Helbig states, “Community…almost always means a positive alternative, a better quality of human relationships;…for its opposing or distinguishing meaning is the particular state of isolation, dissatisfaction, discontinuity, or misunderstanding that the confessional speaker feels is the reason for making a confession.”
We can’t really blame the expatriate community for clinging to each other: the known; the familiar. They were in a new place with a new language and a new culture. Delving into a community allowed them to have a better experience; it offered ‘a positive alternative’ to being alone in a foreign country. What Helbig fails to outrightly acknowledge is that even though these expats formed a community, it was not one that formed genuinely, rather it was forced from a pretext of familiarity (being American). So it’s no surprise that these people still felt, ‘isolated’ and ‘dissatisfied,’ leading to their confessions.
The community that they formed provided them with entertainment and distraction, but not necessarily a feeling of belonging. Religion had offered this to generations prior, but the times were changing and religion was fading out of the forefront for many of these characters.
Brett states, “You know it makes me feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch.” She continues, “It’s sort of what we have instead of God.” Here we see that these characters are still striving for something that religion offers-a sense of belonging, a sense of reassurance. Hemingway presents certain elements of religion as universal; that one doesn’t necessarily need religion to experience what religion offers. And we see this through his characters, trying to find a sort of religion within each other. Helbig states, “To find solace for themselves and to regain a sense of community, the characters turn to confession.” The elements that religion offer are still present, however the characters look to each other to express themselves, instead of to a church.
And here is where Jake is presented as a sort of priest figure. “As Jake tells Brett at the end of the novel, “ [s]ome people have God” including perhaps, himself. Jake’s ability to reconcile himself to his failings and to his condition as a sinner empowers him to help others, to become their confessor.” Although the characters aren’t religious in the conventional sense, they are creating a sense of universality to religion; that one can be religious without a conventional church set up and that elements of religion can be found anywhere; in anything.
Helbig states, “And “making sense” of loss and life emerges as a major theme in a novel whose characters look for salvation in a predominantly Godless world and who find it, ultimately, in the community of other lost souls.” Here we see exactly this. The characters have questioned God but still crave the comforts of religion, forming a sense of religion within each other; maybe even forcing this sense of community out of pure necessity. They don’t have religion anymore; don’t have God, but still need this comfort.
And the characters don’t disregard God entirely, but do it rather subtly. Brett states, “You’ve a hell of a biblical name, Jake.” This example of “Hemingway juxtapos(ing) the sacred and the profane” provides the reader with a sense of the lack of respect for religion. The reader sees that this doubt in religion is beginning to appear, but the characters have not disregarded the universal elements of religion/that religion offers. They’re not ready to; they still need it.
Helbig states that, “Confessional elements do find their way into the novel.” And this exposes the discomfort that the characters feel and ultimately the lack of true fulfillment that their community is offering them-that they are merely flocking to it out of a fear of being uncomfortable.
And writers who did not flock to this expat community definitely did experience discomfort. We see this through Henry Miller stating, “Every night, as I head toward La Fourche, I run the gauntlet. Every night I’m scalped and tomahawked.”
It’s interesting that the characters discuss their own religions so much, Hemingway “identif(ying) Jake so early and explicitly in the novel as a Roman Catholic would have affected readers’ perceptions of him.” It shows that religion is still on his mind. And although the characters are distancing themselves from religion, they haven’t entirely let it go.
They are making their own religions for themselves. “And just as Hemingway’s technique of blending religious and secular discourses produces an acceptable hybrid form, so too must Jake reconcile absolute values concerning how one should act with the realities of his modern world.” Although Jake isn’t religious (or is claiming not to be) the concept of morals and what is ‘right’ is still apparent, again supporting the claim to the universality in religion.
Helbig points out: “‘Some people have God,’ I said. ‘Quite a lot.“ (245). And even here in Jake’s comment near the end of the novel, Hemingway fosters the ambiguity in regard to religion seen throughout. The reader must decide: do quite a lot of people have God or do some people have quite a lot of God?” If it is the latter, Hemingway presents God as something in human nature; that religion is more complex than merely a face or a name; that the components of religion are universal.
The characters “criticiz(e) the church and its lack of comfort” but only because they can. They “look for salvation in a predominantly Godless world and who find it, ultimately, in the community of other lost souls”; a ‘lost generation’ banning together.
Jake, even with the support of this community, can’t shake his past. Hemingway points out “Some bootblacks sat under a tree talking to a soldier. The soldier had only one arm.” There are memories of the war everywhere, surrounding Jake, and preventing him from fully living in the present. He can’t escape the memories of the war.
Towards the end of A Sun Also Rises, when Jake is alone with Brett, Hemingway points out, “Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic.” Jake could be happy, could have the girl, but something is holding him back. This authority is holding him back-reminders of authority, reminders of the war.
Further we see elements of the expat community found within the end of the novel. An emphasis on money is present, Jake stating, “Everything is on such a clear financial basis in France.” Further there’s a sense of excess, Mike stating, “That drink’s mine” to which Jake responds, “Let’s roll for it.” Here they’re gambling and drinking, two themes that continually reappear within this community.
Upon returning to Paris, Jake states, “It felt strange to be in France again. There was a safe, suburban feeling.” There’s a familiarity in the known. The comfort of home. A comfort in routine, possibly stemming from Jake’s wartime mindset. Jake finds a comfort in Paris out of necessity. There is no religion to get this from; he must find it within himself.
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