The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway and Dear John by Nicholas Sparks - Essay Example

Both the novel and film (The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and Dear John by Lasse Hallstrom) provide ample importance to the after-effect of wars on human life but differs in the treatment of the theme of romance because the novel explores the scope of romance in human life, but the film goes deeper into human life and explores the connection between romantic love and reconciliation.   

Compare and Contrast study

This section is divided into two: compare study and contrast study.

Compare study:    

     In the novel The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway provides ample importance to the negative influence of wars on human life. For instance, the protagonist (say, Jake Barnes) and his friends face a number of problems related to WWII. Besides, the protagonist and his friends decide to get immersed in different modes of entertainment to forget the negative effect of WWII. In the work The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, the narrator points out that, “Cohn had been talking about the two of us going off somewhere on a weekend trip” (14). Similar to the novel, Lasse Hallstrom inculcates the atrocities of war in his film Dear John. In the film, war badly affects the protagonist’s (John Tyree) personal life, especially his romantic love for Savannah. Besides, the protagonist’s life is symbolic of the negative effect of war on human life.  So, one can see that the plot of both the novel and the movie is interconnected with the hardships faced by human beings, during and after wars. 

Contrast study:  

     In the novel, the protagonist and his friends consider the romance as a temporary escapade from reality. To be specific, the protagonist’s lover (say, Lady Brett Ashley) is symbolic of a temporary relationship, rather than Platonic love. In the novel, the protagonist feels jealous of his friends and quarrels with them. One can see that temporary romance is the reason behind the conflict between the protagonist and his friends. On the other side, the protagonist (John Tyree) in the movie is symbolic of Platonic love. Roger Ebert states that “Lasse Hallstrom’s Dear John tells the heartbreaking story of two lovely young people who fail to find happiness together because they’re trapped in an adaptation of a Nicholas Spark’s novel” (128). He is aware of the fact that the war is destroying his love affair. Still, he loves Lady Brett Ashley and expects reunion and reconciliation. The hope of a bright future that can be seen in the mind of John Tyree is symbolic of the difference in treatment of the theme of romance in the movie. On the other side, the main characters in the novel consider that romance is monetary. So, this difference in treatment of the theme of romance in the novel and the movie leads the readers and viewers toward different worlds, imaginary and visual. 

     Summing, the compare and contrast study between The Sun Rises by Ernest Hemingway and Dear John by Lasse Hallstrom proves that novels and movies are similar and dissimilar in some aspects within the context of art. Both the works are symbolic of the problems related to wars but differ in the treatment of romance. Still, both the novelist and the director are aware of the fact that wars affect human life in general. So, both the works represent the artistic craftsmanship and individual difference between Hemingway and Hallstrom.