Their search for meaning
failure or success?

Lady Brett Ashley is a distraught individual.WWI brought the man she loved in to her life, but it also took away the “part” of him that she wanted most. However, the thing that she needs most is not a physical thing, but a feeling that no other man can give her. Lady Brett is obviously in love with Jake but evidently she cannot live without sex. Lady Brett is a beautiful girl and she is blinded by lust. She needs to see through the fog of sexual desire and realize that her love for Jake is all that should really matter. If she could look past deficiencies and social acceptability, then she could be truly happy. However, as of right now she is doomed to be unhappy because of the stress she put on herself to marry a man that can satisfy her but she does not love. WWI seems to be the best thing that could have happened to her, but she cannot seem to realize it. It is actually astounding that she has been able to ignore the love she feels because love is such a powerful emotion, but when you drink as much as Lady Brett you can ignore almost anything. Letting her lusty take control makes her appear incredibly shallow. Just because she is a beautiful girl does not mean she has to marry a man that fits the description society has created for her or the man that can satisfy her the most. If she married Jake for true love she would be even more respected by her peers and she would definitely be happier. However, I can see why it would be a difficult decision to marry to marry Jake because the “Hay-day in the blood” is still alive and well at her age. As a young woman it can be hard to suppress those feelings of desire. Lust is an essential emotion and I do not think that she should suppress her desire completely, because that would be much too difficult of a task. Lady Brett must simply choose the man that will truly make her happy, and from my perspective that man is Jake. They are in love and minor issues should not stand between them.

Jake, Lady Brett Ashley, Robert Cohn, Mike, Bill; these are the  people that "believe" they are searching for the meaning of life. They are characters in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises. Some of you may believe that they are hopeless and will never find the meaning of life, however I believe that the meaning of life is different for everyone. In their case they spend their lives drinking and bull fighting, and this they seem to be somewhat happy with that. They drink all day long, which could be considered as their way of drowning their sorrows, however I believe that since they do not attempt to change their lives in any significant way, they must be truly satisfied with the way they live. Satisfaction is, in the end, what we are all searching for in our lives, and these few drunks have found satisfaction in what they think is a miserable life. They may not know it, but they are not trying to change the way they live so the must actually be happy with drinking and bull fighting. If someone truly wants to change, they will.