Religion In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises, is a complex modernist novel that often leaves the reader with unanswered questions and a lack of closure. Hemingway’s character driven narrative highlights the feelings of futility that many people experienced after World War One. Events from his personal life and time in Europe find their way into his work, and the outcome is sometimes lonely and hopeless. Often, the characters in The Sun Also Rises strive to establish relationships, but wind up creating alienation instead. The same can be seen in Brett and Jake toward religion, and though several of the other characters self-associate with specific sects, only Jake seems to find solace in his faith. Jake, Brett, Cohn, and Bill all have religious affiliations either directly …show more content…
The imagery associated with Jake’s auto-affiliation provides insight to the depths of his religion, despite its outward appearance. Jake says, concerning the cathedral in Paris “The first time I ever saw it I thought the façade was ugly but I liked it now” (102). For Jake, the façade of religion is an ugly thing, but inside, the institution offers comfort, even for wayward children. Jake is comfortable with his religion, and the guilt associated with a sort of passive participation, or rather a passive belief. Jake’s steadfast participation elevates him above the passivity many critiques associate with him. Robert Dunn questions the effectiveness of any of the rituals in The Sun Also Rises, including the ritual of Jake’s devotional performance (Dunn 61). …show more content…
Of the two, Bill is portrayed as decidedly less involved with his beliefs. Bill’s self-identification with his religion is only mentioned one time, and Hemingway does little to enforce the idea of Bill as actively religious. When Bill mentions his association, it’s during a moment of ire against another sect: Devout Catholics. Bill only proclaims his faith when hungry and mad. His religion is one of convenience, to fuel the fires of antagonism. Hemingway’s own involvement in Protestantism is reflected for a brief moment in Bill. As a child, Hemingway had been viscously beaten with a razor strop by his fanatical father (Laing 165). For Bill, as well as for Hemingway, it might as well be “the Klan” (Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises 93). He pulls it out when he needs to establish his righteous indignation at a group of “others”. Had Cohn been aboard the train, this would have struck a particular chord with