Analyses of the Ending of The Sun Also Rises
Analyses of the Ending of The Sun Also Rises
Novelist often foreshadow the ending of their novels. In Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises, the ending is satisfying because it is typical. At the end of the novel Jake receives a telegram from Brett saying that she is in the Hotel Montana in Madrid. She states that she is in trouble. Jake telegraphs her saying that he will arrive by express tomorrow. Jake finds her in bed, embraces her, and kisses her. She tells him that she made Romero leave because he wants to get married and have kids. Then she tells Jake that she is going to go back to Mike. When they leave Madrid Brett says, “Oh Jake we could have had such a damned good time together. (247)” Jake replies, “ Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so? (247)” All in all the novel is logical and the ending is foreshadowed.
The end of the novel is logical. The writer does foreshadow the outcome of the novel. The ending is logical in a way because it seems like throughout the novel Brett turns to Jake when she gets in some trouble. It also seems as if every time Brett gets in trouble Jake is there to assuage her and bail her out of it. Although that is good because that is what good friends are supposed to do.
The themes of this novel are that war destroys more lives than just those on the battlefield and also that love is often painful. The ending of the novel explains these themes: Brett and Jake’s love is painful because they cannot be together because Jake is impotent, and war does not only destroy Jake and Brett’s life but also all of the other guys that Brett has an affair with. Without the war Jake would not have been injured and Brett and Jake would be married. An alternative ending that is not as satisfying is if Brett runs off with Romero and gets married.
The emotional response to the ending of the story is that the ending is typical but satisfying. The writer could have gone a lot of different ways with the ending of this novel. Lucky enough for the reader sake, he did not go crazy with it.