The Sun Also Rises #2

Throughout the beginning of the second book of The Sun Also Rises, similar themes of the Lost Generation remain in the text. 

Cafés and Food: Allusions to the Great War in "The Sun Also Rises" by William Adair shines light on many of novel's partially hidden secrets. These secrets or allusions are of course the undeniable ties to the First World War that the short essay by Adair expertly points out. 

Topics recently brought up in the post entitled The Sun Also Rises #1 touched on the notion of Hemingway's influence on his characters. Previously stated, it is unlikely and most probably impossible to withhold ones experiences while writing. The article by Adair and further reading of The Sun Also Rises has solidified this argument. Hemingway's escape to Paris mimics that of his characters in his novel while his trauma of war seeps into their daily routines. 

Throughout Adair's article, examples of such seeping are explained. 

"The novel's first cafe scene, with Jake, Cohn, and Frances, comes in the brief opening chapter (pp. 14-15).4 This quarrelsome scene at the Cafe Versailles alludes to Versaillles, 1919." (page 128)

And later on "In Chapter 3, at Lavigne's restaurant, Jake, for some unstated reason, assumes that the prostitute whom he has picked up is from Liege." 

Adair continues to point out the connections between restaurants and war time events, and while it is explained more deeply, a new theory seems to emerge. It is common knowledge that one of the many reasons the Lost Generation left America was to leave behind the brutal memories of the War. However, it appears that Hemingway was unable to do so and instead instilled his memories into the actions of his characters. Adair's article has allowed for deeper insight into Hemingway at the time of writing this novel, which was previously impossible while reading his memoirs. 

To conclude, the final sentence from Adair's essay, has helped to solidify the base for argument of Hemingway's intrusion into the minds of his characters.

 "This complex, prose-poem novel is more a book of memory than has been recognized,"