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Theme Of Insecurity In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises?

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Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises is a story set in Paris, France shortly after World War I. The main character, Jake Barnes, is a veteran of the war. While serving, he suffered from an injury and is now impotent. This has many effects on his life, influencing his opinion of himself and his relationships with those around him. It also pertains to one of the main themes of the story. The topic of love and sex is prominent in the novel, as it is the basis for some of Jake Barnes’ insecurity, it causes a lot of problems between the characters, and all of the characters have frequently changing relationships. To begin, the always present topic of sex makes Jake feel less masculine and also causes some of his insecurities. His injury …show more content…

At many times, the characters are often involved with many different people at once. For example, Lady Brett has sex with many men and is unashamed of it. She has a fiance, Mike, however while they are engaged she becomes involved with Romero the bullfighter and Robert Cohn. She is also romantically interested in Jake, whom she will not pursue a relationship with due to his injury. Another character that is guilty of this is Robert Cohn. He is married to Frances, however he has an affair with Lady Brett. He even picks Lady Brett over his wife and tries multiple times to win her over. The only character whose love interest never really changes is Jake Barnes’; his stays the same right up until the end. “‘Oh, Jake,’ Brett said, ‘we could have had such a damned good time together.’ Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Isn't it pretty to think so?’” (250) This small conversation between Jake and Lady Brett, which demonstrates Hemingway’s sparse style is nonetheless ironic and full of meaning. Throughout the majority of the novel, Jake is lusting after her and wants nothing more than for her to be his. He puts her before everybody else and starts to revolve around her. The car slowing and pressing Brett against Jake symbolizes …show more content…

They both cause a lot of drama between the characters and ruins a lot of the friendships; sex also powers Jake Barnes’ insecurity and impacts all of their lives with the unsteady relationships. The two themes matter a lot because they are the baseline for the book. One of the most important plots in the novel is the relationship between Jake and Lady Brett; she does not want to settle down, especially not with somebody like Jake, so it provides a lot of suspense and continuously makes readers want to know what will happen next between them and if they will ever end up together. It also matters in the way that love is so avoided by these characters because of their insecurities after the war. They feel lost and they don’t know much about themselves, so this causes them to have unsteady relationships. Love and sex, which portrayed in a negative light in the novel, plays an impacting role because of the fuel it adds to Jake Barnes’ insecurity, ruins the characters’ friendships with each other, and thoroughly impacts all of their lives with the ever-changing

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