Why Does Jake Try To Get Drunk At the End of the Book?
Towards the end of Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, we see Jake leave Spain to go to San Sebastian to relax and check up on the cyclists' race. Robert is somewhere out in the country, Bill is back in Paris, and Michael is in Bayonne. While Jake is in San Sebastian, he relives (to a certain extent) his relaxation that he felt when he was fishing with Bill, allowing himself to get lost on the beach. Then, Brett telegraphs Jake saying that she needs his help in Madrid.
Jake, who has recently set Brett up with Romero and left to relax in San Sebastian, leaves to go to Madrid all to help Brett. When Jake arrives, she proceeds to tell him that she broke up with Romero because she didn't want to marry him and she felt he was too good for her. She then rants on how she doesn't want to talk about it but feels rather good that she left him; to which the reader can see Jake is slowly getting annoyed with Brett's ranting as he is only replying with short answers. Then Jake starts drinking. Drink after drink, he chugs them until Brett urges him to stop.
When Jake was in Paris and Spain, he drank excessive amounts; however, this drinking is different. Rather than drinking all throughout the day casually and whenever it was needed, in this end scene it's almost as if he is forcing the drinks down: wanting to get drunk. So the question is why? I have two possible answers:
I think the most obvious reason is he is drinking to try and burry his re-surfacing emotions of jealousy and love. While Jake talks to Brett, he sees her cry and tremble, looking almost vulnerable. Then she proceeds to talk about her love life in front of him. This makes Jake jealous because she is talking so openly about who she will love when Jake obviously still loves her. This then leads Jake to forcing drinks down trying to burry his jealousy and bring back his indifferent personality he upholds regarding Brett's love life.
The other reason above relates to this one because another theory is he is angry at Brett and thus tries to get drunk. Jake set Brett up with Romero, burning the bridge with the bull fighting community in Spain, he dropped everything to go to Madrid to help Brett, and then after all that she is still going to marry Mike even though she has mixed feelings for him. Then this anger leads him to eat and drink his anger away.
However, both of these theories hint at the underlying factor that Jake drinks to help him cope with his feelings rather than face reality. Which is most likely why he actively craved to get drunk in the final scene of The Sun Also Rises.
I think every bit of this last scene in The Sun Also Rises reflects irony. Jake had to sacrifice his connection with Romero and drop everything to be with her, only for her to discuss her love life and continue on with romantic pursuits. The drinking reflects his attempt to numb feelings of love and frustration toward Brett.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely some palpable anger in the way Jake downs drink after drink, when even BRETT can't quite keep up with him (that's a bad sign!)--he does seem to be confronting her with it, especially when she assures him he "doesn't have to" drink like this. She can see that he is "self-medicating" in a way that's different from elsewhere in the novel, and it seems to have something to do with his feeling that he's being taken advantage of, or his resentment that he had to cut his San Sebastian time short for this very unpleasant errand. He drinks in San Sebastian, too--but it's some wine with dinner, and he's also engaging in healthy activities like swimming and diving (and sleeping well!). Once he's in Madrid, he's pounding martinis and wine by the bottle, and Brett can sense that something is off.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there is one other scene in the novel where we see Jake get drunk and lose his cool--but Brett doesn't witness it, because she's off with Romero not giving a thought to him and his troubles.
This is a good analysis. I was someone who read the last scenes of the novel with a tone of sadness, but you make a good argument for why Jake may have been angry. At the very least, he was definitely frustrated with the situation at hand. I also wonder if this frustration was with himself for being willing to drop everything for Brett. He ruined his reputation with the bull fighters, abandoned the peace he had found in San Sebastian, and made many other sacrifices, but for what? Just for Brett to marry Mike anyhow? I think he drinks to cope with this frustration: maybe a frustration directed equally at Brett and himself.
ReplyDeleteNice blog post. Jake did get drunk at the end of the book, and I can see why he got drunk from anger and jealousy. People tend to drink in order to make themselves feel better by eliminating their negative emotions by drinking. Jake was probably reflecting over the trip and those negative emotions were probably unbearable to him, making him drink. Nice analysis of Jake's emotions.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that the excessive drinking was probably at least partially a coping mechanism, I think it may have also just been a display of indifference. Jake, having lost hope for a relationship with Brett, no longer felt inclined to be emotionally or mentally available for Brett. Rather than staying sober in order to effectively comfort and counsel Brett, he opts to become inebriated through indiscriminate alcohol consumption.
ReplyDeleteThis is a super interesting blog topic, I appreciate that you focused in on one specific scene! I was also noticing how his drinking in the last scene was interesting, and I think it's very intentional that even Brett asked him to stop drinking, signifying that he has really gone off the rails. I think your analysis of this scene is really good! I personally saw this as him not trying to push back feelings of jealousy necessarily, but more so trying to push back any emotion or sense of reality in this moment, because he is in a pretty disheartening situation, just having dropped everything while on vacation to go listen to the love of his life talk about another man for hours on end. Overall, a really interesting post!
ReplyDeleteVery good blog post Deven! Yeah, I also agree that Jake's excessive drinking is primarly a coping mechanism. It serves as a distraction and escape from his injury and general trauma from the war. I don't blame him, I think most people would also develop an unhealthy addiction in order to cope with such trauma but I do think that is why Jake drinks so much throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Jake seems really distant in the ending scene, even before he tries to get drunk. It seems like Jake could be trying to "drown his emotions", but I think that he could conversely be trying to use the alcohol to feel something. Maybe to Jake, the alcohol could be not just a coping mechanism, but a way to try and express his emotions without the restraint and tact that he constantly and arduously upholds. Nice post!
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