“…Also Belmonte imposed conditions and insisted that his bulls should not be too large, nor too dangerously armed with horns, and so the element that was necessary to give the sensation of the tragedy was not there, and the public, who wanted three times as much from Belmonte, who was sick with a fistula, as Belmonte had ever been able to give, felt defrauded and cheated, and Belmonte’s jaw came further out in contempt, and his face turned yellower, and he moved with greater difficulty as his pain increased, and finally the crowd was actively against him, and he was utterly contemptuous and indifferent. He had meant to have a great afternoon, and instead, it was an afternoon of sneers, shouted insults, and finally a volley of cushions and pieces of bread and vegetables, thrown down at him in the plaza where he had had his greatest triumphs. His jaw only went further out. Sometimes he turned to smile that toothed, long-jawed, lipless smile when he was called something particularly insulting, and always the pain that any movement produced grew stronger and stronger until finally, his yellow face was parchment color, and after his second bull was dead and the throwing of bread and cushions was over, after he had saluted the President with the same wolf-jawed smile and contemptuous eyes, and handed his sword over the Barrera to be wiped, and put back in its case, he passed through into the Callejon and leaned on the Barrera below us, his head on his arms, not seeing, not hearing anything, only going through his pain. When he looked up, finally, he asked for a drink of water. He swallowed a little, rinsed his mouth, spat the water, took his cape, and went back into the ring.”
The chosen extract reveals the idea of the Lost Generation, which is one of the most important themes not only in The Sun Also Rises but in the entire of Ernest Hemingway’s literary writing. His works are characterized by allusions and multilayer texts and in this very extract, Hemingway depicts the problem of the people of the Lost Generation via several symbols. The bullfight itself symbolizes World War I with its death, blood, and senselessness. And Belmonte, the bullfighter, is the personification of Lost Generation, once indispensable or even heroic, later empty, forgotten, and avoided. Belmonte’s returning to the bullfighting after his glory years of victories disappoints the public. He is not trying to show the miracle, he supposes he himself is already the miracle due to his past heroic deeds, and his only appearance and easy victory will make the public go mad about his talent. But the public wants more and rather seeks for new show than minds his past exploits; people are even hostile and show up direct aggression against the bullfighter. That, of course, provokes Belmonte’s hatred and contempt, he has nothing to do with this world anymore, he has nothing to do in this world, so he has lost his interest, and actually, he has lost himself.
As for the technique used in this extract (and all along with the story), it is necessary to note that a lot of critics consider The Sun Also Rises to be a story, written in hard narrative prose which makes ashamed literary English. The Sun Also Rises is characterized by the spare written prose which made Ernest Hemingway famous, and this style is considered to be Hemingway’s greatest contribution to world literature. And the taken piece reveals this author’s style – pure narration with a considerable number of nouns and verbs and not numerous adjectives and adverbs which made some critics blame Hemingway for the simplicity of his texts. But, undoubtedly, the simplicity of his writings is misleading for Hemingway used omission, allusion, and understatement making the text multilayered. The following lines can exemplify this technique: “When he looked up, finally, he asked for a drink of water. He swallowed a little, rinsed his mouth, spat the water, took his cape, and went back into the ring.” It may seem that there is only the enumeration of tired man actions. But these actions depict the contempt and disappointment of the man, his being lost and a little bit indifferent to the surroundings but, nevertheless, his determination. Hemingway’s omissions make the reader close a gap, following the instructions made by the author, and build up three-dimensional text. Hemingway believed it would be pointless to depict emotions; he chiseled his bright collages of images so the reader could see the real thing.
Another technique typical for Ernest Hemingway is his writing in short sentences (“His jaw only went further out.”) or really verbose sentences built up by phrases and clauses connected via conjunctions: “Sometimes he turned to smile that toothed, long-jawed, lipless smile when he was called something particularly insulting, and always the pain that any movement produced grew stronger and stronger until finally, his yellow face was parchment color, and after his second bull was dead and the throwing of bread and cushions was over, after he had saluted the President with the same wolf-jawed smile and contemptuous eyes, and handed his sword over the Barrera to be wiped, and put back in its case, he passed through into the Callejon and leaned on the Barrera below us, his head on his arms, not seeing, not hearing anything, only going through his pain.” Using his short sentences Hemingway underlines some event or emotion, and in contrast to it, long sentences lead the e-reader through numerous words to sudden but logical result, holding the reader’s attention.
It is also worth mentioning the stylistic scheme which is a characteristic feature of Hemingway’s works – polysyndeton. With the help of polysyndeton he conveys a timeless immediacy, Hemingway uses conjunctions to confront visions and characters; Jackson Benson, the critic, collates them with haikus. The extract under consideration abounds in polysyndeton, e.g.: “…and Belmonte’s jaw came further out in contempt, and his face turned yellower, and he moved with greater difficulty as his pain increased, and finally the crowd was actively against him, and he was utterly contemptuous and indifferent.” The usage of this technique serves to create the effect of a quick course of events and abruption: Belmonte becomes indifferent. Another stylistic method, used in the chosen text is asyndeton: “He swallowed a little, rinsed his mouth, spat the water, took his cape, and went back into the ring.” Its use speeds up the rhythm of a passage, making the main idea more vivid; the author makes the reader feel the tension, determination, and even a kind of solemnity.
Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is still discussed, due to the intricacy and symbolism. His simple writing evokes really strong emotions and exposes eternal issues. So it is necessary to proceed with attempts and look for new readings and new meanings to enrich particular reader life experiences.