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Materialistic Satisfaction In The Great Gatsby And The Sun

1130 Words5 Pages

Fitzgerald and Hemingway demonstrate in their respective novels how the ‘Lost Generation’ pursue the comfort of materialistic satisfaction as a coping mechanism to the anxiety that they suffer post World War 1. In ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Sun also Rises’ there is a common association of three substances of materialistic satisfaction that the characters look to acquire. The characters find themselves obsessed about the concept of sex, they pursue alcohol in order to supress their distress and finally they seem to believe that wealth may be the solution to their pain. As a result of these pursuits their morality often lapses and they find themselves submitting to the spiritual costs.
Fitzgerald emphasises that the pursuit of sex in ‘The …show more content…

In particular Hemmingway implies that the sexual yearnings that his character Brett expresses lead to the violation of her ethics in parting with the man she loves. A discussion between Jake and Brett occurs in Chapter seven, after Brett shows up at Jake’s home in Paris with Count Mippipopolous. Jake asks “Couldn’t we live together, Brett? Couldn’t we just live together?” to which Brett replies “I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody.” Jake pleads with Brett to be with him, but she retorts that she would always “tromper” him, a French word here meaning “to commit adultery.” Because of a wound Jake received during the war he has been made impotent, and he therefore he cannot satisfy Brett’s need for sex. With her words, she is telling Jake that she would have to go with other men behind Jake’s back, which she knows he wouldn’t be able to tolerate. Jake's main need is Brett He wants to love Brett and to be loved by her in return but the bitter satire of ‘The Sun Also Rises’ is that although Brett is more than eager, Jake's sexual attraction can never be fulfilled because he has been castrated in combat during World War I. Because he feels sexually strained to Brett, who is engrossed to him in turn, Jake's incapability to consummate their mutual desire makes being near Brett or even thinking about her sheer agony for him. The situation crafted by Hemmingway could be a parallel to

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