Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises has a major theme of immorality. While immorality is usually thought of as sexual in nature, Hemingway made his characters immoral in many other ways. This essay will examine two characters: Mike and Brett and show examples of immorality in their actions.
Lady Brett Ashley is portrayed as a man-hungry socialite who uses men and tosses them aside when she is tired of them. As the novel progresses she is married but is pending divorce. A perfect example of immorality is her beginning to have other affairs outside of the bonds of her marriage. She begins to see Mike, a consistently drunk war veteran but continues to have sexual relationships with other men. Even after Brett and Mike are engaged, she continues to engage in sexual promiscuity. Brett is never faithful to the men she is with, but most importantly, she is never faithful to herself. The narrator, Jake, and Brett are in love with each other but Brett refuses to be with him because he can’t have sex. Instead, she involves herself in affairs with friends of Jake and flaunts it in his face. In one instance, Jake beseeches her to live with him. “Couldn’t we live together, Brett? Couldn’t we just live together?” Brett callously responds, “I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody. You couldn’t stand it” (62). Brett is telling him that even though she loves him she would still cheat on him. She does not take any responsibility for her actions and believes they are acceptable because she is made that way. Her morality is consistently challenged but she never does anything that would make her seem like a respectable lady. She drinks to excess and involves herself in numerous meaningless flings. The only incident where Brett seems to be maturing as a woman is when she sends the bull-fighter, Romero, away. She purposely alienates him because she knows that she is too independent for him and won’t be able to be the woman Romero wants. She also...