Religion In The Sun Also Rises

Participation in the war can alter ones views of the world. For Hemingway and the characters of The Sun Also Rises it meant the world had lost its innocence, and that traditional Christian morality no longer had any relevance. The expatriates lack religion as a whole and although they may know the concept they simply have no hope or faith. In The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, the difficulties of Brett, Jake and Bill can be directly attributed to the lack of religious faith that stems from their involvement in the war.

Brett faced a tragic loss during her involvement in the war and as a result, she experienced great difficulty being religious.

- Since the death of her love, Brett constantly threw herself at different men to try and fill the empty feeling she was left with. She also turned to alcohol to temporarily escape all her problems.

“I’m damned bad for a religious atmosphere. I’ve the wrong type of face.”

Brett herself knows that because of her immoral lifestyle, she is not worthy to be inside a church. This is probably why she always hesitates to enter a chapel.

- Brett is a spoiled and selfish woman. She is used to getting everything she wants, especially from men.

“Never does me any good. I’ve never gotten anything I prayed for.”

Brett does not think highly of prayer. In fact, she would rather use her good looks and sex to get what she wants.

- Brett’s decision to let Romero go was one of the only good deeds she had done in the novel. For once, she thought about another’s feelings.

“You know it makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch. It’s sort of what we have instead God. He never worked very well with me.”

Brett thinks that God does not really exist because if he did, her life would not be such a terrible state. She is used having men succumb to her wishes. However, God is one of the few men that she can bewitch which is why she does not call to Him.

Being the most influenced character by war, Jake barns is in constant struggle to find the inner peace he so desires yet could never have.

- Jake suffers insomnia whenever Brett is present; sometimes he can't even sleep without light because of his lack of inner serenity.

“There is no reason why because it is dark you should look at things differently from when it is light...for six months I never slept with the electric light off”.

Jake’s lack of faith

- Jake appreciates religion, however he cannot devote himself to god because of his war

wound, since it is the cause of all his miseries throughout the novel.

“I was a little ashamed, and regretted that I was such a rotten Catholic, but realized there was nothing I could do about it, at least for a while, and maybe never, but that anyway it was a grand religion, and I only wished I felt religious and maybe I would the next time....”

This outlines Jake's unwillingness to accept his disconnection from God. Although he says he may be religious next time, it is evident he cannot devout himself to God because of