“‘How about Vienna?’
‘Not so good, Jake. Not so good. It seemed better than it was.’
‘How do you mean?’ I was getting glasses and a siphon.
‘Tight, Jake. I was tight.’
‘That’s strange. Better have a drink.’
Bill rubbed his forehead. ‘Remarkable thing,’ he said. ‘Don’t know how it happened. Suddenly it happened.’
‘Last long?’
‘Four days, Jake. Lasted just four days.’”
-The Sun Also Rises, p 77
This passage reminded me of another observation that I have made while reading this novel: it seems that every character in this novel is either drunk or on their way to being drunk. Wherever two or three are gathered, there alcohol is in the midst of them. Now I understand that there is nothing wrong with adults drinking alcohol, and I am not condemning it. What I am noticing, however, is that each person consumes far more than what would be considered safe by today’s standards. Hemingway makes it seem that the bottles and glasses are emptying within minutes of each other. Considering that alcoholic drinks likely were much stronger in 1920s France than in 2010 America, where the alcohol content has likely been weakened for economic and health reasons, the fact that each person is consuming bottle after bottle is rather distressing, especially because none of them seem to have much control over their actions while “tight.”
Perhaps this was just the atmosphere du jour back then, but I have another theory, as well. It seems that Hemingway progresses the plot most when his characters are drunk. Perhaps Hemingway is simply using alcohol as a literary crutch.
Drinking does seem to be a very big pasrt especially when they spend 90% of their time drunk. I think it has to do with the characters drowning their problems and trying to feel better. I also agree that a lot of the plot progressions occur when the characterds are incapacitated.
ReplyDelete