1) “You are all a lost generation.” Epigraph

This quote appears not in the novel itself but in an epigraph before it begins. It is a well-known description by Gertrude Stein of the post-World War I generation, who felt disillusioned and apathetic due to the war. The characters in the book reflect this sentiment, as did many individuals of that era. Like Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley, they became expatriates, leaving the United States for Europe. They found it difficult to relate to American values and struggled to find meaning in their lives.

The Sun Also Rises not only named these people but also captured their experiences. The book marked Hemingway’s first major success. While many people felt disconnected from their own lives, they found a connection with Barnes and Lady Brett. Bill Gorton tells Barnes, “You’re an expatriate. You’ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed with sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You’re an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes.” Despite Jake's apparent hopelessness, he isn't entirely lost. He regrets losing his faith and still seeks love with Lady Brett, which contributed to the novel’s popularity.

2) “Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters.” Page 10
Jake Barnes is a realist and part of the lost generation. In contrast, Robert Cohn is more of a romantic. Cohn desires to escape to South America, believing he could find adventure there. He says, “I can’t stand to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it.” However, Barnes counters that only bullfighters achieve that ideal and that “You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.” This establishes a contrast between Cohn and Barnes, highlighting the difference between seeking adventure within oneself and searching for it in books.

Bullfighters face death every time they enter the ring, engaging in a brutal and violent sport. Perhaps this is why Barnes asserts that only bullfighters live life to the fullest: they risk their lives daily, rather than wasting time talking or doing nothing. Hemingway himself was fascinated by bullfighting and even wrote Death in the Afternoon about it. Some have compared Barnes’ injury to the bull in the ring; later, Mike says, “Tell him bulls have no balls.” While watching a bullfight, Barnes notes, “each time he enters into the terrain of the bull he is in great danger.” The bull and bullfighter may symbolize Jake and Lady Brett, and the early reference to bullfighters foreshadows Lady Brett’s romance with Romero, the 19-year-old bullfighter.

3) “Brett was damned good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy’s. She started all that. She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht, and you missed none of it with that wool jersey.” Page 22
This is Jake’s initial description of Lady Brett when she first appears in the novel. Cohn is clearly smitten with Lady Brett, fueled by his recent successes with women and his thirst for adventure. However, Brett declines his advances, choosing instead to dance and leave with Jake. Brett and Jake share a history and a deep connection, with Jake’s admiration for her evident in his portrayal of her as not only beautiful but also strong and self-assured.

Jake’s injury has emasculated him; he can feel desire, but he is unable to act on it. This frustration mirrors the post-war discontent felt by many, while also highlighting the shift in traditional values. Lady Brett is depicted with masculine traits; she has short hair styled “like a boy’s” and a traditionally male name. She often surrounds herself with homosexual men, whom Jake feels threatened by due to his own compromised masculinity. Later, Brett is likened to Circe, the enchantress who turned men into swine. The relationship between Brett and Jake is doomed because of his inability to consummate it. Instead, Brett engages in affairs, notably with a bullfighter.

4) “Enjoying living was learning to get your money’s worth and knowing when you had it.” Page 148
Jake is on a quest to find meaning in his life. He loves Brett but can’t be with her. Following the war, he adopts a more financial perspective on life. In this scene, he lies in bed, unable to sleep and unwilling to turn off the light, while he hears Brett laughing with another man. He reflects that to be a woman’s friend, one must be in love with her, and he feels that he has been getting “something for nothing” in their relationship. He then discusses the idea of settling the bill, viewing life as an “exchange of values.” One pays with experience or by taking risks, hoping to learn from it.

What makes Jake a hero to many readers is his glimmer of hope. He isn’t chasing empty experiences but is instead searching for meaning, hoping that with age, he will uncover it. This hope, however, is tinged with cynicism, as he acknowledges that his current philosophy might seem foolish in five years. Money has become crucial to society, especially after the war, and Jake has embraced this reality because it is the only way he can define his quest for a meaningful philosophy.

5) “Yes. . . . Isn't it pretty to think so?” Page 247
This is the concluding line of the book. Brett has sent Pedro away to avoid ruining him, and she and Jake are in a taxi, driving through Madrid. Jake puts his arm around her, and they are at ease. Brett remarks, "We could have had such a damned good time together,” to which Jake responds with this quote.

The theme of castration is a recurring motif throughout the novel. While Jake is physically impotent, much like the bulls, Brett symbolically emasculates the men who pursue her. By the end of the book, both Cohn and Mike are left devastated, and Brett anticipates a similar outcome for Pedro, so she leaves him, referring to herself as a bitch. If Jake had been sexually functional, he likely would not have escaped this fate either. By the novel's conclusion, he understands this and is less troubled by his impotence. When he says, “Isn't it pretty to think so?”, he’s admitting that while it’s a pleasant notion, it would never have materialized in reality. The comfort they share is only possible because Brett cannot torment him. Their life, just like this thought, is appealing but ultimately unattainable, much like many other ideals.