The early 1900s was a turbulent period in world history. Increasing global tension and financial difficulties changed civilians’ lifestyles. The Sun Also Rises deals with the lost generation in the 1920s who are aimless, dissatisfied, and insecure. The novel demonstrates how modernism tore down the traditional concept of masculinity and how it negatively affected the characters in the book.
The unprecedented World War I caused everyone to lose hope and motivation to achieve meaningful goals in their lives. The characters in the novel simply drink and party without any goals. The war especially affects the male characters who actually had participated in the war. For instance, Robert Cohn is uncomfortable with his life and thinks that he does …show more content…
Hemingway’s criticism is absolutely well presented in the book that how its destruction of tradition affects the whole plot of the book. Modernism takes away everything that the characters have—such as masculinity and hope, and is the fault of all drama. For instance, Hemingway’s hatred toward modernism is depicted through a reflection on Pedro Romero. Romero is a natural and humble boy with full of “aficion”. He is not influenced by modern that he does not do any flashy things unlike other bullfighters. Montaya, who sees bullfighting as a sacred tradition, does not want Romero to be disturbed by modern things because he is going to suffer from unwanted transition like other characters. Hemingway discloses everything what modern has done to tradition in the novel and criticizes it by showing it as the catastrophic aftermath. Moreover, Jake also respects Romero because “"Romero never made any contortions, always it was straight and pure and natural in line." He displays "real emotion, because he kept the absolute purity of line in his movements and always quietly and calmly let the horns pass him close each time" (171)” (Bjerre). Hemingway depicts Jake that he perhaps wants to go back in time when he has not lost his impotence and has full of passion like Romero does, drawing out the nostalgia effect that how modern has blown off everything. “The general critical response concerns the modern emptiness of spirit, the loss of meaning and virtue, and a sense of existential disorientation. Modernism as exile, and exile as a modern state, is a thesis with significant critical currency” (Herlihy-Mera). The depiction indirectly points finger at civilians and veterans who lost their own self-esteem and purpose of lives after the war. During wartime, they had one goal—survival. Counterintuitively, they has lost their emotion and lives after they has achieved their goal to live. This desire of the
The unprecedented World War I caused everyone to lose hope and motivation to achieve meaningful goals in their lives. The characters in the novel simply drink and party without any goals. The war especially affects the male characters who actually had participated in the war. For instance, Robert Cohn is uncomfortable with his life and thinks that he does …show more content…
Hemingway’s criticism is absolutely well presented in the book that how its destruction of tradition affects the whole plot of the book. Modernism takes away everything that the characters have—such as masculinity and hope, and is the fault of all drama. For instance, Hemingway’s hatred toward modernism is depicted through a reflection on Pedro Romero. Romero is a natural and humble boy with full of “aficion”. He is not influenced by modern that he does not do any flashy things unlike other bullfighters. Montaya, who sees bullfighting as a sacred tradition, does not want Romero to be disturbed by modern things because he is going to suffer from unwanted transition like other characters. Hemingway discloses everything what modern has done to tradition in the novel and criticizes it by showing it as the catastrophic aftermath. Moreover, Jake also respects Romero because “"Romero never made any contortions, always it was straight and pure and natural in line." He displays "real emotion, because he kept the absolute purity of line in his movements and always quietly and calmly let the horns pass him close each time" (171)” (Bjerre). Hemingway depicts Jake that he perhaps wants to go back in time when he has not lost his impotence and has full of passion like Romero does, drawing out the nostalgia effect that how modern has blown off everything. “The general critical response concerns the modern emptiness of spirit, the loss of meaning and virtue, and a sense of existential disorientation. Modernism as exile, and exile as a modern state, is a thesis with significant critical currency” (Herlihy-Mera). The depiction indirectly points finger at civilians and veterans who lost their own self-esteem and purpose of lives after the war. During wartime, they had one goal—survival. Counterintuitively, they has lost their emotion and lives after they has achieved their goal to live. This desire of the