100 years ago this American literary giant predicted it all

Leave a Comment100 years ago this American literary giant predicted it allFood for Thought, It's just cool

This is a beautiful analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s writing and ethos.

Hemingway writes about the death of morality in The Sun Also Rises. Set in the 1920s, it depicts a group of WWI veterans in Europe Traumatized by the war, they’ve concluded life is nothing but suffering. They reject meaning and morals, and instead live for liquor and sex.

Protagonist Jake Barnes reveals how empty such a life is. He was made impotent by the war, both literally and spiritually By abandoning morality, he loses his sense of strength, heroism, and vitality. His life is reduced to desperate lusting over Lady Brett, who rejects him.

But what’s worse is that Jake is not alone. All the men in the novel live shallow lives of envy and lust. Hemingway’s point is this — by destroying morality, you emasculate men. If a man has nothing to fight for, he’s reduced to destructive hedonism.

Rejecting morality is bad for women, too Lady Brett, for instance, is beautiful but lonely. She rejects traditional moral values and devotes her life to casual sex and the quest for independence. But what are the results?

Lady Brett mourns that her life is hollow, since she’s traded love for lust. She laments she’s lonely, but refuses to give up her independence. The freedom she gains by rejecting morality imprisons her in a cold, lonely sadness.

Through these characters, Hemingway agues that the rejection of morality emasculates men, and entraps women in a heart-breaking quest for independence. What then, is his answer to living with meaning?

Hemingway acknowledges that life is indeed bleak —and because of this, he affirms the need to fight for meaning. Even if objective morality doesn’t exist, he argues, life becomes meaningful when you choose to fight for it…

We are not promoting this event for money – it just sounds cool.

Guest Contributor

Self-Reliance Central publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of SRC. Reproduced with permission.