Post #4 - The Sun Also Rises

I have finally started my second book and have so far read to page 29, or the first three chapters of Ernest Hemingway's first book, The Sun Also Rises. The narrator of the story is an American newsman/reporter named Jacob Barnes who seems based of Hemingway himself. The main character at this stage appears to be a Jewish American author Robert Cohn. Robert Cohn has a pathetic existence, his life being dominated by the few women that openly care for him, at least up until where the book begins. Both Jacob and Robert live in Paris and Jacob is definitely a veteran of World War I. So far in the book, Jacob is narrating his experiences on one particular evening, during which he has so far eaten with a woman and socialized with his friends, most of the time intoxicated.

The main theme I have picked up so far is that the pointless nature of life. All the characters don't really have any purpose and event feel themselves to be drifting with time. There is also a lot of emotional detachment, Cohn has supposedly never been in love, and women only care for him to exploit him. Jacob does not seem to particularly like his companions and feels sick from watching people enjoying themselves. All conversation is empty and deals with extremely trival subjects, such as everyone's opinion on Paris (which is mainly negative).

I have not found any symbols in The Sun Also Rises, at least yet. It is probably because I am not far enough into the book. In The Old Man and The Sea, I think the fish symbolized the honor and perfection of nature and the entire struggle of the Old Man to catch it was a symbol for the struggle of man over nature (which is somewhat obvious as that what it literally was).