Bananas. Bananas prove to be a healthy snack, and very delectable with a certain food by the name of peanut butter. Bananas, however, frustrate immensely in that one may experience perfection of taste for only a short time; too soon or too late, the banana will not satisfy the taste-buds of its eater. Would it not be magnificent if bananas could last forever, so one would not have to eat six bananas in a period of two days? Peanut butter, on the other hand, appears to last forever. That deep jar filled with gooey goodness endures for such a marvelously extended time, despite how many peanut butter crackers and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches one possibly could eat. In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway contrasts his characters by whether or not they are aware of what abides forever in this world.
Originally, Hemingway titled his novel Fiesta due to the bulk of its content taking place during a celebration in Spain. The name retained through the completion of the first draft, but Hemingway later considered renaming it The Lost Generation. He wrote a foreword to The Lost Generation, explaining that he had labeled it as such because “Gertrude Stein had once said, "That"s what you are..... All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation'” (Gerogiannis par 53). Hemingway eventually settled, however, with the title The Sun Also Rises, derived from Ecclesiastes: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again” (Ecclesiastes 1:4-7, King James version). This new, and final, title appealed most to Hemingway and related to The Lost Generation: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh…” If one generation is “lost,” another generation will soon follow.
Nagel relates the lost generation to the characters of The Sun Also Rises by saying that none of them “have achieved any sort of lasting fulfillment: they are truly of the "lost generation"” (par 21). Cohn falls in love with Brett and wrongfully believes that she would marry him; Brett and especially Jake are tormented by the fact that they cannot marry; Mike consistently copes with his fiancée deserting him for other men. The former title, The Lost Generation, speaks only of the cynicism of the novel; with The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway demonstrates that not all generations are lost; more will follow yet and perhaps achieve goals and resolves encountered conflicts.
“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.” Though generations come and ago, the earth continues onward in its cycle, just as the wind never ceases to blow and the sea never reaches its full. Jake, Bill, Romero, and Montoya recognize the earth's abiding values - what perseveres as opposed to what merely passes away in time - while Cohn, Brett, and Mike “have become lost in the abstractions of the age” (Gerogiannis par 57). Cohn, Brett, and Mike all seek happiness that they cannot obtain (and have utterly failed to obtain by the end of the novel). Cohn seeks happiness through Brett and his “love” for her; because of the affair that they had in San Sebastian, Cohn believed that she loved him as well and that she would abandon her fiancé for him. Brett seeks her happiness through her countless affairs; she marries men she does not love and never remains faithful to them, as they cannot deliver the happiness she desires. By adopting The Sun Also Rises as opposed to The Lost Generation, Hemingway contradicts Gertrude Stein's statement about the men of the war being the “lost generation.” Bill and Jake, the two characters who fought in the war, comprehend the earth's abiding values; Mike and Cohn, however, did not fight in the war and consequently stand within the “lost generation.”
The count also acknowledges the earth's abiding values; he says that because “'I have lived very much… now I can enjoy everything so well… That is the secret. You must get to know the values'” (Hemingway 67). The count worked hard in his earlier years, and, anon, his later years blessed him with an enjoyable life. Hemingway defines this exchange of values well through Jake when he reflects somewhat of what the count had earlier declared; he had learned the “exchange of values. You gave up something and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid some way for everything that was good… Either you paid by learning about them, or by experience, or by taking chances, or by money. Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it” (152, emphasis added). Earth's abiding values. Through paying and receiving in return, one would eventually run dry; but, by exchanging, one always has more to exchange. The process continues always, “abideth for ever.”
Characters such as Cohn and Mike attempted to “get their money's worth” without exchanging anything; they expected to reap the results without paying first. Hemingway utilizes a prostitute with whom Jake converses for a while to portray those who do not know the values when she states that “everybody's sick. I'm sick, too” (23). Hemingway uses “sick” to portray those who seek pleasure and care little about others. This sickness, this selfishness, prevents the characters who do not know about the exchange of values from achieving their goals.
Brett is the epitome of one who seeks pleasure; she fails to understand the exchange of values. All her goals reflect a desire for her own happiness. Brett impulsively leaves her fiancé for a boy she had just met in Spain. She exchanges nothing - no struggle to yield joy. Every decision in Hemingway's novel reflects a choice of her own selfish wishes until the last page. Brett realizes that her interference into Romero's life will destroy his aspirations in his career; she leaves him to protect him. “You know it makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch” (249). Brett finally achieves her goal by deciding to do something beneficial for another; she even declared that the decision felt “good.” At last, Brett exchanged values, and she obtained her money's worth.
Hemingway deliberately chose this title over his other options. Written in first person, The Sun Also Rises focuses specifically on Jake's emotions. Jake, unlike Brett, Cohn, and Mike, identify the earth's abiding values: those which survive time. Brett behaves physically intimate with many men, but emotionally intimate with none but Jake; Jake's intimacy alone survives throughout the novel. Jake illustrates a unique friendship to Brett and remains by her though she fails to remain by him. Jake, unable to experience physically intimacy, opts to obtain emotionally intimacy with most other characters. The intimacy that Jake chooses abideth forever.
