Hemingway presents his notion that the “Lost Generation”—considered to have been decadent, dissolute, and irretrievably damaged by World War I—was in fact resilient and strong. Hemingway investigates the themes of love and death, the revivifying power of nature, and the concept of masculinity.

The title of The Sun Also Rises comes from the epigraph, which is from Ecclesiastes. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose. This epigraph expresses the idea that one generation fades into another, and the sun will continue to rise, while each generation passes on.

major conflict Jake is in love with Lady Brett Ashley, but they cannot maintain a relationship because he was rendered impotent by a war wound. Jake loses numerous friendships and has his life repeatedly disrupted because of his loyalty to Brett, who has a destructive series of love affairs with other men.

Bulls and bull-fighting are the two most critical symbols in The Sun Also Rises. The bulls symbolize passion, physicality, energy, and freedom. It is significant that, of all the characters, Jake, Brett, Romero, and Montoya are the most stirred by bull-fighting.

Bullfighting Symbol Analysis. Hemingway uses bullfighting as an ongoing metaphor for war and the nature of masculinity. The bullfight represents, in part, the ideals of war that were destroyed by the mechanized war of World War I. The bullfight also represents the dangers of sex and love.

In the aftermath of the war there arose a group of young persons known as the “Lost Generation.” The term was coined from something Gertrude Stein witnessed the owner of a garage saying to his young employee, which Hemingway later used as an epigraph to his novel The Sun Also Rises (1926): “You are all a lost …

The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort that came of age during World War I. “Lost” in this context refers to the “disoriented, wandering, directionless” spirit of many of the war’s survivors in the early postwar period.

The Lost Generation made an impact on society because the writings that came out of this period showed the effects war has on people. War was a terrible hing that made men lose their masculinity, gave people a sense of disillusionment, and made people want to return to a simpler, idealistic past.

Luckily, most places in Paris are not in the habit of changing, so it is easy to follow in the footsteps of those who once called Paris home. Those who grouped together as the Lost Generation flocked to Paris in search of an escape, and many of them found it.