In Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises, the post-WWI European culture, filled with loss and destruction, shapes Lady Brett Ashley's her independence and restlessness. During this era, the world now seemingly without values, Brett is able to be an untraditionally bold and vivacious woman. Yet post-WWI Europe also affects negatively Lady Brett Ashley as she searches in vain for true happiness and peace. Ultimately, the post-WWI European surroundings hammer home what The Sun Also Rises is about (destruction of ideals, values, and structures), especially with Lady Brett Ashley typifying the entire “Lost Generation”.
After the war, Europe rebelled against pre-war traditions, ideals and values. Just as Europe rejects conformity, so does the
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Though on the surface Brett is taking part in youthful activities like bullfighting and partying, the fact that she does them in endless repetition implies Brett uses them as an escape. Furthermore, Jake reveals that during the war, Brett was a nurse who saw firsthand the horrors of war, the extreme loss of life and destruction; in fact, Brett’s own true love died of dysentery (which explains why she never seems to settle with any man and calls love “hell on earth”. Additionally, Brett and Jake are in love but can’t be together because Brett knows that because she can’t live without sex “she’d just tromper [him] with everybody”. And yet, Brett explains that Jake’s the only one she" never jokes” and that only when they’re alone can she admit that she’s “miserable”. The saddest part ever though is that at the end, after she’s pushed Romero away and is alone again, she wistfully shares with jake “We could have had such a damned good time together”, highlighting that in different circumstances and surroundings, she could’ve found true happiness and peace with Jake. Brett’s personal search and unrest could be symbolic of the entire Lost Generation’s perpetual search for the shattered prewar values of love, romance, and