the war.

Brett

When Brett was first introduced in the story, I did not expect her to be so annoying. She may not be annoying to all of the readers, but I found her to be a bad character. She is constantly falling in love with different men, even when she is engaged to Mike. She is extremely selfish. She falls for every whim and she never stays with any man for very long. She also knows that Jake loves her and she uses him to her advantage. Whenever she has a bad day, she goes crying to Jake. She keeps telling Jake that a relationship with him would never work out. In the end of the book, she complains to Jake about her bad relationship with Mike and then with Romero. She also drinks a lot just to get drunk. She reminded me of Bella and Jake in the Twilight series. Bella needs a friend and Jake loves her. Bella says she loves Edward but she is selfish and cannot stop talking to Jake. Isn't it weird that both of the characters are named Jake?

Disappointment

After reading The Things They Carried, I had an optimistic view of the quality of the second book I had to read. I began to read the first 27 pages of The Sun Also Rises and I was bored. I started reading it right after I had finished my 20 blog entries for The Things They Carried and it took me a while to get back to the book. The entire story of The Things They Carried was about the Vietnam War and the soldiers' lives after the war. The Sun Also Rises is not about a war. The story is about the generation that lived through the WWI. The book did improve as I kept reading but it still wasn't very interesting. Reading The Things They Carried was pleasure reading but The Sun Also Rises was homework.

Parallelism

"After a while we came out of the mountains, and there were trees along both sides of the road, and a stream and ripe fields of grain, and the road went on, very white and straight ahead, and then lifted to a little rise, and off on the left was a hill with an old castle..." (page 99). Hemmingway uses a lot of parallelism when he describes the scenery. The word 'and' is repeated within the sentence to link the different clauses together. The scenery is continuous and it is flowing, just like the sentence structure. The words are changing but the sentence flows. The scenery changes but it does not stop so the sentences are not short and choppy. Because the characters are riding in a car, the scenery changes faster than it would if the characters were just walking. I enjoyed the different scenery described in the book because I have never been to France or Spain.

Imagery

"It was hot, but the town had a cool, fresh, early-morning smell and it was pleasant sitting in the cafe. A breeze started to blow, and you could feel that the air came from the sea. There were pigeons our in the square, and the houses were a yellow, sun-baked color, and I did not want to leave the cafe" (page 97). I have never been to Spain before so I do not know what it looks like. Many people who read The Sun Also Rises probably do not know what Spain looks like. Hemmingway's use of imagery describes Spain and the other countries to those who have never seen it. There are many little details in the book too. "While we were waiting I saw a cockroach on the parquet floor that must have been at least three inches long" (page 97). In that one sentence the reader finds out what kind of floor the cockroach was walking on and the size of the cockroach. These little details add to the story and help the reader experience what the character experiences.

Onomatopoeia

"... and the red and green stop-and-go traffic-signal, and the crowd going by, and the horse-cabs clippety-clopping along..." (page 22). The phrase 'clippety-clopping' helps to describe the sound the horses make as they walk. It just adds so much more to the book. Hemmingway describes everything in great detail. He describes the lavish scenery as well as the color of pernod. The phrase also draws to mind that horses are still commonly used. Cars were used but the people had not yet transitioned from horses to cars. The clippety-clopping of horses helps set the time period of the book.

Round Character

Jake Barnes is a round character. He is very complex just as real human beings are. He loves someone who says their relationship could never work out. He experiences happiness, jealousy, anger, excitement, and boredom. These are all feelings that humans experience every day. The key to creating characters is making them as realistic as possible. He has a job and he has many friends. Jake was in the war and he was wounded. He enjoys bullfights and he is catholic. Real people have religious beliefs (even if they do not believe in religion that is their belief), they have hobbies, jobs, and friends. They enjoy some activities and hate others. They love some people and dislike others. Somebody could tell me the story was based off of a real person named Jake Barnes and I would believe them.

First Person

"I mistrust all frank and simple people, especially when thier stories hold together..." (page 12). The Sun Also Rises is told in Jake Barnes' point of view. I love stories in first person becuase I have a complete understanding of the character. Nothing is hidden from the reader. It is more intimate because it is like being inside the head of the character. Jake Barnes expresses his thoughts and feelings and all the characters are shown in his perspective. If he does not like a character, then the reader probably will not either because they will be exposed to negative thoughts. I say this because I liked Robert Cohn in the beginning of the story and towards the middle I started to think he was annoying. I was annoyed that Cohn never stood up for himself. "Why did he sit there? Why did he keep on taking it like that?" (page 58). At first, I did not think how Jake liked Cohn in the beginning and then slowly became annoyed at him. He hated him after he went out with Brett and would not leave her alone.

Stream of Consciousness

"... so I prayed that I would make a lot of money, and then I started to think how I would make it, and thinking of making money reminded me of the count, and I started wondering about where he was..." (page 103). Jake is in a church and is trying to pray. He begins praying for his friends and the bull-fights, then the fiesta , and finally their fishing trip. Hemmingway wrote this chain of thoughts very realistically. I will be thinking of something and then I end up on a random topic and I try to figure out how I had gotten to the idea. One thought automatically triggers more thoughts. Many books in first person do not always have a stream of consciousness but it is how humans think. It makes the character more real and believable.

Rhetorical Question

Frances begins to figure out that Robert Cohn is not going to be sticking around for much longer. She knows that it probably won't work out between them and they won't get married. She is upset at Cohn. She begins to get mad at him. She rages on for almost two pages in the book. I was rooting for her (I think Cohn is annoying-it might be because Jake thinks he is too). She just kept going on and on talking and then asking a question like, "Aren't you, Robert?" or "Didn't you, Robert?" (page 57). She doesn't even stop talking to see if Robert would even mumble a response. Cohn never stood up for himself. Frances did not expect a response from Cohn because she did not ask the questions to receive one. She was mad and she asks to questions to torment him.

Static Character

Brett is a static character. She does not change much thorugh the course of the novel. In the beginning she is planning on marrying Mike, but she has a bad habit of falling in love... all the time. She drinks. She is constantly finding a new love and never seems to be content. She also knows that Jake Barnes loves her but she says it will never work out. In the middle of the story she is still planning on marrying Mike but she has a fling with Cohn. She also drinks a lot just to get tight. Near the end of the book, she goes out with the bullfighter. She leaves him and goes to Jake for help. She drinks some more. Throughout the book her behavior stays the same, but she might be with a different guy. Brett is not content with her life. She cannot change her ways and that is why things would never have worked out between her and Jake.

Epigraph

"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever... The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down..." (page 7). I skimmed this page before I read the novel. I did not understand the meaning of the quote before I read the story so I thought I would read the novel and get back to it. I finished the novel and I did not know why the novel was called The Sun Also Rises. I found the passage at the beginning of the book and I reread it. The quote, "The sun also ariseth," from Ecclesiastes inspired Hemingway to title his book The Sun Also Rises. My interpretation of the quote is that the world just keeps going. Nothing will stop the sun from rising or the rivers flowing. People will die but the world keeps turning. Life goes on.