How Did Ernest Hemingway Survive The Horrors Of War
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Often a writer of post World War 1 social topics , Ernest Hemingway narrates the life of Jake Barnes and his companions struggling to find their place after experiencing the horrors of war in the novel The Sun Also Rises . The characters who survived the war no longer believe in traditional values that gave them hope during the war. The loss of hope and feeling of injustice contributes to the resentment and aimlessness associated with “The Lost Generation”. To cope with these feelings the characters engage in immoral activities to mask their insecurities , to avoid war trauma , and to distract them from their purposelessness.
To cope with his insecurities caused by the injury he gained in war , Jake resorts to abusing alcohol as a way to relieve the pain . Jake says , “ Under the wine I lost…show more content… In one example Robert says “ Don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already? “(7). In this quote Robert is talking about how he feels his life has no purpose. He identifies this purposelessness after he reads an English novel of an adventurer . This makes him wishes his life could be as exhilarating since most of his life he's been frowned upon due to his Jewish religion. After the war he is one of the few characters to still uphold traditional values but the anti-Semitism from fellow characters makes him feel worthless. Robert uses the word “advantage” various times not only in the quote but in the novel itself. This is a reference to the amount of time he's been taken advantage of by his friends and even his own love interest . Due to this he tries to compensate for it by acting adventurous and trying to live an exciting life but he is left disappointed and even more vulnerable after he fails to gain his friends