In the novel The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway describes .
a couple who share a very strange and distant kind of love .
for each other. This story takes place immediately after .
World War I, a time of great hardship. This hardship results .
in a digression of values both morally and socially. The .
love that Brett and Jake share is symbolic of the general .
decline in values in that they tolerate behaviors in one .
another that would have been previously considered .
unacceptable.
It is clear that Lady Brett Ashley is anything but a .
lady. She is kind and sweet but extremely vulnerable to the .
charm that various men in her life seem to smother her with. .
Brett is not happy with her life or her surroundings and .
seeks escape and refuge in the arms of these men. But her .
actions seem always to end up hurting her, and she runs back .
to Jake. Jake knows that he will never be able to have her .
for his own, and he accepts this as fact. This is clear when .
the Count asks them why donyou get married, you two? .
(68) To this question, they give a lame half hearted .
awnser which implies that it will never happen. He is .
tolerant of her behavior because he loves her .
unconditionally and is willing to overlook everything she .
does. Jakewillingness to endure and forgive Brett.
promiscuity and infidelity is an indication of the skewed .
values of the age. It was an anything goes era right after .
the first war, and Jakemessage to Brett seems to be the .
same: anything goes as long as you eventually come back to .
me.
Jake is forced to accept living in this seemingly .
terrible way for more than one reason. He a weak person .
socially, but he is also physically disabled because of an .
injury that he suffered during the war. He suffered an .
injury that caused him to be castrated. The first .
hint of this is when he says to Georgeette I was hurt in .
the war (24) in refrence to why they can not have physical .
realtions. This injury is one that makes him insecure, but .
