Engliterarium

Bull fighting is a typical Spanish institution governed by ritual performance, and integrity of matador at one hand and bravery of bull on the other hand. From railway station bulls are left on the road and are directed towards corral. Those who have courage enough of running in front of bulls, run and those who do not have courage enough to run, stand by the roadside. Hence, bulls are brought into corral. In bull fighting, three matadors kill six bulls. Each matador kills two bulls. 

In fact, “The Sun Also Rises” is a tragedy through ritual performance because it is a fight between good and bad. Bull fighting has aspects of tragedy, action, suspense, horror or terror, catharsis and tragic end. In bull fighting a matador fights two bulls. Bulls are led into bull ring where matador is ready to fight against bulls. The atmosphere is full of suspense when the wild bull attacks the matador. As soon as bull or matador is wounded, the whole atmosphere fills with horror, when bull or matador is killed our sentiments reach its peak and relieved latter. Hence, we can observe that “The Sun Also Rises” has requisites of tragedy. 

Hemingway despite of the cruelty of bull fighting sees certain definite actions giving feeling of life and death. He presents these codes through bull fighting.

In “The Sun Also Rises” bull fighting symbolically shows man’s struggle against evil in life, for bull is a symbol of evil and corral is a symbol of life. Group of expatriates does not have courage to fight against evil and Romero sets an example for them by instructing that they can find meanings of life by fighting against evils in life and that they should not be a victim of evils any more if they want to find meanings of life. Hence by fighting against bulls, Pedro Romero shows struggle against evils. 

The theme of Hemingway’s novels, that winner takes nothing in the world, has also been conveyed through bull fighting. Pedro Romero, nineteen years old bull fighter, fights against bull, endangers his life for in fighting either bull or matador is killed. He can't go out of bull ring as it is a coward and disgraceful action for a man. He fights against bulls, kills them but what he gets as a reward is applause of the spectators and two ears of bull which he gives to Brett Ashley. So, it a crystal clear that winner takes nothing in the world. 

Hemingway coveys another theme that pain does not matter to man. Pedro Romero despite being hurt by Robert Cohn, manly fights against bull. Though he feels pain, yet his code demands that he has to fight and kill the bull and he does so not caring for his wounds and pain. 

On the other hand, Belmounte, the other matador also fights against bulls. He is comparatively old and experienced man; he is expected to perform better than him. On not showing superior performance he becomes victim of contemptuous of crowd, they make insulting remarks, throw tomatoes and bottles on him. Belmounte is feeling pain, on the one hand, for his injured hand and on the other hand for insult. But his code demands that he must go through the performance steadfastly. Public may be indifferent to one’s action but it does not matter because only one’s conscience justifies one’s action. 

This is the code that Hemingway has enunciated and his latter heroes will form. The code also implies that only in the face of death one realizes oneself and knows one’s potentialities. 

Hence we can justly say that bull fighting is symbolically depicted. On the one hand it is a ritual performance indicating fight against good and evil and on the other hand it depicts certain Hemingway’s code.

Whether Hemingway wrote in his early style or in his middle style or in his later style, he is unique among modern prose writers because he turns his style to serve his subject matter. In the absence of any code the style itself becomes the code. To use literary heights, Hemingway had his style instead if God.

Ernest Hemingway becomes popular for his direct, pithy, lucid, simple and straight forward style when he was awarded by the Nobel Prize in 1954. He was praised for his style.

This style he had learnt from Gertrude Stein who taught him to cut the unnecessary details in order to focus the reader’s attention on important scenes and events and to adopt the art of repetition of certain words with minor variations.

His style was a revolt against 19th century romanticism. Hemingway’s style emerged as a reply to the crash of values on English literary scene after the First World War.

He is considered the master of dialogues. His style is closely parallel to the code of endurance and stoicism. Though his style looks extremely simple, yet it is really not simple. It requires hard discipline and a very deep understanding of language.

In Hemingway’s style there are a lot of symbols. Hemingway by utilizing the technique of symbolism has added the richness to his bleak and bare style.

Hemingway had a theory called the iceberg theory. He has done away with metaphorical fat because basically in life as well as in literature he has been a sportsman.

Hemingway gains prominence among writers because he has the advantage of being a participant and eyewitness of the First World War. He voluntarily takes part in it as an ambulance driver and work on the Italian front: Hemingway completes his “The Sun Also Rises” in 1925 whereas, T. S. Eliot wrote “The Waste Land” in 1921. Both of these writers lament on the glory of bygone days and the bankruptcy of human ideals in the modern world. The close resemblance between the theme and the treatment of theme of “The Wasteland” and “The Sun Also Rises” compels certain critics to say that “The Sun Also Rises” is the prose version of “The Wasteland”. It is not mush important to investigate whether Hemingway had studied “The Wasteland” or not. The most important factor is that both Hemingway and T.S. Eliot present similar views of their time and use images and ideas in a common context. Therefore, we can enhance our understanding about their common images by comparison.

Both, Hemingway and T. S. Eliot use the idea of a protagonist who is physically sterile. Jake Barnes in “The Sun Also Rises” and Tiresias in “The Wasteland” have a parallel between them because both remain apart from the world around them and both are the passive observers of the sexual encounters taking place before them. The nature of the sexual relationships of the characters in “The Sun Also Rises” has close resemblance with the sexual relationship presented in “The Wasteland”. Both the books witness that sex occupies a very prominent place in modern place and, unfortunately, today sex has become merely an animal urge without any moral or social commitment. In wasteland, T. S. Eliot presents the mechanical approach to sexual relationship.

There is also a similarity between the passage of “The Hyacinth Girl” in the Wasteland and the lost part of the novel where Jake and Brett are all alone in the taxi.

There is another great similarity in “The Wasteland” and “The Sun Also Rises” as the central character in “The Wasteland” is also seen as the Fisher King while Jake Barnes is an ardent Fisherman. Fisher King is a very sinful king and suffers from drought and famine. According to another legend, the soldiers of the king rape the nuns attached to the chapel of the Holy Grail. As a result of the sin, his kingdom suffered from famine. The King Fisher hopes that one day a knight will go to chapel to perilous and thereafter his land will get fertile. A virtuous knight visits the chapel and the curse on King Fisher and on his land is removed. The same is the case with Jake Barnes who is also the maimed hero in “The Sun Also Rises”. However, his struggles become the basis on which future generations can build a stronger approach to reality, a sounder humanity, which will make the modern world wasteland fertile again.

We can also see another important similarity, which appears both in the novel as well as in the poem that the scene entirely changes between the mountains. Eliot says, “There you feel free” and in “The Sun Also Rises” the mountains of Baguette is the only place where Jake and Bill have their moment of peace.

To conclude, there are also numerous small analogies of detail because both the masterpieces are written in the same age, with the same theme even the usage of images and ideas has the same context. Therefore, it can rightly be said that “The Wasteland” and “The Sun Also Rises” are the two sides of the same coin.

 

When we carefully study the main trends and events of the 19th century it becomes quite clear that the advancement of science and industrial rise transformed man’s outlook and affected every walk of life. Darwin’s epoch-making theory of evolution added fuel to fire which crumbled the powerful roots of Christianity because it challenged the very fundamental teachings of the Bible. During this century mankind enjoyed global peace and stability and almost for one hundred years there had been no large-scale continental war. The scientific and industrial evolution made physical life more comfortable, complacent and social and it as thought that man had conquered the beast in himself and learnt to live with his fellowmen harmoniously. On the other hand, this century is also remarkable for the mass-production of the fatal weapons of war which made modern war no longer a matter of man’s facing his enemy and with the out break of the first world war both the opponent groups do played such horrible weapons which wiped out humanity and devoured Europe like a horde of locusts. Whatever the steps were taken was undone by the unexpected development in the techniques of war because man had no experience of battle against machines. Daily newspapers were full of mass-rapes, child-slaughters and reports of poison gas. So, the men who had entered war with patriotic ideas to assert their honour, courage glory and manhood were stunned at man’s inherent barbarity. When they realized this horrible uncertainty, pettiness and meaninglessness of life, they were desperately disappointed and disillusioned. This generation which had witnessed the utter debasement of life, hollowness and emptiness of the high-sounding slogans of religious and political leaders was called “the lost generation”.

The phrase “The lost generation” got attention when Hemingway used Gertrude Stein’s remark “You are all a lost generation” in the front piece of “The Sun Also Rises”. After his exploits in the First World War Hemingway was unable, like Jake Barnes, to settle down and seek in activity some cure for the loss of faith and idealism. Instead of returning to America, he became an expatriate and settled in Paris, like several other young writers, with thousands of other expatriates who had taken part in World War I. These rootless members of ‘lost generation’ had fought so well but now they had been found useless in peacetime world. They were naturally embittered at the treatment they had received for having risked their lives in combat. They went through heart-breaking anguish and relied upon each other for support because their agony was impenetrate to the comprehension of others. They were fully aware of the illusory nature of social ideals. Having nothing, no code, no belief, which would serve in place of those social ideals, this generation, found itself morally a flout and each member of this generation was trying to create his own ideal or rules of conduct. In Hemingway’s work the meaning of the lost generation is not the generation that is lost in the sense that it is ruined and destroyed but the generation that is unable to find the way and which is in the quest of values. If we want to have a true understanding of The Sun Also Rises, we are to understand the nature of the ‘lostness’ of lost generation. Jean Paul calls this ‘lostness’ as ‘forlornness’ which follows when we understand that:

“Man is forlorn because neither within him or without does he find anything to cling to”.

The Sun Also Rises is mainly opted by this lost generation but the characters are not helpless, profane and dissipated, rather, they constitute a kind of a modern version of man. They assume certain heroic proportion but fall short of any recognizable ideal. Their heroism lies in the extent of their struggle to establish some mode of existence which may fulfill their own vision of good. The Sun Also Rises mainly focuses members of the lost generation who have the courage to see that they are forlorn but they struggle to achieve a way of life that is honourable in the midst of their forlornness.

A careful study of Hemingway’s novels and short stories reveals that he consistently repeats his major subject and themes. The 2nd book of “The Sun Also Rises” starts with the fishing trip – the subject which he has discussed in his several other novels and short stories. However, it is a great mastery of Hemingway’s art that even his repetitions do not create monotony.

After the exposition of chaotic conditions of life in Paris where every one is physically and emotionally sick, the fishing trip scene is a healthy shift to the serenity and tranquility of Burguette where only Jake Barnes and Bill Gorton go because Mike and Brett Ashley fail to reach Pamplona on the expected day.

Their journey to Burguette is slightly troublesome as the motor bus is full of passenger. However, they enjoy beautiful scenery and exposed their bodies to the sun and the wind. As the bus moves upward, Jake is enchanted by the beauty of rocky hills, grain growing up hillside and in the way a cloud hangs behind the bus. His poetic appreciation of the scene and communication with nature are in a sense aromantic escape from the injuries of war and complexities of life in Paris.

If we critically examine the position of this scene, it is quite clear that Hemingway has consciously inserted this trip midway between the scenes in Paris and those in Pamplona to lend it a structural and symbolic significance. Fishing scene is a kind of fulcrum that helps in measuring the frustration and unhappiness of the former or later episodes.

Fishing trip is neutral as it is set high in the Spanish mountains with the plains of Paris on one side and those of Pamplona on the other side. There are Jake and Bill, “Men without women”, without Brett to create jealousy among them and Jake is free from complexities of sex. It is one of those few occasions when Jake is found happy. This excursion is therapeutic process for Jake. He briefly speaks of his hindered love for Brett, but as religion is no more valid and love is no longer possible, he finds happiness through private and imaginative means. Thus, he constructs a more positive code to follow, which brings in him help, pleasure, beauty an order, and helps to wipe out the damage of his troubled life in Paris. Pamplona is an extension of Burguette which on the surface level is gayer and more joyous than Burguette but essentially more serious and eventful.