Set in Paris and the Spanish city of Pamplona, this novel is a story of a World War I veteran and writer, Jake Barnes, and his group of expatriates as they try to find meaning to their lives in the 1920's. Considering the novel is set in Paris, the city of love, one can assume that the characters will undoubtedly encounter sentimental romance. However, Hemingway's portrayal of Paris is one of a saddened, feeble, disillusioned postwar city and therefore, the characters deal with a somewhat saddening, feeble, postwar, love. In his novel, Ernest Hemingway describes a couple of characters, Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley, who seem to share a very strange and distant kind of love for each other. .
The first of these characters is Jake Barnes. He deals with the everyday stress that comes with being injured. Jake was left physically disabled because of an injury he suffered during the war. This injury has left him with the inability to have physical sexual relations. The first hint of this in the novel is when he says, "I got hurt in the war" (24) in reference to why he can't be physical with a woman named Georgette. With an injury like Jake's, a man's masculinity can be damaged as well. The second character involved in this strange love is Lady Brett Ashley. After reading the novel and discussing in class, I can best describe her as being sweet, yet extremely vulnerable to the various men surrounding her. The charm these men seem to have, take control of her. At the same time I also feel Brett is independent in that she can use her beauty to flaunt with men. Brett has lost her real true love, also her first true love, which, in my opinion, is one factor that prevents her from commitment. Jake and Brett know each other. In fact, they love each other. The frustrating thing for me, when it comes to Jake and Brett is that despite loving each other, Brett will not commit to a loving relationship with Jake because of his impotence.