2007. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Soldiers return home with mental and physical scars. Jake Barnes in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises must deal with his physical handicap and feelings of hopelessness, each preventing him from being with the woman he loves, Brett. Jake lives in the past, before his time in the army, unable to advance. Hemingway argues through use of detail, language and diction that war holds us back from progress.
Hemingway creates an air of uselessness surrounding everything in his work. He is particularly famous for his use of language in conveying a sense of hopelessness. The dialogue between Hemingway’s characters, especially in this novel, is very basic, and very ambiguous. Jake and Brett appear to be discussing nothing at all. They talk in circles, discussing the most mundane topics. This creates a feeling that nothing matters. Lack of details contributes to this established feeling as well. We are never told explicitly what Jake’s injury is. This deliberate vagueness contributes to the uselessness. Lacking details and specific language are confusing and upsetting.
Once the reader is convinced nothing has meaning, Hemingway creates some, using the specific event that ruined his characters’ lives: war. The reader accepts this easily, desperate for something to cling to. All of Jake’s problems trace back to the battles he was a part of. After drawing a connection between the hopeless feelings and war, Hemingway can easily assert that war is bad. The reader already feels pity for Jake and his friends. Once a cause is given to the situations the characters live in, the reader has no problem despising it. Hemingway makes the reader believe that war is wrong.
This was a wonderful essay!! You're points were clear, well presented, and organized. You really reached that deeper meaning of the work as whole and effectively analyzed this novel. This was really teriffic work--I also love how the organization of your essay follows the chronological order of both the story and Hemingway's manipulation of the reader's sympathies. The only major thing I noticed is that you don't have a conclusion. You really need to have that closure where you reiterate what you've said (annoying, I know, but it's the format they want). Also, your first sentence seems to be kind of...unrelated, I guess, to your main point about war being harmful in this novel. Try finding something more directly related to your thesis so it doesn't seem too broad or like a non-sequiter. Other than that, this was awesome!!
ReplyDeleteYou have a well structured argument. The last sentence of it seems a bit formulaic, but it's good that you're using specifics! Your essay does answer the prompt, but you could write more about how Jake interacts with these memories. What problems does he have? How are they traced back to war? Perhaps it would be obvious to me if I'd read the book.
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