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  • Essay / The theme of obsession with sex in "The Sun Also Rises"

    Sigmund Freud theorized that the primary motivating force in all human behavior is sexuality. Freudian theory greatly influenced the “lost generation” affected by the First World War. Those coping with the effects of war on society had begun a search for meaning in new places. They found what they were looking for in Freud's theories. The great American modernist Ernest Hemingway reflected this Freudian theory in his 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises. The sexual motivation of Hemingway's characters shapes their actions, and ultimately the novel, into a tangle of sexual desires and frustrations. This is especially true for Lady Brett Ashley, who hurts everyone around her with her sexual activities. Hemingway uses the character of Lady Brett Ashley to reflect Freudian theory throughout the novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Lady Brett Ashley's affair with the Jewish writer Robert Cohn indicates that she is Hemingway's personification of Freudian theory. His life is lived from one sexual experience to another. She likes to have many admirers. Because Robert Cohn notices Brett, Jake Barnes tells him, "You made a new one there." I suppose you like to add them up” (30). Other than acknowledging “What if I do,” Brett pays no attention to Cohn (30). The next time Jake sees Brett, she tells him about a weekend affair she had with Robert Cohn in San Sebastian. Brett's willingness to continue with a man she has only met once suggests that she is simply seeking sexual gratification and nothing else. After using him for sexual gratification, she is upset that he "follows her around like a damn ox" (146). Brett considers nothing other than his own sexual desires; she doesn't take Cohn's feelings into account at all. Her view is so clouded by her sexual activities that all Brett sees is that she slept with him and wants nothing more to do with him. Brett Ashley's affair with young bullfighter Pedro Romero is another indicator that she is a reflection of Freudian theory. When Lady Ashley first sees Pedro Romero fight, she is instantly attracted to him. She said, “Aren’t those green pants adorable!” (169). Mike says she “couldn't take her eyes off them, she's an amazing girl” (169). Just by seeing him, Brett “falls in love with this bullfighter guy” (172). Of course, Lady Brett Ashley uses love as a euphemism for sexual desire. What she really means by “love” is that she wants to have sex with him (187). Not being able to have sex with a man she desires makes her "so unhappy [that] she can't stand it" (33). Because Brett wants to meet Pedro Romero so badly, she asks Jake Barnes to “go find him” (188). Jake takes Brett to a cafe, where she ends up having a drink with Pedro. Jake excuses himself to meet his friends. When he returns shortly after, “Brett and Pedro Romero [are] gone” (191). After her sexual conquest, Brett is “radiant” and “happy” (211). However, Brett's love lasts as long as his pants stay buttoned. She is only "in love" with Pedro until she sleeps with him, and then she sends him away, telling Jake, "I made him go away" (245). The fact that she dismissed her bullfighter lover so quickly after having sex with him shows that she never really had any interest in him other than that of a sexual nature. THE :.