Key Facts

full title  ·  The Sun Also Rises

author  · Ernest Hemingway

type of work  · Novel

genre  · Modernist novel; travelogue; novel of disillusionment

language  · English

time and place written  · Mid-1920s, Paris

date of first publication  ·  1926

publisher  · Charles Scribner’s Sons

narrator  · Jake Barnes

point of view · Jake tells the entire story from his own point of view.

tone  · Somber, detached, ironic, nostalgic

tense  · Past

setting (time) ·  1924

setting (place)  · The novel begins in Paris, France, moves to Pamplona, Spain, and concludes in Madrid, Spain.

protagonist  · Jake

major conflict  · Jake is in love with Lady Brett Ashley, but they cannot maintain a relationship because he was rendered impotent by a war wound. Jake loses numerous friendships and has his life repeatedly disrupted because of his loyalty to Brett, who has a destructive series of love affairs with other men.

rising action  · Jake, Brett, and their friends pursue a dissipated life in Paris; Jake introduces Brett to Robert Cohn; Brett and Cohn have an affair; Cohn follows Brett to Pamplona.

climax  · The jilted Cohn beats up Mike and Jake, and afterward Pedro Romero.

falling action  · Jake and his friends leave Spain; Jake enjoys the solitude of San Sebastian; Brett wires Jake to rescue her in Madrid after forcing Romero to leave her.

themes  · The aimlessness of the Lost Generation; male insecurity; the destructiveness of sex

motifs  · The failure of communication; excessive drinking; false friendships

symbols  · Bullfighting

foreshadowing  · The behavior of the bulls repeatedly foreshadows the actions of the people in the novel.