Throughout The Sun Also Rises, we see Jake trying to escape his memories of the war, as was the goal of many expatriates. Paris provided this ‘escape’ to some extent for authors such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald.
The connection that Adair emphasizes between food and war sheds light on the inability of the expatriate community to fully escape their past. Adair states, “This quarrelsome scene at the Cafe Versailles alludes to Versailles, 1919. (Imagine a conflict at Versailles with the Germans narrated by a wounded vet opening at the Cafe Appomattox). There was conflict at Versailles with the Germans and even more conflict among the Allies themselves.” This connection found between food and war enforces the claim that, for Jake (and presumably other expats), the war is always there. It’s inescapable for Jake even while he’s partaking in the most ordinary tasks.
And these expat’s avoidance of the war is apparent. Upon being urged by Brett to tell a war story, Jake answers, “I’ll not tell that story. It reflects discredit on me.”
Bill, in conversation with Jake states, “You’re an expatriate. You’ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see?” Bill identifies the expatriate; the man trying to escape his memories of the war; distract himself from having to face the traumatic nature of the war. Bill discusses that an expat clings to sex, food, excess. These are things that would allow one a certain level of distraction. However, as Adair points out, even these things bring with it reminders for Jake.
Excess is another theme found amongst the expatriate community. Going to Paris, these expats have lost a lot of the responsibilities that they once held. And they can escape these responsibilities, but they can’t escape the issues that stemmed from the war and that have ultimately come to define their identities and perceptions. Now able to escape their responsibilities, the expat community becomes consumed with excess and we see this through Jake and his friends’ drinking habits, stating, “We had another absinthe,” “Have another shot.” This excess only provides these expats with momentary distraction.
Paris acts as a distraction itself, providing a new background and a new culture. This culture, however is one that the expats don’t really ever fully grasp, as they are never truly engaged in it. Instead they find the other Americans within the city and cling to each other; an American clique in Paris. These expats are even aware of their separation from European culture.
Bill highlights it throughout The Sun Also Rises. Cohn asks Bill, “Where are the foreigners?” Bill responds simply, “We’re the foreigners.” Later on, “I won’t eat downstairs with that German head waiter. He was damn snotty when I was getting Mike upstairs.” This divide between the Americans and natives to Europe is apparent and acknowledged by these expats, but they don’t seem to care, rather they seem to take pride in their clique, or maybe rather find comfort in it. Jake, speaking spanish, does stray from this a bit, but he too is pulled back into his clique, willingly traveling with them and spending the majority of his time with them.
Paris (or Europe in the case of The Sun Also Rises) offers these expats a new environment and a new culture, but doesn’t provide these expats with the opportunity of letting their issues and inner conflicts rest. These expats can’t really see clearly.
Jake’s whole mindset is affected by the war. “They are headed for the end of the line, the “war zone” of the cafe district, where Jake again will be “wounded” by Brett. “ Jake’s entire reality is tainted by the war. And even his day to day activities become reminders of the traumatic experiences Jake was forced to face. Jake cannot escape his past. And this association prevents Jake from fully living in the present, the past ultimately disorienting him. Adair states, “Pamplona during fiesta time has been seen as a kind of war zone, and Jake’s wounding is in a sense re-enacted when Cohn knocks him unconscious.” The war comes back in waves to Jake, the way memories come to one-suddenly, striking him, affecting him. Jake is searching for a certain level of clarity; a new perception of his world devoid his past memories. However, memories layer to define who one is; they are apart of one; make one who he is and this is why these men repeatedly fail to escape their past/memories of the war.
“In Chapter 3, at Lavigne’s restaurant, Jake, for some unstated reason, assumes that the prostitute whom he has picked up is from Liege. It was at fortified Liege in August 1914 that the Germans shocked the world by invading neutral Belgium. Perhaps he assumes that she is a war refugee and associates her (and her war-time experiences) with the Rape of Little Belgium, as it was called in the world press.” Again, here we see Jake associating women/sexuality with war, supporting the claim that the war is inescapable in even the most basic aspects of his life (food, sex, etc).
Adair continues, “First he (Jake) suggests that they “fly to Strasbourg” and then walk up to Ste. Odile’s. The shrine of Ste. Odile, patron saint of Alsace and a patron saint of the blind, was a popular destination for men blinded in the war.” This idea of Jake taking us around to cafes and locations associated with the war goes back to Atherton’s claim that Jake acts as a sort of tour guide for us; that The Sun Also Rises is merely an “arranged trip”; a historical trip.
The emphasis put on bullfighting and the excitement and edge that Jake experiences through bullfighting acts as a replacement of the excitement experienced in the war. Watching, for instance, a bullfighter receive, “A cornada right through the back” provides some perverse pleasure for Jake, allowing him to re-live the horrors of the war at a safe distance; to shock him; add excitement and gore back into his life. On bullfighting Jake states, “It became more something that was going on with a definite end, and less of a spectacle with unexplained horrors.” Maybe this is how Jake wishes to see the war too.
Bullfighting can also be seen as an allusion to sexuality. Each character’s interaction with the bullfights speaks to his or her own sexuality. Cohn is uninterested in the bullfights, later finding them gruesome and gore-y. This speaks to his intense fixation on loving Brett; a ‘love’ that isn’t coming from lust, but rather admiration. In this same sense, Brett finds nothing wrong with the gore of the bull-fights, becoming engaged in them, just as Brett ultimately becomes engaged with her sexuality, romancing with Roberto. Jake finds the bullfights fascinating and emphasizes the interaction between bull-fighter and bull. Jake, unable to have sex, can only observe the interactions between him and women, but never be fully engaged in the act itself. Roberto, a man who had not experienced the war, is highly skilled in bullfighting. He is able also to conquer sexually in a way that the men who went to war are unable to; the war isn’t holding him back-he is able to live in the present and fully engage in day-to-day activities without interruption from memories of the war.
Ultimately through this, we see the inner struggles of these men at war and the extent to which the war holds them back from experiencing and engaging in their immediate reality.
Jake recalls, “There were worms underneath. They slid out of sight as I lifted the sod and I dug carefully and got a good many. Digging at the edge of the damp ground I filled two empty tobacco-tins with worms and sifted dirt onto them.” This imagery further reveals Jake’s situation. The worms represent Jake’s past problems. The sod is the distraction Europe provides for him. Europe is only masking his inner torment of the war, but it’ll always be there; squirming around, sometimes hiding, but always underneath the sod.
Ashley, an ex of Brett’s and a ninth baronet sailor, “Always slept with a loaded service revolver. Brett used to take the shells out when he’d gone to sleep.” Clearly the effects of the war were major, leaving these expats searching for an escape that would never truly be found.
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