Concluding thoughts

Well, the summer reading is over. Two famous authors, two famous works. Personally, if these are considered masterpieces, I fail to see how. Architecture is my passion, and i can see the passion in building from achitects past. But in these two books, i fail to see any passion at all (save a few moments in The Things they Carried.) Masterpieces are supposed to be filled with the passion of their creator, and these books are just very well written examples of literature. I am not saying i know how to write the next big epic, but I can at least throw together passionate poem for my girlfriend every now and then. From a literary standpoint, i appluad these books. From a masterpiece and co creator of creativity, I give The Sun Also Rises a thumbs down, and The Things They Carried a five out of ten.

This is still so true...

Disgracefully, many men will do anything for a pretty face. The count bought alchoal and loaned his car to Brett when she wanted to leave him behind, Cohn tries to beat up the only people even close to friends he has, and Barnes tries to hook his one love up with another guy. Brett is jsut lost in all of this because she loves to see a pretty face, and or Cohn's. She is soon to be engaged to Mike, and now she is mezmorized by Romeo. "I'm mad about that Romeo. I'm in love with him, i think." (Hemingway 187.) Brett is always so torn because her one love, Barnes, won't take action and tell Brett how he really feels. She knows he loves her, but they ignore their feelings for some odd reason.

Nobility?

It is the 20th century, and people still carry names like Count, and earl, and Lady? To Americans in the 21st century this seems comical and absurd. Titles such as those were done away with in the middle ages... correct? Actually, it was just the power that was lot with the titles. Plus with inbreeding and disease, many bloodlines eventually died off themselves. But yes, some people did, and still to this day do, carry their titles to distinguish their heritage. The essence of the titles however has unfotunatly been lost to history. " like the count. Brett had a title, too. Lady Ashely. " (Hemingway 38.) Some want to treasure, the past, while others can only see forward.

The fight

Finally, Cohn shows a back bone. His finace, his wife, eve nhis friends keep putting him down ,and he just keeps taking it and taking it. He never does anything to try and man up and defend himself. He sends Barnes down for the count in two blows, and knocks down Mike with one shot. And then, when he is finally on top, finally has a little dignity... he goes and cries about it. But the important thing is he is not crying about beatin gup his one friend, Barnes. He is crying because finally, he lets out all his bottled emotions about Brett. " You were the onl friend i had, and i loved Brett so." (Hemingway 198.) If he could learn to express his pain and emotions in a helthy way, maybe someday he could have a real relationship.

Where is the middle ground?

A hero is considered a person who can preform super human, or extra ordinary feats. An antihero is a person who lacks qualities associated with a hero. So... where does Barnes fit in? Truth be told, he is in the middle, like most humans. Like most typical people he is who he is, and thats all. othing special nothing out of the ordinary. Nethier is Cohn or Brett an antihero. Everyone faces heartache and resoultion. Such are the facts of life. "This is Brett, what i felt like crying about. And of course in a little while i felt like hell again." (Hemingway 42.) No one can escape the desires of the heart. Infatuation corrupts our veiws, while true love can scare us away. Hero's may have superhuman abilities, but when shown their own hearts they are no different from the rest of us.

Do you remember?

This Novel is filled with allusions, many of which i do no know. Many of the places and bars are more than likely fictional, to help Hemingway's story, but some of the aspects are not. For instance, the reader is not told what Malagueno expressions (Hemingway 178) are, but they can assume from context it is an important part of bull fighting. This book also uses many French and Spanish phrases, such as Corrida de toros (Hemingway 177), that most readers more than likely would not understand. But the references are not what the reader should get hung up on. This book would be a much longer read if they looked up every single word or place in this book. What is important is that the travelers in the book are knowledgable, and can connect to others around them and not be offensive.

Good times bring people together

Total strangers meeting up in today's world probably would not become fast friends. Hoever, in a time such as the mid 20's, where most men were just happy to be alive, it seems fitting that Harris, Barns, and Bill become such close friends so quickly. A little drinking, a little liesure time, and soon enough they are exchanging addresses and cards. "I say Barnes. You don't know wat this means to me. You really can't." (Hemingway 134.) These guys are just enjoying life, forgetting about the past, and moving on. And having a great time doing. it. A little liquor can change a lot of things. And it chagned thses men's relationship quite quickly.

Time away from... work?

Barnes is, yes a writer, but we as readers are never told he works hard at what he does. So when he takes a leisurly vacation away to go fishing in the mountains, I almost want to ask 'Does he need it?' Sure, everyone can use a break every now and then, but for someone that spends his nights in Paris, drinking and dancing with friends and strangers, and then sleeps till noonish, and works several hours, it doe not seem to me like he needs a vacation. "I went and found the man who suscriped my tickets for the bull fights every year, and he had gotten the money i transfered." (Hemingway 102.) For a man whose line of work does not sound so stressful, he does receive a fair amount of money. He takes these trips every year, and they do not sound so cheap at that. In a country trying to rebuild itself after the war, this book does a fabouls job addressing the social changes, but fails to mention uon the finacial chaanges still affecting Europe.

Next Blockbuster movie??

Sadly, I feel the answer to this rhetorical question is no, the novel The Sun Also Rises will not be the next blockbuster hit. Does it have suspense? Yes, this novel has its own kind of suspense. Like will Cohn find a girl that does not treat him like dirt, or will Bill ever get some money. But no, aside from the bull fighting, this book was not made to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. "The man who had been gored lay face down in the trampled mud... I could not see the man because the crowd was so thick around him." (Hemingway 201.) The is probably the most suspenceful part of the book so far, from my standpoint. Is he alive, or dead? More than likely, due to the nature of horns and the lack of defense humans have, this man is dead. Later, a page over, actually, we discover, yes, he died of his wounds. Not the most dramatic scene ever thought of, but it did bring a quick sense of excitment to an otherwise level-headed story line.

Customs

For people that know very little about a culture, it can be extremely easy to judge while they are outside looking in at customs of a culture. In Spanish class, we discussed the Bull fighting tradition in Spain. To most, it seems cruel, brutal, and barabaric. But to the Spanish, it is the highest honor to be a famed matador. Sure people may die along the way, like Vicente Girones (Hemingway 202), but it is all for the sport. It is a tradition that has been carried out for years. And Spanish people (for the most part) accept it and enjoy it for what it is: a test of a human's ability to battle nature, head on. Notce how it NEVER says in the passage of the funeral that his family is saddened at all. Sure, we can assume that they were sorrowful over his death, but they knew he died keeping alive a part of their heritage. And that is an honor in all cultures.

Not to beat a dead horse

This novel continues to infuriate me with it's lack of conflict, yet with its continueing story plot. This is not one of Shakespeare's great plays filled to the brim with situational irony and intense plot twists. This is not a great Greek tragedy of divine struggle. It is not even a comedy or religious work to scare people into praising God. It is just.... some events that were written down. That is it. In a way, however, it is a romance tragedy, but not fro mthe perspective of the hero. If one was to say it was such a piece of literature, Cohn or Brett culd be considered the hero/heroine trying to find love, and coming to a miserable and lonely end. "I just couldn't stand it about Brett. I've been through hell, Jake. It's been simply hell." (Hemingway 198.) Cohn can not find true happiness because he has never been treated properly by women, and by few men. He is always put down, and is always trying to find happiness that everyone has, but he lacks.

What does it look like?

Hemingway has a distinct style of presenting his novels to the reader. For one, he has a mild idea of how to describe sceneray to the reader. Unfortunatly, he has a poor habit of describing characters. He uses minimal adjectives to describe the characters and his imagery is lacking to say the least. Cohn is really the only character we get a halfway decent description of, and that is of small quality as it is. "He had a flattened nose... and took to wearing spectacles." (Hemingway 11.)
Do not get me wrong, however. Never do i say that this is a bad choice of writing style. thankfully, unlike what the media had done to recent generations, it keeps the readers imagination flowing, and growing, as they fill in the gaps of what they think the characters would look like, using and ever changing opinion of them to grow upon the characters features. More over, I feel reading books like this with a lack f imagery can be of great use in stimulating the mind.

Picked up slang

Personally I have noticed that when I spent anytime at all around people with even a slight accent, I have a talent for picking it up myself. Basically i have a talent for noticing and picking up local color, or customs and ways of acting. Everyone does it at one time or another, usualy without even noticing it. Barnes does it after spending some time with Harris and Brett. "What rot, i could hear Brettt say it. What rot! When you were with English you got into the habit of using English expressions in your thinking." (Hemingway 153.) Personally i feel it is a great way to expand on one's outlook on life and social interactions. It, along with food, are great ways of connecting people and getting to know why people act the way the do.

Robert Cohn

Not only is Hemingway's plot style unique, so is his charcter devolpment. His characters seem so one dimensional, and yet the have a form of depth to them as well. Cohn is a character that really disgusts me as a reader. All he does is mope around and try to chase after Brett, who is trying to get a cross that she doesn't have any positive feelings for him. Frances was doing him a favor when she beat him down verbally. It was something he needed to hear, and thanks to Mike later on, he heard again and again. No matter how many times people tell him to grow up and move on, he just can not do it. Even after the fight, all he does is sulk. "Cohn was crying... 'Please forgive me Jake.'...'I was crasy. Please don't remember it.'" (Hemingway 198.) Cohn is nothing but a lowely, lonely loser who pisses me off again and again.

Gee, I wonder what happens next...

This is the most uneventful novel I have ever encountered. All the people are doing is what they say they are going to do next. The onlyforeshadowing skills needed is when Cohn repeatitly gets pset, and acts like he will start a fight, and thanks to the note early on about his boxing technique, any reader could more than likely foreshadow that the fight was going to end with Cohn wiping the floor with the other men on page 195. "'I say, you were out cold.' 'Where were you at?' 'I was around.' 'He knocked Mike down, too.'" (Hemingway 195.) It is very difficult to foreshadow any events in this book, becasue the fight was the first official event yet. In a book that doesn't really move the story along in a normal style, how can one predict normal events?

What's your mood today?

The mood of this piece is laid back, carefree, and a total disregard for consequences. The people in this book are cleaning up the remains of th war they fought in, and they are alive. They want to have a new appreciation for what they do have, forgetting about what could happen. They are getting drunk on every page, and several are having maritals without the mariage. This was becoming the norm, and unfortunaly, set the mold for what we live by today. Tradionally people only drank wine in Europe because the water quality is so poor. Yet the characters are simply drinking to drink."Let us utilize the product of the vine. Is this all we've got?' 'Just the two bottles'" (Hemmingway 127.) Two bottles of wine is plenty to get a perso drunk, and these people are dissapointed when they do not have more. Self control is sorely needed i nthis time period, as these people think they are living, yet they are driving themselves closer to their graves.

What is the point?!

Why? Why did Hemingway spend his time writing this? Quite frankly I had no idea through most of this book what Hemingway's motivation was for writing this book. As far as i could tell their was no underlying lesson, no political injustice being exposed, not even a small bit of advice. I neared the end thinking this was a random bit of literature that is considered a masterpiece.
That is, however, until I read the back cover. THen the pieces started to fall into place and i saw that Hemingway's motivation, in my opinion, was to show the world what was hapening all around them: change. A sudden quick change that spread across the globe and was built out of the wreckage of the old. "It was an age of moral bankruptcy, spirtual dissoulution, unrelaized love, and vanishing illusions" (Hemingway back cover.) Love was a new topic to these people. No longer was love jsut for Romeo and Juiet of old, but for the common man as well. if your heart desired something, go for it! self control was not a lesson learned yet, but it would be very soon.

Listen to the rhythm!

Hemingway shows a very unique writing style that is also a reflection of the attitudes of his characters (discussed post "Tradition!!"). Hemingway's rhythm of writing is short and to the point, just as the characters in his novel use short sentences to say what is on their minds. The vast majority of the conversations that take place use very little words in the actual verbal interaction of his characters. "'Don't forget it yet.' 'No?' 'No.' 'All right.' 'I would like a hat like that.' 'Good. I'll get you one' " (Hemingway 190.) This small conversation is not only how Hemingway handles his dialog, but his other narration as well. He does not spend a lot of time getting to th point of what he wants to say, but his characters do not say very much at all.

Tradition!!

Just as in the Broadway favorite, A Fiddler on the Roof, a mention of tradition comes up on page 190. "It would be very bad, a torero who speaks English" (Hemingway 190). There is a clashing of old and new moral values here, as there are all over the world in this time. People are learning how precious life and time are, so they are trying to get the most out of both while the values of the past are slowly eroding and falling by the way side.

The new set of rules, which is ironic as it is a lack of rules, says that as long as no one gets hurt to badly do whatever you please and it will be okay. People are starting to branch out and look at life in a different light, and with this, they are changing their culture. the zinc bars are more popular, and becoming drunk with friends is no longer an American right of passage, but a European one as well. Not everyone is completely losing faith in the old customs, as Romeo shows, but more and more people are allowing their moral compass to slide.

This is one boring war story....

Hemmingway's style of writing in this novel is so unconventional to myself. Normally books have a semi obvious plot with bumps along the way. This story, however, is quite different. As i read i expect something big and grand to happen.... yet all that is going on is people living life. So far the only plot twists is who Brett loves next. Bill gives a great representation of their outlook on life in this time period on page 126, "We should not question. Our stay on earth is not for long. Let us rejoice and believe and give thanks." The people that make up the main set of characters aren't off in some far off land saving the freedoms of those back home or saving the lives of loved ones. They are simply enjoying life for all it is worth and getting the most out of what they have.