English 11, 6.0- The Sun Also Rises
Week of May 18, 2015 – Overview of readings
CHAPTERS 10-12
Monday, May 18:
Quiz and Discussion – Chapters 10-12
 Progression from Paris into the Spanish countryside
 Style/ Syntax shift: Less clipped, fast paced dialogue, more slow descriptions of bucolic
scenery (Shift in textual arrangement parallels tone and mood as Jake and Bill retreat into
the “Hemingway Paradise”
 Cohn – (99) – Asleep on the bus ride through the country; (109) – In the shadows
- Does not go fishing with Bill and Jake
- Depicted as an outsider
- Mounting ill feelings in Jake’s mind about Cohn’s air or superiority and his
insistence on waiting for Brett and Mike Campbell
 Values – Handing over money and getting things in return seems to be the values system
in Paris, but not so in the Basque country
Basques on the bus sharing wine
Waitress not accepting tip (112)
 Jake- - (116) – “it felt good to be warm and in bed” - The Hemingway Paradise offers Jake
comforts he is not able to find in Paris at night in Chapter 3.
o Digging for worms: return to the primal earth: As Bill says in Chapter 12, they have
“lost touch with the soil” (120). While Jake and Bill are joking around here, they are
also defining the expat Lost Generation.
o Cooling the wine in the natural spring (again – a return to the “earth”) (123)
o (128) – “It felt good lying on the ground.”
 Jake and Bill have a lot of light hearted and comfortable conversation in the “Hemingway
Paradise” away from all the women, Cohn, reminders, etc…
CHAPTER 13
Wednesday, May 20: Chapters 13-15
 The end of the fishing trip and a genuine friend in Wilson Harris
 (133) – Religion/ Church motif: Jake, Bill, and Harris choose the pub over the church (post
war loss of values/ faith)
 (135) Arrival in Pamplona at Hotel Montoya - - - Shift into a new setting and an exit from the
Hemingway Paradise
 Aficion (135-136) – Hemingway Code- Jake and Montoya share the aficion for bullfighting
 Tension building (“They were there. Brett and Mike and Robert Cohn” (138).
 Desencajonada - - Parallel between the bulls and the characters in the novel. Cohn = Steer
(142-145)
 COHN vs MIKE - - - 146 – 149) = Conflict and Tension
 Pg. 150 final line of Ch. 13 – Consequenes, Tension, Veil of alcohol: “There was much wine,
an ignored tension, and a feeling of things coming that you could not prevent happening.
Under the wine I lost the disgusted feeling and was happy. It seemed they were all such nice
people.
CHAPTER 14
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CHAPTER 15
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Jake – “There is no reason why because it is dark you should look at things differently from
when it is light. The hell there isn’t” (150)! - Back among Brett and company, Jake’s
contentment and feelings of comfort he had in the Hemingway Paradise have disappeared,
leading to his page long ruminations on Page 152.
PAGE 152 - - ARGUABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PAGE IN THE NOVEL
o Values, women vs men, learning “how to live in it,” Paying the bill – It’s all there!!!
Calm before the storm: (155)- “We all felt good, and we felt healthy, and I felt quite
friendly to Cohn…. That was the last day before the fiesta.”
Fiesta de San Fermin => The fiesta is much like the lives of the Lost Generation. There is a
lot of loose living, a feeling of no consequences, a loss of values, etc. “At noon of Sunday, the
6th of July, the fiesta exploded. There is no other way to describe it… San Fermin is also a
religious festival (156).
o (158) – “Everything became quite unreal finally and it seemed as though nothing
could have any consequences. It seemed out of place to think of consequences
during the fiesta… It was a fiesta and it went on for seven days.”
Church motif- Brett not permitted into the church, but treated like a goddess in the streets
(159)
Lack of Values – (161) – “Nada” – As procession goes by, “It’s nothing. Drink up…”
Cohn as outsider / gored steer – (162)
Brett – Bathing motif – (163)
Jake and the running of the bulls (163-4)- - Jake has one foot in his aficion and one in the
revelry of the fiesta. Standing on the balcony no page 164, he is not entirely immersed in he
action, but rather is somewhat above it.
Cohn exhibiting the anti-hero - (165) – “I’m only afraid I may be bored.”
PEDRO ROMERO – The Hemingway Hero: 166- 173 - - Romero, Brett’s reactions, and the
code hero qualities – GRACE UNDER PRESSURE