Jake and Brett

Jake and Brett

The two main characters in Ernest Hemmingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” are Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. Jake is a man who is an American living in Europe after WWI. Jake served and was injured in the war. Jake seemed calm and depressed in the book. There was a lot of drinking in the book, which can be from depression. Jake was not a violent drunk and he did not seem bitter towards anyone or anything at all. Jake was a man’s man who had complete control over his emotions and seemed to be the friend that all of his friends could rely on. Jake would read the newspapers about bull fighting and he attended bullfights in Spain. Jake associated bullfighters as men who have the ultimate life. “Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters.” (18)

Brett the female character and somewhat best friend of Jake, was not the conventional woman of her time. Brett drank and would hang out with her male friends on a frequent basis even though she is to marry another man. “Her name’s Lady Ashley. Brett’s her own name. She’s a nice girl, “ I said. “She’s getting a divorce and she’s going to marry Mike Campbell. He’s over in Scotland now. Why?” (46) When I heard the name Brett I automatically thought of a man. Brett’s name clearly defines her as unusual or as a tomboy.

There is a special relationship throughout the book between Jake and Brett, but it was discussed about what actually happened to them. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t want to go through that hell again.” “We’d better keep away from each other.” “But, darling, I have to see you. It isn’t all that you know.” “No, but it always gets to be.” “That’s my fault. Don’t we pay for all the things we do, though?” This discussion shed a little light into Jake’s and Brett’s relationship, but not completely described it. In a few sentences Brett said “When I think of the hell I’ve put chaps through. I’m paying for it all now.” (34)

It seemed that Jake and Brett had a love affair and Brett ended the relationship, but they both never got over each other. When Jake is alone he talks about his relationship with Brett “Probably I never would have had any trouble if I hadn’t run into Brett when they shipped me to England.” “I was thinking about Brett and my mind stopped jumping around and started to go in sort of smooth waves. Then all of a sudden I started to cry.” (39)

There was mentioned by Jake to Robert Cohn of his and Brett’s meeting “She was a V.A. D. in a hospital I was in during the war.” (46) A V.A. D. was a nurse, Voluntary Aide Detachment during WWI and WWII. Jake and Brett met while he was in the hospital where he was treated for his injuries. Jake must have become infatuated with Brett in the hospital. Brett seemed to have an effect on men “You’ve made a new one there.” I said to her. “Don’t talk about it. Poor chap. I never knew it till just now.” “Oh, well,” I said. “I suppose you like to add them up.” (30)

In reading I understood that Jake accepted his war injury and his place in life, but his association to bullfighting seemed to define him as a man’s man. Brett was a character who was not the typical conventional woman. In Scott Donaldson's article "The Wooing of Ernest Hemingway" he quotes Hemingway as stating ""The Brett biography" was the only part of the book that was "not imaginary"" he added, an observation that concealed how closely his characters were modeled on actual people." (708)


Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest, “The Sun Also Rises”
New York, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1926

Donald, Scott, "The Wooing of Ernest Hemingway"
American Literature, Vol. 53, No. 4
Duke University, (Jan 1982)