The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel by Ernest Hemingway.

Jake Barnes, American veteran of World War I, drifts around Paris, meeting random people and disillusioned with the world around him. He is in love with the lady Brett Ashley, but then so is everyone else. He is also followed around by Robert Cohn, a Jew with a chip on his shoulder and a weak personality. Jake learns that Cohn is infatuated with Brett and that she slept with him. Jake goes fishing with his friend Bill Gorton in Burguete, and then rejoins Cohn, Brett and Brett's fiance Mike Campbell in Pamplona for the annual Running of the Bulls. Brett seduces an up-and-coming bullfighter, the 19-year-old Pedro Romero, whose genuine skill puts the others to shame. Cohn gets pissed off, beats up Mike and Jake, and then Romero, and then flees the country. Romero, despite having gotten quite beat up, fights flawlessly in the ring, and then scampers off to Madrid with Brett. Soon, however, Brett telegrams Jake and asks him to retrieve her, as she has forced Romero to dump her for fear of ruining him. Brett sighs regretfully that she and Jake would've been so good together, and Jake replies--with just a tinge of cynicism--that it's nice to think so. The end.

Encapsulated the experience of the "Lost Generation," who had seen The Edwardian Era get mowed down in droves by the Great War. Jake in particular carries the Symbolism Ball: he sustained an injury in the war that makes him unable to boner, representing prewar masculinity being out of place in this new World Half Empty. Cohn, on the other hand, still clings to those old values, which is why nobody likes him. Meanwhile, Brett, whose sexually liberated exterior hides a history of Domestic Abuse, furthers the emasculation imagery as a Femme Fatale who uses sex to protect herself... But maybe we're starting to read too much into this. Ask the Hemingway scholars if we are.

The novel is in the public domain, and can be read at Wikisource.

Not to be confused with Something Else Also Rises. Especially given Jake's injury.


 * Abhorrent Admirer: Cohn to Brett
 * The Alcoholic: Basically everyone, but Mike Campbell get special mention.
 * All Women Are Lustful: Ohh, Brett.
 * Author Avatar: Jake is pretty much Hemingway and shares all of his hobbies and viewpoints
 * Badass: Robert Cohn YMMV
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Beastly Bloodsports
 * Bittersweet Ending
 * Bottle Fairy: Brett
 * Butt Monkey: Robert Cohn, the Jewish non-veteran. Jake makes fun of him, Brett despises him, Mike yells at him.
 * Christmas Cake: Subverted with Brett -- although she is not married, she does not obsess about settling down, and she does have a fiance. Played straight with Frances.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Frances, Robert Cohn's current romantic entanglement.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Cohn aspires to this. Nobody lets him.
 * Dysfunction Junction
 * Everyone Can See It: Jake and Brett.
 * Faux Symbolism: A lot of the randomly added detail means nothing.
 * The Flapper: Brett
 * Foreshadowing: The first sentence of the book alludes to Robert Cohn's boxing prowess.
 * Full-Name Basis: Robert Cohn
 * Henpecked Husband: Cohn.
 * I Just Want to Have Friends: Cohn.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Brett and Jake. She loves sex. He's impotent.
 * In Harmony with Nature: Bill and Jake seem pretty serene when they go fishing (Jake more so than Bill).
 * The Insomniac: Jake
 * Inspired By: Quite a few details were taken from Hemingway's own life.
 * Likes Older Women: Romero, with Brett.
 * Literary Allusion Title: The Sun Also Rises derives its name from The Bible.
 * The Loins Sleep Tonight: Jake is incapable of performing, though not of desire. No other details are given.
 * Love Makes You Evil: Jake is constantly willing to throw everything out the window to support Brett's whims.
 * Man Child: Robert Cohn.
 * Mrs. Robinson: Brett's age isn't specified, but she's definitely a fair bit older than Romero.
 * Random Events Plot: The book is really more about a lifestyle than a story.
 * Really Gets Around: Brett
 * A Real Man Is a Killer
 * The Roaring Twenties: Especially Brett
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Cohn and everyone else, respectively. Yes, even Brett.
 * A Shared Suffering: Pretty much the reason the group of expatriates stick together-- they've all experienced in one way or another the horrors of World War I.
 * Sleeps with Everyone but You: Brett to Jake. Enforced Trope, since she would like to but he, you know, can't.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Jake and Brett.