What Happens Next
The central conflict of Hemmingway's Novel “The Sun Also Rises”, is the relationship between Lady Brett Ashley and the protagonist Jake. Its ending however is left very open, and much like Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway”, we have no idea what will happen with these characters after the story ends. With the information we do have, however, we can at the very least get an idea about what direction their relationship might head into next. Here are some of the possibilities:
Nothing Changes- at least notably. The events of this novel are very cyclical, so it would not be surprising if things just continued as they have been. Both the beginning and end of the book leave them in very similar places, with parallels such as Brett talking about how miserable she is and the car ride. Brett is still caught up on the idea of what she and Jake could have been, and overall I would say that she is not much better than she was at the start of the book. So the only way for Brett and Jake's cycle to end is if Jake is the one to break it. Although Jake's attitude is different at the end of the story, with his profound line of “isn’t it pretty to think so”, the change he goes through might not be enough to help him break his cycle. In his eyes he has 2 options Brett or nobody, so while he has accepted that they cannot be together, and even if they had it would not have ended well, he still might not be able to move on. So in this case things would continue as they had been before.
On the other hand, they could actually end up being able to move on and overcome their issues. Brett has shown that she is able and willing to get married or love other people despite claiming to love Jake. So I think that it is very likely that she would eventually end up getting married, after falling in love with someone else. It is hard to say how Jake would react or feel about this, but considering that he has been supportive of relationships with Mike or Romero, he would probably make his peace with it and maintain a close friendship with Brett being the dependable friend that is always there to help her out.
Finally, I think that another quite real possibility is that a relationship of any kind between Brett and Jake stops, whether it be Friendly or Romantic. After all, the only thing really keeping them together is Brett's need for someone to talk to about her problems, and Jake's love for her. If she does eventually get married though, Jake would be able to move on. He is clearly much Happier when he does not have to face her, and be reminded of his injury all the time, so both of them going down different paths in their lives and moving on seems possible.
Thinking about what happens after the story ends is something I have definitely done. You organized the possibilities well and I found it interesting to think about Brett getting married and allowing Jake to move on even if he doesn't end up with her. I think you did a great job looking into their future.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to picture what a "future" would look like for these two, apart from a continuation of the present. But Brett is planning to go back to Mike, and presumably they will actually marry at some point (that's her plan, and she's pretty sure he'll take her back, once he calms down about Cohn and Romero). And I can't help but picture Jake and Brett "riding off into the sunset" at the close of this book, leaning on each other (literally) and moving into an uncertain future as a pair of damaged souls who are strangely perfect for each other.
ReplyDeleteBut it is hard to picture exactly how Brett's emotional intimacy with Jake would play out under such a scenario. Mike seems completely cool with Jake, and doesn't see him as any kind of "rival" to Brett, but it isn't clear that he knows about Jake's wound. How would he react to Brett and Jake continuing to meet up at 4 am for conversation, or Brett dropping by his place whenever she wants to, or anything else? I feel like these two can't NOT be together, and they're going to continue to limp along in this unique and dysfunctional dynamic.