Socratic Seminar : The Sun Also Rises
Thursday 3/10 & Friday 3/11
1. Identify character foils in the novel. What purpose do they serve?
2. Defend or refute the following statement using examples from the novel: “One of the most persistent
themes of the 1920’s was the death of love in World War I. All the major writers recorded it, often in
piecemeal fashion, as part of the larger postwar scene; but only Hemingway seems to have caught It
whole and delivered it in lasting fictional form” (Mark Spilka, “The Death of Love in The Sun Also Rises”)
3. Does Brett feel any remorse for her actions? Is she sincere when she says, “I’m not going to be one of
those bitches that ruins children” (247)?
4. What is the significance of the novel’s structure (Books I-III)? Is there a clear conflict? Rising action?
Climax? Resolution?
5. Now that you have finished reading the novel, revisit the title. What is its significance? Is it optimistic or
not?
6. Analyze the final verbal exchange between Brett and Jake. Is it optimistic?
7. Defend or refute the following statement with examples from the novel: “The Sun Also Rises is Jake’s
confession of guilt, his admission to the corruption of what values he had left to him” (Michael S.
Reynolds, “The Narrator”).
8. Defend or refute the following statement with examples from the novel: “Hemingway’s definition of
courage, which he succinctly phrased as ‘grace under pressure,’ is in many respects a startling echo of
the Victorian adage to ‘suffer and be still’ that was directed to women who felt helpless to meet the
demands of their sacrificial role. Just as the true woman was self-effacing in the name of the familial
and social stability, the ideal man of Hemingway’s world consciously suppressed his feelings, thereby
neutralizing his response in the name of courage or mastery and the need to protect his country”
(Wendy Martin, “Brett Ashley as New Woman in The Sun Also Rises”)
9. Brett has been called “the new woman” (Wendy Martin), “Hard-boiled” (Allen Tate), “a woman devoid
of womanhood” (Theodore Bardake), “a female who never becomes a woman” (Jackson Benson), “an
exclusively destructive force” (Edmund Wilson), “self-destructive” (Roger Whitlow), and even “a
compulsive bitch” (John Aldridge). Defend or refute any of these statements in your own assessment of
Brett.
10. Defend or refute the following statement using examples from the novel: “[Brett] is still caught between
two modes of gender representation: that of the idealized woman on the pedestal and that of the selfreliant modern woman” (Wendy Martin, “Brett Ashley as New Woman in The Sun Also Rises”)
11. The Sun Also Rises has been called an elegy to the death of values, as well as “one of the filthiest books
of the year” (Hemingway’s mother), “a rejection of false values” (Michael Reynolds, “Values”), and a
“tragedy” (Hemingway). What values, if any, do the characters of the novel retain? What values do
they reject or revise?
12. According to Hemingway, “Books should be about the people you know, that you love and hate, not
about the people you study up about. If you write them truly they will have all the economic
implications a book can hold.” To what extent does The Sun Also Rises exemplify this perspective?
13. Which character experiences the most personal growth over the course of the novel? Defend your
assertions with concrete examples from the novel.
14. Feel free to write your own question!