"You are all a lost generation."
Try saying it. The Lost Generation.
When I say it out loud to myself, it feels deep (if that's a way to describe it?). Its like a wound that is covered up, something literally lost that could've been there. But what was lost? An entire generation? Their potential in life, their lives themselves? Many lives of the WWI generation were lost, and many others were wounded for the rest of their lives. Your wounds don't have to be physical however, as we can see what kind of psychological damages it inflicts on a person. But why did Ernest Hemingway put his epitaph, "You are all a lost generation."? Why in The Sun Also Rises?
It seems that Jake, Brett, Mike, and the Count just go around everyday drinking. They don't think about their goals in the future, or plan anything out. They just kind of go with the flow and don't make major changes. Its the same thing over and over again, the same problems, the same parties. There is no motivation for some type of development that we usually expect and work towards in our lives. They went through war, and it seems like they've finished their purpose in life and are just lounging around until death.
We can definitely see the cycle repeating itself with Brett and Jake (although maybe the end of the book was a new beginning for Jake, the end of his lostness?). Its implied that Jake and Brett go through the same thing of Brett going off with other men, then coming back to Jake, then off with other men, then going back to Jake, etc. The cycle never stops. Everybody is in a sort of phase, like the day keeps repeating itself and they can't or just don't want to get out of it until death.
But we get a glimpse of them jumping out of their "lostness". Robert Cohn wasn't a part of the whole lost generation vibe until he joined the crew and he was overwhelmed with feelings for Brett. He kept chasing her and chasing her, not getting the hint that he should be moving on. But when he beats up Romero and realizes Brett's done with him, he leaves the entire area and leaves the crew. He found himself and jumped out of the pit before he was dragged any further. We also see that Brett decided she wasn't going to go off with Romero in the end and that she was going to get back Mike, which can be seen as a sort of closure for her, a beginning of "finding" herself in this repeating cycle. Even with Jake, we see his feelings for Brett slowly dissolving into something else. Its subtle, but I felt that his words and actions could be interpreted as him beginning to move on from her for all these years. There is the idea of being caught up in the moment and just doing the same thing over and over again with the same people with the same feelings, just losing yourself and your identity. But ultimately at the end, you either jump out of the cycle or climb out.
I know this was kind of abstract but I'm trying to hash out my ideas in the best way. What do you guys think of the epitaph and how it relates to the book as a whole?
P.S. I was going to make this a comment on Ayah's blog, but as I was typing I just got overwhelmed with too many words and ideas, so I just made it my blog post (sorry Ayah...).
When I say it out loud to myself, it feels deep (if that's a way to describe it?). Its like a wound that is covered up, something literally lost that could've been there. But what was lost? An entire generation? Their potential in life, their lives themselves? Many lives of the WWI generation were lost, and many others were wounded for the rest of their lives. Your wounds don't have to be physical however, as we can see what kind of psychological damages it inflicts on a person. But why did Ernest Hemingway put his epitaph, "You are all a lost generation."? Why in The Sun Also Rises?
It seems that Jake, Brett, Mike, and the Count just go around everyday drinking. They don't think about their goals in the future, or plan anything out. They just kind of go with the flow and don't make major changes. Its the same thing over and over again, the same problems, the same parties. There is no motivation for some type of development that we usually expect and work towards in our lives. They went through war, and it seems like they've finished their purpose in life and are just lounging around until death.
We can definitely see the cycle repeating itself with Brett and Jake (although maybe the end of the book was a new beginning for Jake, the end of his lostness?). Its implied that Jake and Brett go through the same thing of Brett going off with other men, then coming back to Jake, then off with other men, then going back to Jake, etc. The cycle never stops. Everybody is in a sort of phase, like the day keeps repeating itself and they can't or just don't want to get out of it until death.
But we get a glimpse of them jumping out of their "lostness". Robert Cohn wasn't a part of the whole lost generation vibe until he joined the crew and he was overwhelmed with feelings for Brett. He kept chasing her and chasing her, not getting the hint that he should be moving on. But when he beats up Romero and realizes Brett's done with him, he leaves the entire area and leaves the crew. He found himself and jumped out of the pit before he was dragged any further. We also see that Brett decided she wasn't going to go off with Romero in the end and that she was going to get back Mike, which can be seen as a sort of closure for her, a beginning of "finding" herself in this repeating cycle. Even with Jake, we see his feelings for Brett slowly dissolving into something else. Its subtle, but I felt that his words and actions could be interpreted as him beginning to move on from her for all these years. There is the idea of being caught up in the moment and just doing the same thing over and over again with the same people with the same feelings, just losing yourself and your identity. But ultimately at the end, you either jump out of the cycle or climb out.
I know this was kind of abstract but I'm trying to hash out my ideas in the best way. What do you guys think of the epitaph and how it relates to the book as a whole?
P.S. I was going to make this a comment on Ayah's blog, but as I was typing I just got overwhelmed with too many words and ideas, so I just made it my blog post (sorry Ayah...).
It's all cool man.
ReplyDeleteJust to add on to that thought, maybe the "Sun Also Rises" has to do with "the lost generation." I really did not understand what the title had to do with the book, but maybe it is referring to the lost generation and trying to show that this generation is not lost, just as the sun can never NOT rise. I don't know, that's probably a stretch.
We might view Jake's odd relationship with Brett as a kind of "anchor" for him, keeping him from being fully adrift and "lost." A lot of readers in class are critical of his seeming willingness to drop everything and run to Brett when she calls, but looked at another way, this gives Jake a kind of meaning and purpose in his life, someone who relies on him, and loves him. Their relationship might be "impossible," and Brett might indeed be something of a trainwreck when she blasts through town (I love all the references to cities she can't go anymore because she "knows too many people there"!), but this is what they have--a wounded, limping love that nonetheless goes forward at the end. The taxicab represents their version of permanence, recalling the opening scenes between them: a suitably transient setting, but with Brett and Jake still together in their way, her leaning on him and him being okay with it.
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