the sun also rises essay questions

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The Sun Also Rises

By ernest hemingway.

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• Why doesn't Jake want to go to South America with Robert Cohn?

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The Sun Also Rises

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• Academia - Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: An Image of Optimism and Light
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The Sun Also Rises , first major novel by Ernest Hemingway , published in 1926. Titled Fiesta in England, the novel captures the moods, feelings, and attitudes of a hard-drinking, fast-living group of disillusioned expatriates in postwar France and Spain.

The Sun Also Rises follows a group of young American and British expatriates as they wander through Europe in the mid-1920s. They are all members of the cynical and disillusioned Lost Generation , who came of age during World War I (1914–18). Two of the novel’s main characters, Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes , typify the Lost Generation. Jake, the novel’s narrator, is a journalist and World War I veteran. During the war Jake suffered an injury that rendered him impotent. (The title obliquely references Jake’s injury and what no longer rises because of it.) After the war Jake moved to Paris , where he lives near his friend, the Jewish author Robert Cohn.

Jake’s former lover, Brett, also lives in Paris. Jake and Brett met and fell in love during the war, when Brett, a volunteer nurse, helped treat Jake’s injuries. Although it is not said explicitly, it is implied that they are not together because Jake is impotent and Brett unwilling to give up sex. When Cohn confesses his romantic interest in Brett to Jake, Jake cautions him against pursuing a relationship with Brett, who is engaged to be married to Mike Campbell, a Scottish war veteran. Both Brett and Cohn eventually leave Paris: Brett sets off for San Sebastian (a small beach town in Spain) and Cohn for the countryside.

A few weeks after their departure, the writer Bill Gorton (another of Jake’s friends) arrives in Paris. Together, Jake and Bill decide to go to Spain to attend the Fiesta de San Fermín in Pamplona , Spain, to see the running of the bulls and the bullfights . Before they leave, Jake and Bill run into Brett, who has recently returned from Spain, and her fiancé, Mike. Brett and Mike ask to accompany Jake and Bill to Pamplona. In private Brett reveals to Jake that she spent the last few weeks in Spain with Cohn.

Bill and Jake take a train to the south of France, where they meet Cohn. Bill, Jake, and Cohn travel together to Pamplona, where they are eventually joined by Brett and Mike. They stay at a local hotel owned by a man named Montoya. Montoya is a bullfighting enthusiast, and he is eager to introduce the foreigners to the sport. Brett and Jake are especially captivated by the bullfights, and Brett is captivated by a 19-year-old bullfighter named Pedro Romero. While Mike, Cohn, and, incidentally, Jake spar over Brett, Brett runs off to Madrid with Romero.

After the festival ends, Jake, Mike, and Bill leave Pamplona. After a night in the south of France, Jake decides to return to Spain. He soon receives a telegram from Brett asking for help in Madrid. Jake immediately goes to Madrid, where he learns that Brett sent Romero away for fear of corrupting him. The novel ends unspectacularly, with Jake and Brett talking in a taxi in Madrid. In the final lines of the novel, Brett tells Jake she thinks they could have had a wonderful time together. Jake replies, “Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so?”

Hemingway credited Gertrude Stein with coining the term Lost Generation. Stein, referring to Hemingway and his writer friends, reportedly told him, “You are all a lost generation”—a remark Hemingway used as an epigraph to The Sun Also Rises . As bitter as it may be, it is fitting. The Sun Also Rises captures the existential disillusionment characteristic of the Lost Generation. Its main characters—Jake, Brett, and their acquaintances—are mentally, emotionally, and morally lost. Their lives lack meaningful foundations and their romantic attachments are fleeting. Although they regularly go out together, their revelry is often joyless. Fueled by alcohol, the expatriates wander from bar to bar, fighting senseless battles over women and sex. All of the characters (especially the war veterans) use alcohol to distract themselves from their inner lives and the unpleasant feelings they associate with the war.

Hemingway renders the disorientation and distractedness of the Lost Generation in sparing prose, devoid of sentimentality and flowery language. In The Sun Also Rises , Hemingway barely develops the interior lives of his main characters. By withholding key details about their mental and emotional states, Hemingway conveys the fundamental emptiness of the expatriates’ lives.

The Sun Also Rises received mostly positive and mixed reviews upon publication. Generally speaking, reviews were split between those who were sickened by (what they perceived as) the pornographic character of the novel and those who were impressed by Hemingway’s sparse direct prose. Some reviewers critiqued the content of the novel but complimented the author’s writing style. Hemingway’s contemporary Virginia Woolf , for example, critiqued his characters but said of his prose:

Each word pulls its weight in the sentence. And the prevailing atmosphere is fine and sharp, like that of winter days when the boughs are bare against the sky.

The Sun Also Rises and its characters have been variously interpreted by critics and scholars. Some early critics cast the novel as a satire. Others have deemed it a serious literary effort to portray and ultimately condemn the aimless lifestyle of the Lost Generation. In either case, the novel was tremendously successful commercially. Published by Scribner’s in 1926, the first printing of the novel was a relatively small run of 5,090 copies. Less than two months later the novel was in its second printing, with many more printings to come. Following the commercial success of the novel in the U.S., a British edition was published by Jonathan Cape under the title Fiesta in 1927. The novel has been in continuous print since its publication.

The Sun Also Rises established Hemingway as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Today it is considered one of Hemingway’s masterpieces and a classic work of literature.

The Sun Also Rises

By ernest hemingway, the sun also rises quiz 1.

• 1 What condition does Jake most likely have? Diarrhea Gonorrhea Impotence Syphilis
• 2 Who is Brett's fianc Bill Jake Mike Cohn
• 3 Where does the fiesta take place? Madrid Bayonne Paris Pamplona
• 4 With whom does Jake go fishing? Mike Cohn Bill Harris
• 5 What does the count show Brett and Jake? Pictures of his family His arrow wounds His muscles His soul
• 6 Whom does Jake pick up at a café and take dancing? Frances Georgette Mrs. Braddocks Brett
• 7 What does Jake dislike about the men Brett dances with at the club? They don't treat her nicely They are homosexual They are better-looking than he is They mock him
• 8 What sport did Cohn take up at Princeton? A capella Football Crew Boxing
• 9 What is Mike's financial status? Middle-class Aristocracy Bankrupt Rich
• 10 How did Brett get her title? Marriage It is fake She bought it She was born with it
• 11 Whom does Cohn fight after he beats up Jake and Mike? Bill Belmonte Montoya Romero
• 12 Which bull-fighter recently came out of retirement? Belmonte Marcial Montoya Romero
• 13 What is an "aficionado"? An observer A scaly animal from the sea who symbolizes nothing in Spanish Someone who has passion for cigars Someone who has passion for bull-fighting
• 14 What does Cohn call Jake when he learns Brett has gone off with Romero? A pimp A chump A steer A gangsta
• 15 What does Mike call Cohn, in reference to his following Brett? A fool A pimp A wimp A steer
• 16 What is put around Brett's neck during the fiesta? A friendship necklace A wreath of onions A Christmas wreath A wreath of garlic
• 17 What happens with a man during the running of the bulls one day? He becomes a matador He kills a bull He is trampled to death He is gored to death
• 18 What is Cohn's religion? Protestant Hindu Jewish Catholic
• 19 What is Jake's religion? Jewish Catholic Hindu Protestant
• 20 Where did Jake meet Brett? In a foxhole In a war hospital In a caf In a bar
• 21 Who officially gave the name to the "Lost Generation"? Hemingway Gertrude Stein Picasso F. Scott Fitzgerald
• 22 What is Bill's profession? Writer Musician Painter Businessman
• 23 Which bull-fighter possibly symbolizes the decaying values of the Lost Generation? Marcial Belmonte Romero Montoya
• 24 What green liquor gets Jake very drunk near the end of the novel? Whiskey Fine Absinthe Brandy
• 25 What adjective does Jake use to describe the potentiality of his relationship with Brett in the last line? Terrible Pretty Cool Nice

The Sun Also Rises Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Sun Also Rises is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Sun also rises

This means the ability to handle stressful situations with a calmness or awareness without letting the stress get the better of you.

Bullfighting

Hemingway draws numerous parallels between bull-fighting and Brett's sexuality. Early in the novel, Brett tells Jake she cannot commit to him, as she will "tromper" him; while this means "to be unfaithful to," it also means "to elude," and it...

Pedro Romero

Although Romero appears only briefly in the novel, his presence is crucial, as he is the only man who seems capable of manipulating Brett. His appeal to her, beyond his beautiful appearance, is clear through the parallels Hemingway draws between...

Study Guide for The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises study guide contains a biography of Ernest Hemingway, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Sun Also Rises
• The Sun Also Rises Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.

• Relationship Between Man and Nature in The Sun Also Rises
• Hemingway's Depiction of Man from The Sun Also Rises
• Hemingway's Anti-Semitic Design in The Sun Also Rises
• Homosexuality Within Masculinity in The Sun Also Rises
• Jake Barnes' Quest for Control

Lesson Plan for The Sun Also Rises

• About the Author
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• Introduction to The Sun Also Rises
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
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• The Sun Also Rises Bibliography

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• Introduction
• Publication history
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The Sun Also Rises

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• The Weekend Essay

How Ukraine shattered Europe’s balance of power

The European Union was impotent in the face of crisis, while Britain remained agile.

By Maurice Glasman

Editor’s note: this is an abridged version of a lecture delivered in Vienna on 24th June 2024.

Lenin once observed that “there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”. The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on February the 24th 2022 was one of those moments. Within days France and Germany lost their ascendancy, Poland and Britain came to the fore, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries gravitated towards the new coalition, leaving Germany isolated within northern Europe, with southern Europe reduced to the status of sullen onlookers. 

The Russian invasion was the trigger that finally shattered a thirty five year consensus in Europe. It happened, as Hemingway describes in The Sun Also Rises , like bankruptcy: gradually and then suddenly. This crisis has been building for years, but we are now moving fast.

There are two supranational political institutions in Europe. One is the European Union, with its shared leadership between France and Germany. France takes the predominant military and diplomatic role and Germany the economic one. The other is the Russian Federation, which includes Kaliningrad and, since 2014, Crimea. Georgia, Armenia and Belarus remain closely aligned, politically, economically and militarily. There is no disputing the primacy of Moscow within this alliance. The religion is Orthodox and the language is Russian.

The comparative agility of the Russian Federation, compared to the stasis that has beset the European Union, has been a decisive factor in this rebalancing of power across the continent. My favourite political philosopher, Muhammad Ali, once said that you never get knocked out by a punch you see coming. And despite being telegraphed for months, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had that effect on both Germany and France – and two years later they are still wobbling, stumbling around the ring while the blows rain on their heads. Still not knowing whether to throw in the towel or come out swinging. 

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This was always going to happen. Germany has long been vulnerable, due to vain and cowardly tendencies that do not point to good political judgement. That the only serious industrial economy in Europe decided that it would eliminate entirely its national fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources is evidence enough of this. They did it for environmental reasons, supposedly. And they claimed that renewable energy would fill the gap. In reality, Germany became entirely dependent on Russian gas, oil and coal. Think about it as Schroeder, Merkel, Nord Stream. For some reason no one really talked about it.  

It was left to Donald Trump to point out the contradictions and dangers in that position. When he did, everybody laughed and pointed to it as proof of what an idiot he was. And all those people are still in power. Mr Putin once publicly set his German Shephard on a terrified Angela Merkel at one of their “summits” and this did not disturb the flow. Berlin and Moscow held the fate of central Europe in their hands at this point in time. The poodle and the Alsatian. 

Metternich once said that “the obvious is often the least understood”; the balance of power in Europe is dependent on access to natural resources. The magnitude of German contradictions and confusion is leading to it being unable to lead itself, let alone build a coalition around the protection of its fundamental interests (not least because it no longer knows what they are). Dependent on Russia in its economy and dominated by the United States militarily, Germany is now experiencing its biggest crisis since 1945.  

This is what made the status of Ukraine so explosive. As the only serious industrial economy within the EU, built upon cheap energy imports from Russia, the Ukraine War is hostile to German interests. And it is unable to act, immobilised by conflicting domestic and international pressures. All manner of morbid symptoms pertain. 

The European Union and the Soviet Union have a great deal in common, in heritage and practice. Despite the EU’s remorseless grind of unaccountable power (not to mention the infernal stasis of unresolved conflict enshrined by eternal treaties), somehow it was widely assumed within academic and elite political discourse that Brexit would lead to the marginalisation of Britain within Europe, and to the consolidation of the Franco-German axis within the EU. The opposite has been the case.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, Britain took an unambiguous position of military and political support for the beleaguered Ukrainian state. While the US was offering Zelensky asylum, Britain immediately transferred weapons and led the Western European political response with an unprecedented array of economic sanctions and military support. Brexit strengthened its freedom of action at a time of war.

It revealed a new coalition between east and west, and isolated Germany in northern Europe. The Baltic states immediately gravitated towards the Anglo-Polish position, as did the Scandinavian countries. Sweden and Finland abandoned 70 years of neutrality when they joined Nato. Meanwhile, in the first nine months of the war, President Macron engaged in telephone conversations Mr Putin while Germany was reluctant to provide anything more than helmets.

Machiavelli wrote that political leadership is the ability to “act in time”. Britain and Poland both did this, France and Germany, and therefore the EU, could not. Their interests and analysis impeded their ability to understand and act. This opened the space within Nato for the US to take a more active role and for northern European states to join the strengthened military alliance. Nato founder members such as Italy became irrelevant; France and Germany lost trust and confidence.   

The post-war settlement is only now truly dissolving, its legacy institutions incapable of political action. Mr Putin meanwhile understands The Act; he invaded Ukraine with overwhelming force, he crossed the Rubicon. Metternich also said that “stability does not mean inaction”. The reality is that the European Union is an unholy combination of instability and inaction. Many meetings, charity events, a process, an extended consultation, there was even a “summit” recently. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine emerged as a military actor in its own right. It was widely assumed that Russia would crush it in a matter of days – but it did not. This opened the space for the British initiative and particularly its alliance with Poland. Northern and Eastern Europe are acutely alert to the violence of Russia’s intent. Ancestral memories were stirred by the horrific scenes in Ukraine, at Bucha, Mariupol and Bakhmut, and the response was immediate: conscription and intensified military alliances. There was no internal dissent. 

The EU is not shaping the direction of this war in a significant way: it has not doubled its weapons production since the beginning of the war as Russia has. It has barely increased its own production at all, preferring to go shopping, with the US its preferred destination. Who needs metaphors? Ukrainians are producing more effective drones in their basements with 3D printers and a sack of explosives than the EU. And at a tenth of the cost. Techno and deep ambient is the soundtrack. They’re up all night. 

What does the EU mean when it repeatedly says that it supports Ukraine in the restoration of its 1991 borders? The Russians have already effectively rebuilt and repopulated Mariupol with “Russians” having expelled Ukrainians. It controls the Azov Sea. Kharkiv is only holding on due to the basement drones. The dynamics and direction of this war are obvious and ominous. As Stalin said, “scale has its own force”. The Tartars have been expelled once more from Crimea. The old is the new. If you want the restoration of the 1991 borders then you have to go to war. Russia is not going to submit to the authority of international law. It never ever has. There is no restraining order. 

The New Balance of Power in Europe is going to look a lot more like 1848 than 1948. In place of the Austrian Empire, however, will be the alliance of the UK and Ukraine, bound in a hundred year Covenant to secure the peace of Europe.   

Ukraine has treasure above and below the ground. Above ground it has a skilled workforce and brave soldiers. Below it has the largest deposits of titanium, lithium, uranium and graphite in Europe. This needs to be brought to bear as the fulcrum of the partnership with the United Kingdom in terms of military and industrial production. The two countries at its furthest east and west, that lie outside the EU retirement home, will liberate Europe from its sclerotic slumber.

Metternich said that “any plan conceived in moderation will fail when the circumstances are extreme”. I consider the present circumstances to be extreme. I do not believe that the EU, and most particularly Germany have any realistic plan that matches the extremity of the circumstance and enjoy neither stability nor mobility. Just a resentful drift towards slow motion defeat. 

When the new Concert of Europe is eventually convened, Ukraine and the UK will certainly be present at the top table as the new balance of power in Europe is enforced. Maybe it should be held in Vienna once more, they don’t see to have anything else to do. 

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