The significance of the title, The Sun Also Rises

26.05.2015

The title The Sun Also Rises comes from a verse in the Old Testament. That verse is one of two epigraphs to the book – the other epigraph being a quote from Hemingway’s friend, Gertrude Stein: “You are all a lost generation” (Hemingway 7). That Hemingway should use these sentiments to frame his story foreshadows an antagonism between the abiding presence of the universe and the relative insignificance of the characters and their tribulations; as the biblical epigraph says, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever” (7). 

Implicit is the suggestion that each generation must somehow reconcile the everlasting and orderly cycles of nature with the individual’s comparatively trivial, chaotic existence; and the biblical origin of the title draws attention to the historical preeminence of religion in explaining how such a reconciliation can be possible. However, it is the inability of religion to explain the moral and spiritual poverty of the lost generation that is dramatized in the character of Jake Barnes and his struggle with Catholicism. Jake laments his life as a lapsed Catholic, but he ultimately feels that his inherited religion cannot account for his emasculation and loss of faith. Hemingway’s title foreshadows Jake’s inner-conflicts through its biblical overtone and because it evokes a reality indifferent to human suffering.

That the titular bible verse comes from the book of Ecclesiastes is significant. The word “Ecclesiastes” is itself derived from the Latin “ecclesia” – meaning “church.” Hemingway’s subtle reference to the Roman Church in his epigraph parallels his main character Jake Barnes’s unconscious habit of informing the reader about Catholic places of worship (83, 96, 99, 102, 114, 133, 155, 157, 159, 161, 167, 211). Jake is pre-occupied with churches, mass, confession, and more broadly, with questions of right and wrong and how one should live. He is aware that older generations had definite rules to live by and that those rules were often handed down by organized religion. However, he recognizes that his own existential situation is historically unique and that the rules handed down to him by his Catholic upbringing no longer apply. 

Early in the novel he is lying in bed reflecting on the unidentified injury he suffered during World War I that left him unable to have sex. He believes the injury would not have caused him any trouble if he had not met Brett Ashley, because he would not be stuck watching her have affairs with other men even though she insists she is still in love with him. But he immediately recognizes that his religious upbringing offers no commandment that will solve this problem: “To hell with people. The Catholic Church had an awfully good way of handling all that. Good advice, anyway. Not to think about it. Oh, it was swell advice. Try and take it sometime. Try and take it” (39). The Catholic doctrine of chastity – which he sums up here as “Not to think about it” – sounds hollow and uninspiring to a man who has likely had his manhood shot off while flying combat air missions in World War I.

Despite this emotional outburst about the Catholic Church early in the narrative, Jake still self-identifies as a Catholic (93, 128), attends mass (155), and tells Brett that he is “pretty religious” (212) – all of which suggest he wants to remain open to the possibility of religious experience. Nevertheless, Jake laments his continued loss of faith. While at a cathedral in Pamplona, he brainstorms what to pray for but then his mind starts to wander and he becomes self-conscious of himself in the act of prayer:

He just does not feel religious; he is merely going through the motions. Interestingly, Hemingway mentions the sun three times in this passage, alluding back to the title of the novel. Jake says that his right hand is damp – likely from ritually crossing himself with holy water prior to exiting the church – but the sun dries his fingers almost immediately. The symbolic suggestion is that it does not matter how religious one feels, the sun will rise and life will go on whether one believes anything or not. Reality will burn away ritual.

In titling his novel after a bible verse, Hemingway puts the reader on notice that his story will have a religious dimension to it. Ironically, that dimension is the inner turmoil that Jake feels over losing his religion. Moreover, his struggle is only subtly evidenced throughout the novel. For example, while on their fishing trip, Bill Gorton asks Jake if he is really a Catholic. Jake responds, “Technically” (128). When Bill then asks him what he means by that answer, Jake replies that he does not know. Another example comes near the very end of the book, when Brett tells Jake that “deciding not to be a bitch” (248) is what the lost generation has instead of God. Jake objects, “Some people still have God… Quite a lot” (248). 

These short conversations hint at a very significant argument Jake is having with himself: He wants to be a believer, but he feels that Catholicism is unable to vindicate the uncaring universe given his emasculating injury and the moral fall-out his generation has suffered as a result of the Great War. Jake’s religious crisis is thus not allotted many words in the novel, however, its perpetual nature and overwhelming scope are hyperbolized by the title, The Sun Also Rises.

Work Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926 (Scribner trade paperback edition 2006).