Sun Also Rises Relationships

World War I was a very important aspect in “The Sun Also Rises”. It impacted all the characters and their relationships in different ways. The challenges that Jake, Brett, and Bill faced in the novel can be ascribed to the absence of religious confidence that resulted from their experiences. In reality, when people go to war, they normally return psychologically or physically damaged. For the characters in this novel, their thoughts about the world completely altered. The world had lost its innocence and that the traditional Christian morals was no longer important. As a group, they knew the meaning of religion but they just didn’t have hope or faith because of their past experiences.

Jake’s experience with war affected him more than any other

It was usually from the men she had encounters with. She has a love and hate relationship when it comes prayer. “Never does me any good. I’ve never gotten anything I prayed for.” (Hemingway, 211). This diminishes her religious faith because she feels like God never answers her prayers which makes her turn to men. She doesn’t believe that God is real because of the issues she’s faced in her life. And if he was real, she wouldn’t be in the state that she’s in. “You know it makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch. It’s sort of what we have instead God. He never worked very well with me.” (Hemingway, 221) She’s too familiar with men supplying her needs. She will manipulate them with her good looks and sex to get what she wants. In my opinion, Brett was acting like a “female dog”. The only good thing she did in this novel was let Pedro go because she knew if she stayed with him, he would get hurt. The one time she wasn’t being selfish or just thinking about her feelings. These actions geared from what she experienced in war which made her turn her back on

He doesn’t believe in anything at all any longer. Bill no longer understands what religion or faith mean. He completely eliminates God and religion out of his life because it’s irrelevant to him. “[The monastery] is a remarkable place, though, ‘Harris said. ‘It isn’t the same as fishing, though, is it?’ Bill asked.” This proves he lacks the ability to have or appreciate faith and religion. He ignores Harris comments about the monastery and compare it to fishing because that’s something he loves to participate in. Throughout the novel, Bill loved to crack jokes about religion because he didn’t have the ability to have faith. “Our stay on earth is not for long. Let us rejoice and believe and give thanks.” (Hemingway, 126) He only does this around people who believe and he also does this because he doesn’t understand