The Sun Also Rises Alcoholism

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The Sun Also Rises In the story “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway the characters in the book use alcohol to cope with a number of different issues. Every character has their own set of problems, and in the book alcohol is the temporary answer to their problems. In this essay I will focus on these characters and attempt to identify the problems they are having, and how alcohol plays a role in their story. The characters I will be analyzing are Jake, Brett, and Mike. The internal struggles of Jake which come from his accident in the war. Mike Campbell, has to deal with problems with the insecurities of Brett, which make him act out. Lady Brett Ashley, is considered a good drunk but has her own issues such as losing her husband during…show more content…
The incident leaves Jake unable to express himself using passion. From reading the story I believe it’s why Jake and Brett can really never be together. The two issues correlate and seem to be main reasons he drinks because of the injury(private parts disabled) and it will never let him have Brett. There’s also a significant quote from Jake about alcohol, “Under the wine I lost the disgusted feeling and was happy. It seemed they were all such nice people”.(pg 151) Jake seems to use alcohol as a distraction from both his own problems and his friends real identities. Also I believe that Jake is social drinker. He drinks on occasion when he’s with friends, but when he realizes he’s alone, he may drink a little more than usual. “I drank a bottle of wine for company. It was Chateau Margaux. It was pleasant to be drinking slowly and to be tasting the wine and to be drinking alone.”(page 236) When Jake realizes he’s alone he drinks more and enjoys it more, when he’s…show more content…
For example, in one incident he starts to pick at Robert Cohn for always following Brett around like a shadow. Also he tells everyone about how Brett went on a trip with Robert Cohn. Mike struggles come from being an unemployed, bankrupt, war veteran, and heir to a pretty hefty fortune.“I’m rather drunk," Mike said. "I think I’ll stay rather drunk. This is all awfully amusing, but it’s not too pleasant for me. It’s not too pleasant for me." Mike realizes that he has a problem with abusing alcohol and how it really makes him feel but he continues anyway. He constantly stresses over his lack of money and seems to be insecure about the fact of Brett’s infidelity. The way Mike copes with all the stress is to temporarily remove himself from the troubles by drinking. “Brett’s gone off with the bull-fighter chap. They’re on their honeymoon.”(page 193) Mike talking about Brett’s infidelity with running off with the bullfighter, ironically he is telling Cohn who also has a thing with

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