eculiar form of emotional impotence" (26). Even without sex, Jake could probably find happiness through a meaningful Platonic relationship. However, Jake holds himself back from making this type of commitment. Spilka claims that Jake does this because he is afraid of dealing with his own emotional feelings. Thus, "like so many Hemingway heroes, he has no way to handle subjective complications, and his wound is a token for this kind of impotence" (Spilka 26).
The image of Jake's impotence extends beyond his character and becomes a symbol for the emotional blockage of all the characters in the novel. Thus, in the words of McDowell, "this disability is one of the main sources of tension in the book and symbolizes the moral impotence of the characters" (47). The characters in The Sun Also Rises are representative of what was called the "Lost Generation" of the 1920's. Specifically, the novel deals with the American expatriates who decided to live in Paris in the years following the First World War. The First World War had been violently destructive, and people at the time referred to it as "the war to end all wars." When the war ended, people felt that the world had changed forever. Many young people, especially those who became expatriates, felt a sudden lack of morality in their lives. In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who lived for a while as an expatriate in Paris, the post-war generation of youth had "grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in man shaken" (McDowell 54).
According to Spilka, there is no doubt that Hemingway was making a connection between Jake's impotence and the lack of love found among the expatriates of Paris. Thus, "in some figurative manner these artists, writers, and derelicts have all been rendered impotent by the war" (Spilka 26). The characters in The Sun Also Rises exhibit the qualities of the "Lost Generation" with their drinking, fighting, and sexual behaviors. A...