The Symbolism of Water inHemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"

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More Than Just Water: The Sun Also Rises

        In 1926, six years after World War I, Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises was released. The novel focuses on Jake Barnes, a veteran from the war, in which he sustained an injury leaving him impotent. Him and his friends travel from Paris to Pamplona throughout the book, hanging out, drinking, and eventually watching bull-fights. In the novel many symbols are used, such as water, which is traditionally used to show purification, Hemingway uses the symbol of water to show its effects on characters in the novel.

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        Throughout The Sun Also Rises the reader has the point of view of Jake Barnes. Jake is in love with a woman named Lady Brett Ashley, who is a nymphomaniac, meaning she is addicted to sex. Brett Ashley is said to be a Catholic, although she did not seem very devout to her religion. Brett repeatedly says that she "must bathe" (Hemingway 80). For instance, when Brett comes back from San Sebastian, where she has a brief affair with Cohn, she tells Jake that she can't go out to eat with him and Bill because she "must clean herself" (80). This ...

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