Thursday, September 17, 2015

Frustration in Two Words: Hemingway's Ambiguity

Tonight's homework was to read Book I of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Before opening this novel, the only words I had read written by Hemingway was the short story we read for homework, Hills Like White Elephants. While this story perplexed me due to its frustrating ambiguity, I appreciated and enjoyed Hemingway's style. As I opened The Sun Also Rises, I expected to be challenged, yet also enjoy the work.
We start out Book I of The Sun Also Rises with a look at the speaker's friend, Robert Cohn. After describing this friend in length, we finally learn the narrator's name, Jake. Robert Cohn and Jake meet on occasion, but I got the feeling that Jake does not seem to like or appreciate his friendship with Robert as much as Robert likes him. Jake describes Robert as a sort of lonely, lost, aspiring writer, who has high hopes and dreams that he will never achieve. Robert is always controlled by a woman, currently one named Frances. In one scene, Frances is saying awful things to Robert because he does not want to marry her, and Jake notes himself that rather than stand up for Robert, he just lets it happen, and eventually leaves the situation.
In Book I, a notable young woman named Brett is also introduced. Although first introduced quite ambiguously, we eventually learn that Brett and Jake are in love, but cannot be together. Brett is currently going through a divorce, and intends to marry some man named Michael, yet she does not love either of these men. It seems that Book I is introducing a struggle between Brett and Jake and themselves, on whether or not they should just give up and allow themselves to be together in complete true love or not.

I can already see Hemingway's ambiguous style through tonight's reading. It seems almost everything and everyone is introduced with some vague background that is to be understood until actually later explained. However, there are still some things left unexplained. There was some "funny story" about how Jake got wounded in the war, that he often thinks about and that he briefly talked about with Brett. This war wound, in addition to Count Mippipopolous's arrow wounds, are one of the motifs Mrs. Lemon told us to watch for. Furthermore, Jake's relationship with Brett is confusing because it seems their love is so deeply passionate, yet Brett claims she can never be with her true love, Jake.
I also noticed when I first began reading how different it was that Hemingway decided to start out talking about Robert Cohn, rather than introducing Jake, the protagonist speaker, first. Hemingway then moves into Jake's complicated life, introducing new characters, each with their own back story and history with Jake.

It seems that Hemingway's life at the time of writing this is very prevalent in the novel. The setting is in Paris, where Hemingway was living at the time. However, there is a conflict in the novel between people who like and dislike Paris. Robert claims to dislike it and wishes to travel the world, while Jake seems completely taken aback at this idea, and cannot imagine disliking or being unappreciative of all the beauty that Paris has to offer. As I noticed in the scene when Count Mippipopolous, Brett, and Jake were talking in Jake's flat, they talk about the count's values, another idea Mrs. Lemon told us to watch for.
This novel still leaves me with questions, that may be answered later, or only through careful reading and noticing of details. I wonder what Robert Cohn's significance is in the novel. I wonder why Hemingway gave his characters the lifestyle they have -- a seemingly lavish, partying, late-night-yet-work-the next-day lifestyle. Brett in and of herself is just one big ambiguity. I wonder how the mysterious character Harvey Stone will play into the novel. So far, Book I has set up a nice foundation, yet most definitely leaving the reader wanting and expecting more.

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