The Sun Also Rises (Characters)

Characters

Lady Brett Ashley

Lady Brett Ashley best encapsulates the beauty of being "lost." She represents the dead aristocracy and constantly fends off the long-dead notions of romance best captured in the melancholy of Robert Cohn. Yet she also represents the future and the new feminism of the 1920s; she is an amoral socialite who lost her first love and husband to dysentery in the War, divorced her second because he was abusive but gave her a title, and is working on a third. She is the interesting woman of intelligence from the nineteenth century that Henry James would want to make into a portrait. Lastly, she is an inspiration to otherwise impotent writers because she "was damned good-looking [and] built like the hull of a racing yacht." Consequent to all these ingredients and the fact that she is in love with Jake, Brett is the moving force of the novel's action. She is also Hemingway's denunciation of all bohemians.

Jake Barnes

The narrator of the story is Jake Barnes. Like his Biblical namesake Jacob, Jake has trouble sleeping because he wrestles nightly with his fate. He is an American living in Paris as a newspaper correspondent. He was rendered impotent by a World War I wound and is thus unable to consummate his love with Brett. Both his physical condition and his terse manner embody the sterility of the age. Jake forgets the war by immersing himself in the meticulous details of life. He has a calculated view of the events in the story and is sure to relate minutiae, such as how much things cost, who owes whom, how to bait the hook, and what is in the packed lunch. His method for living and being at ease with the world is not unlike the Count's. He states his philosophy, which is the new moral for a world disillusioned by war, as "you paid some way for everything that was any good. I paid my way into enough things that I liked, so that I had a good time. Either you paid by learning about them, or by experience, or by taking chances, or by money. Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it."

Jake Barnes is Hemingway's first and best attempt to explain to others the mannerisms which enable constructive living with an accompanying disillusionment. Exaggerating this position, Jake is a man to whom things happen. Through no fault of his own, he was a victim of war; he suffers a wound that prevents a normal life. His story is an effort, not so much to react to the world, but to sort out in a visible manner an explanation for his life and a solution to his quandary. He discovers a coded style of "hardboiledness" which he uses to pull off the appearance of living with the war. Along with this, he turns to the relational exchanges embodied in money as his emotional salve. Consequently, his meticulous record of what is spent and how is a reassurance. He grows less and less troubled as he perfects his code among those who are more lost, get less for their money, and are not wounded. Only the Count (who also has physical scars) has an understanding of this and, therefore, he is the only other character who does not appear troubled.

Belmonte

An historical figure, Belmonte was one of the greatest matadors of all time. He is shown in the story as aging and past his prime. This is ironic in the extreme since it is the matador who fulfills the ideal of the hero. Yet, showing a hero in decline makes him all the more human. Belmonte, despite his pain, maintains his dignified poise and provides yet another example of the novel's moral: no matter how you choose to live in this senseless world, live with style.

Mrs. Braddocks

Mrs. Braddocks "was a Canadian and had all their easy social graces." She is attempting to revive pre-war dancing events. At the moment she simply gathers people about her for dinner before they go on their nightly clubbing.

Brett

See Lady Brett Ashley

Michael Campbell

A bankrupt Scotsman who is engaged to Brett, Mike Campbell grows weary of Cohn always hanging around Brett. He takes advantage of Cohn's inferiority complex to needle him. He is made painfully aware that Brett does not love him when she goes off with the matador.

Frances Clyne

Frances believes that she is in love with Cohn. She is ready to sacrifice anything to be with him. Cohn, in his new success as a novelist, would rather seek adventure. Realizing that Cohn has no intention of marrying her, she insults him and leaves for England.

Robert Cohn

The novel opens with Robert Cohn, a mediocre writer and middleweight boxing champion at Princeton with a "hard, Jewish, stubborn streak." He is the representation of all that was supposedly destroyed in the war. Therefore, he must be exiled from the group that is busily reshaping the world.

He is a friend and tennis partner to Jake. Born rich and married rich, he was unhappy until his wife left him. Now free, he decides to pursue happiness in the form of editing a magazine. But when that fails, he moves to Paris with his assistant, Frances, and writes. The success of his first novel goes straight to his head as he lives out his dreams of chivalry and romance; Frances becomes his mistress. From this point, his role is one of decline in the eyes of his associates for, as Brett says, he is not "one of us." From the moment of Brett's judgment, the other men seek ways of being rid of him. Jake succeeds by letting Cohn exile himself.

Cohn's love for Brett and his expression of that love is meant as criticism of the romantic. He represents the American values of love, idealism, and naive bliss that were soundly exploded in World War I. Therefore, Cohn is Hemingway's satirical portrait of the last knight who would defend the old faith and ideals. This knight absurdly undergoes overt humiliation under the guise of a love for a lady and brings upon himself verbal wrath and abuse. Cohn's actions are the last gasp of those values yet his survival is a bitter reminder of their beauty in not too dissimilar ways from Jake's more physical reminder in the form of his wound.

Bill Gorton

One of the few positive characters in the novel arrives in Paris at the start of Book II. Bill Gorton has come to accompany Jake on a fishing expedition but finds he must also buoy his friend's spirits. Bill believes in "a simple exchange of values" and living for the moment. This philosophy prompts him to say, in sight of something that would bring ease, "let's utilize it."

Georgette Hobin

See Georgette Leblanc

Georgette Leblanc

A prostitute, Georgette Leblanc is very cynical and does her utmost to hide her defect — her teeth. She shares a knowledge with Jake that everyone is "sick" in their way but she is not brought into the group.

Count Mippipopolous

The Count has a very simple philosophy of life — get your money's worth and know when you have. He owns a chain of sweet shops and is charmed by Lady Brett, who thinks he is one of them. The Count knows through experience and age what the others are trying to figure out — how to live well.

Montoya

Montoya is the owner of a hotel in Pamplona where Jake habitually stays while in town for the fiesta. He recognizes that Jake is a fellow aficionado — one who is capable of appreciating the ritual bullfight. He is the truest devotee of bullfighting and all the matadors try to stay in his hotel. Montoya does what he can for those matadors who show promise as the "real thing."

Pedro Romero

The stock hero of the tale, Romero is handsome and brave. His beating at the hands of the annoying boxer, Cohn, shows him to be just a man who has a talent for bullfighting.

Media Adaptations

• Using a screenplay by Peter Viertel, Twentieth Century-Fox adapted The Sun Also Rises to the big screen. The movie was released in 1957 and was directed by Harry King. The film stars Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, and Errol Flynn.
• Directed by James Goldstone and starring Elisabeth Borgnine, The Sun Also Rises was adapted for television in 1985.