Abstract:Ernest Hemingway, as an outstanding modern American writer, has presented to his readers an overview of the particular generation after World War I. Journeys to Spain to watch bullfighting and to report on the civil war, hunting expeditions in Africa, fishing in the Caribbean, experiences on special missions and as war correspondent during World War II constitute Hemingway’s colorful life. The Sun Also Rises (1926), his first successful novel, brilliantly captures his years in Paris as one of the “lost generation”. As the leading spokesman for the “lost generation”, he expressed the feelings of a war-wounded people disillusioned by the loss of faith and hope, and so thoroughly defeated by the collapse of former values. The story tells of the moral collapse of a group of expatriated Americans and Englishmen, broken by the war, who turn toward escape through all possible violent diversions. 

 By recording an episode of life of several American expatriates represented by Jake Barnes, Hemingway reveals the human condition emasculated by war and threatened by nada. By analyzing episodes of the hero and the heroine who suffered from World War I, Jack Barnes who wounded in the war, and Brett Ashley who lost her husband in the war, Hemingway shows the theme of spiritual wasteland. Although Jake and Brett loved each other, they could not get married for Jack’s physical problem. What the war has affected was not only their life, but also their former beliefs. They became wandering pointlessly and restlessly, enjoying things like fishing, swimming, bullfights, and beauties of nature, believing that the world is crazy and meaningless and futile. Their whole life is undercut and defeated. They are living in nothingness.

Keywords: Ernest Hemingway  The Lost Generation  spiritual wasteland  The Sun Also Rises

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction to Ernest Hemingway-1

1.2 The Sun Also Rises--Hemingway’s First Important Novel-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

1.4 Composition of the Thesis-3

Chapter Two Spiritual Wasteland in The Sun Also Rises-4

2.1 Disillusionment Caused by War-4

2.2 Life of Tragedy-4

Chapter Three The Major Characters of The Sun Also Rises—Searching for Themselves in A World of Spiritual Wasteland-6

3.1 Jake Barnes: The Best Representative of the Lost Generation-6

3.1.1 Jake’s Suffering in the War-6

3.1.2 Jake’s Unwillingness to Accept the Living Environment-6

3.1.3 Jake’s Collapse of Faith-7

3.2 Robert Cohn: An Outcast to His Friends-8

3.2.1 Cohn’s Anxiety of His Difference-8

3.2.2 Cohn’s Consciousness of Pain-9

3.3 Brett Ashley: Hopeless Search of Love-10

3.3.1 Brett Ashley’s Disordered Love-10

3.3.2 Unconditional but Impotent Love Found in Jake Barnes-10

3.3.3 Juvenile Romantic Love Encountered in Robert Cohn-12

3.3.4 Principled Love Gained in Pedro Romero-12

Chapter Four Factors Influencing This Novel’s Theme of Spiritual Wasteland-14

4.1 The First World War and Its Aftermath-14

4.2 The Lost Generation-15

Chapter Five Conclusion-16

References-17