The Novel the Sun also Rises - Essay Example

Ernest Hemingway and His Works Hemingway was one of the renowned in the 20th century. He receives credit for authoring novels, short stories and also poems. Many analysts who have focused on developing a critique of his work have highlighted that he has a unique writing style. Having born towards the conclusion of the 19th century, he is one of the authors who witnessed the devastating effects of the two world wars that changed the globe immensely. Moreover, his life experiences were outstanding and they feature often in his work. At a young age, he adopted a journalism career that also influenced his writing style when he started publishing his works. Most notably, he was one of the Americans who participated in the First World War although not as a soldier. During that war, he worked as a volunteer serving as an ambulance driver a vocation that saw him seriously wounded. This essay will highlight the outstanding features that defined Hemingway’s writing style. Some of his famous works such as, “The Sun also Rises” and “The Old Man in the Sea” will be used to demonstrate the uniqueness in his style. Prior to highlighting the writing style of Hemingway, it is important to establish the background of the period in which he lived and wrote his works. Being a 20th century author, he experienced many of the defining aspects of that century. As highlighted above, one of those aspects is the first and the second world war that altered the perception of many people in the globe. Worth mentioning is the fact that Hemingway was of American origin (Bloom 67). Therefore, one of his outstanding experiences is the desperation that defined many of the American citizens after the world war. Moreover, the post war period that was defined by the emergence of individualism, materialism, pessimism and degraded moral values are aspects of life that Hemingway lived to see. Without doubt therefore, these experiences serve to define some of the common themes in his works. He underwent the radicalization of that century a factor that was also similar to many of his contemporaries. Hemingway was interested in joining the army in his earlier years, but his failed sight denied him the chance. After the voluntary venture of being an ambulance driver, during a time when many atrocities of the first world war were being perpetrated, he later joined journalism. For a period of time, he was a reporter with one of the publications in Kansas city. His career in journalism served to influence his writing style, making it uniquely distinctive from that of his contemporaries. In 1925, Hemingway published a collection of his works titled , “In Our Times” that comprised of poems and short stories. In the following year, he published the novel titled, “The Sun Also Rises”. This novel served to place on the global front of literary works. This is because, this novel exhibited his style in a vivid way, giving the globe a taste of his mature style that would emerge in the following years ((Bloom 67). This novel will form the core of the discussion in this essay because of its criticality in exposing Hemingway’s writing style. Hemingway’s Style in the “Sun also Rises” This book surrounds the story of a group of thirty something men and a British woman named Bretty. The setting of the story is the post war period when many of the younger generation exhibited a diverse range of attitudes towards life because of the changes brought about by the war. As mentioned above, the war brought new waves of individualism, materialism and most importantly a level of desperation, disillusionment and pessimism. Having lived in Europe for some years, Hemingway was able to describe the life of his characters in a post war Europe. One outstanding feature of this work is the use of short and simple sentences with a high level of concision, precision and clarity (Cane 78). The style exhibited in this book illustrates Hemingways dislike for complex syntax. Many analysts have used the term “terse” to vividly describe his style. The use of this term is justified as it denotes the minimal or sparing use of words. From this novel, it becomes evident that, Hemingway used words in a sparing manner. For example, many analysts have highlighted that he had the capacity to use eight words to communicate an idea that would have been conveyed in eighteen words. In addition to such sparing use of words, Hemingway revealed his usual habit of skipping some ideas, especially when he had the conviction that his readers could figure out what he meant for their own. The novel “The Sun also Rises” moved into a new and reputable global identity that recognized him as a legendary American author. Precisely, his style in this novel appears to be straight forwards, direct and notably plain. Such simplicity in style has been mistaken by some as a lack of wealth of words. However, his experience as a journalist had compelled him to develop a competency in concision and precision. In this piece of work, he uses conversations in many parts of the book. His sentences in this book are concrete and of divided prose. The prose part alternates with the numerous conversations between the characters. In addition, he preferred to use “and” in place of commas in his writing (Cirino 98). One noteworthy thing about Hemingway’s writing is that he preferred to live emotions undescribed. Although emotions were a central aspect of his characters, he avoided describing them leaving the reader with the challenge of deciphering the emotions exhibited by the characters. In this book, Hemingway describes the lives of Jake, Cohn, Bill, Mike and the beautiful Bretty. All these individuals exhibit certain attributes that determined life in the post war period. As he develops the story of these young people, he explores certain themes that have made the book a preferred read for many people. In the story, he depicts how love and romance serve to confuse and disillusion young people in the post war period. The conflict in the story is between Jake and Bretty who are in love, but their love faces a barrier that they can never overcome. Jake is used by the author to represent the adverse effects suffered by people who had witnessed the world war and emerged triumphant. According to the author’s description, Jake had been wounded during the war to a point of rendering him impotent. His impotency was the reason why Bretty could not commit herself to a relationship with him. This brings out the memories of the author concerning the first world war (Cirino 43). Just as Jake had been wounded during the war in his factious story, seems to bring to mind the experiences of the author himself during the war. Further conflict arises when Cohn depicts his interest in Bretty. All the men in the story seemed to fall for her easily. However, Cohn had a high level of insecurity concerning Bretty as the author depicts he followed to San Sebastian even though he was aware that she had no feelings for him. Bretty had always loved Jake, but was unable to give up her addiction to sexual intimacy for the sake of Jake. On the other hand, Cohn kept wishing that Bretty would change her mind and love him. Despite all this melodrama, Bretty was engaged to a reckless drunkard named Mike. Notably, Jake and Bill were close friends compared to Jake’s relationship with the other males. Throughout the novel, Hemingway uses his powerful precision style comprising of multiple conversations and short sentence structures to paint a picture of the men and the lady who are the main characters in the story (Cane 88). Because of his precision and concision, a careful reader gains the capacity to identify with all the young people after understanding the story of their lives. Using these characters, Hemingway explores a number of themes that he was aware his readers would like. The theme of love and ensuing conflict are some of the aspects that contribute to the development of the author’s portrayal of pessimism and desperation. For him, describing the characters in his book without highlighting the emotions gave the reader an opportunity to begin to establish a connection of the ideas he presented with those he skipped (Reef 76). The work first published in 1926 was evidently a product of a repeated process of editing and proofreading. Therefore, in his editing and proofreading activity, he erased a part that made little sense in the paper. By 1929, the same book had been published severally and many people had a read of this piece. Hemingway’s Style in the book, “An Old Man in the Sea” This is one of the allegorical works that Hemingway developed a surface meaning of his story while in real sense, the story had a deeper meaning. In this book, Hemingway exhibits his crafty and precise way of expressing ideas. Just as in the case of “ The Sun also Rises” Hemingway seems to make use of a few words than expected when conveying his ideas. The book has been classified as one of his brief works with a plot that the reader can easily associate with (Cane 78). Although the book was written in a time defined by multiple political issues, such political aspects are not a focus of the author in the book. In this piece of work, Hemingway also reveals his journalistic skills that define the unique phrase that he uses, unlike the case of “The Sun also Rises” Hemingway uses several narrative modes. In his previous work, “The Sun also Rises” he relied on a single narrative mode (Bloom 88). The use of third person voice is evident throughout this story. A close analysis of his style makes it evident that the style could be inviting his readers to experience a range of reading levels. The deeper meaning of the story is something that the reader can make out on his or her own (Tyler 100). Some critics described Hemingway’s style as deficient of creativity, he was prepared to demonstrate his personal appreciation for his style. In an article published in the playboy magazine, Hemingway made powerful statements concerning his expertise in writing. He placed emphasis on his undoubted use of direct and personal style integrated with the use of metaphors and other imagery as some aspects that defined his skills as an author. He offered a personal and positive appraisal for his simplicity, vigor, brilliance and brevity in writing. Although his style was different from that of other authors during this period, Hemingway chose to remain unique. He did not adopt a complex syntax because his contemporaries were using the same but rather continues to exhibit his expertise with the use of words to express ideas in a precise manner (Bloom 97). It is difficult to separate Hemingway’s writing style with the themes that he explored in his different works. Some of the common themes that he depicted were love, death, masculinity, fatalistic heroism, isolation and disillusionment (Reef 45). This theme is common in works such as, “The Sun also Rises”, “A Farewell to Arms”, “Across the River and into the Tree” and “ The Old Man in the Sea”. Similar themes and his sense of style are also evident in his short stories and poems. Analysis of the “Snows of Kilimanjaro” Hemingway had the opportunity to travel to Africa, although he survived two tragic plane crashes. It is intriguing to consider the them explode in this literary work because it bears multiple similarities with the author (Bloom 67). The main character of the story is an author named Harry, but the show is on the verge of his death. In this story, Hemingway seemed to reflect the experiences that governed his life in one of his works. Harry in the novel is embarking on a journey to the tallest mountain in Africa alongside his wife. However, he had a major injury to his leg, a factor that served to hinder his progress in the journey. Hemingway describes how Harry became overly engrossed in thinking about the approaching death. Such thoughts prevented him from focusing on the positive. Although his wife made the efforts to help him, he kept quarreling. This story was Hamingway’s as he declared in one of his interviews. A close analysis of the style used reveals that, his simplicity of style, sparing use of words and simple sentence structures were still part of his preferred writing mode. Many critics have focused on the them that Hemingway explode in this story. Although the story reveals his unique style, it presents a kind of parallelism to his life. Harry was an author a career that matches that of Hemingway. Although Harry was embarking on a tough journey that needed resilience, he lost hope. This may have been a foreshadow of what happened to Hemingway in the years that followed when he committed suicide (Bloom 87). Although he had made progress in his work as an author, he had difficult marriages and ill health factors that may have contributed to the depression that he later suffered. His exploration of the theme of death in this story only serves as an emphasis of his fondness to discuss death. Conclusion As highlighted above, Hemingway had an outstanding writing style. Having been a journalist before he started writing, contributed to the development of his preference for simple sentence structures. In several of his works discussed in this essay, his style is very evident. The emergence of that style occurred when he published his first influential novel, “The Sun also Rises”. He continued to exhibit that style in many of his works. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Ernest Hemingway. New York: Chelsea House, 2000. Print. Cane, William. Write Like the Masters: Emulating the Best of Hemingway, Faulkner, Salinger, and Others. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writers Digest Books, 2009. Print. Cirino, Mark. Ernest Hemingway: Thought in Action. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2012. Internet resource. Reef, Catherine. Ernest Hemingway: A Writers Life. Boston: Clarion Books, 2009. Print. Tyler, Lisa. Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2001. Print. 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