A Study Of The Sun Also Rises From The Perspective Of Modern Consumer Culture

As Ernest Hemingway’s masterpiece, The Sun Also Rises has been researchedfrom various perspectives since its publication in1926. The researches cover “theLost Generation”, iceberg theory, textual criticism, Feminism and so on. This thesismakes an analysis of the novel from a new point of view——consumer culture. Thetheory of consumer culture came into being after the Industrial Revolution, so it was arelatively new one. In modern consumer society, consumer culture presents itself asconsumerism.Hemingway composed The Sun Also Rises during the transitional period fromtraditional to modern society. However, during the period, the U.S. dollar took greatadvantages around the world due to the rapid economic development of the UnitedStates after the First World War. In addition, Hemingway, as a foreign correspondentworked in Paris, and his friends had been living the modern consumer life at that time.Being a writer with forward-looking vision, Hemingway paid much attention to thenew lifestyle that had not spread to every aspect of social life yet. Although peoplecould enjoy the process of consumption that they had never experienced before, theyfelt full emptiness after the revelry. The quality of life could be improved onlythrough spiritual enjoyment, nothing to do with too much material enjoyment. Thisthesis aims to analyze the characters’ consumption behaviors in details and tries toresearch into Hemingway’s solutions to the disadvantages of modern consumerculture.This thesis consists of an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. Its maincontents are as follows:The first part is introduction, which makes a brief introduction to the definitionsof consumer culture and its developing process in the first place. What Hemingwaypresents in the novel is modern consumer culture. Moreover, it summarizes thereviews on the novel. In the end, it brings in the subject of this thesis——modernconsumer culture in The Sun Also Rises.The second part is the main body, which is made up of three chapters:Chapter I is textual analysis. This chapter is the most important chapter, whichmakes a detailed analysis of modern consumer culture in The Sun Also Rises. It develops on the three levels of consumer culture——consumer goods, pattern ofconsumption and consumer attitude. The three layers are deeper and deeper in depth:consumer goods are the material layer, pattern of consumption is the institutionallayer and consumer attitude is the ideological layer.Chapter II is cause exploration and character analysis. This chapter pays muchattention to the characters’ emptiness after revelry under the circumstance ofconsumerism. It points out the social background of the phenomenon, which is thestimulation of the “false need” produced by capitalist production. Then it makes ananalysis of the major characters’ living condition and makes a conclusion that thereare all hollow faces under the veil of extravagant consumption.Chapter III is reflection and measurements. This chapter reveals Hemingway’sconsideration on modern consumer culture and his solutions. It introducesHemingway’s moral orientation in the first place, which is the source of his views onmodern consumer culture. Then, Hemingway forecasts the tendency of modernconsumer culture: the spiritual pursuit in the consumption and females as the majorconsumers.The last part is conclusion, which makes a summary of the preceding critique,and points out the main purpose of this thesis. The First World War was definitely acatastrophe in the history of human mankind, but it was the war that providedopportunities for the tremendous economic development of the United States. At theend of the war, the United States turned from a pre-war capital-importing country intoa post-war capital-exporting country and from a debtor country to a creditor country,becoming one of the major economic powers in the world. Material supplies weremuch more abundant than before. However, the more people desired, the more emptythey would be. In the novel, sex was the symbol of substance in the modern consumerculture, while love was the symbol of spirit. Under the circumstance of consumerism,love appeared as the rarity. Therefore, Hemingway narrated a platonic love for thereaders, which was a severe assault upon modern consumer culture. The quality of lifeis the degree that people feel comfortable and convenient and feel spiritual enjoymentand fun, nothing to do with too much material enjoyment. In Hemingway’s view,people should consume to meet physiological demand so as to abandon the conspicuous consumption and rational consumption should be the solution, whichcould be regarded as a warning for modern consumer culture today in China.Since the reform and opening in China in1978, especially the period after theturning of the new century, Chinese economy has been developing in high speed.Along with the expansion of production, social products that could be provided by themass production are much more abundant than any other period in Chinese history. Atthe same time, China enters into the consumer society following the step of thewestern countries. It is natural that the disadvantages in the early stage of westernconsumer society appear in China today. For example, the rich who get rich firstbenefiting from the national policy are in great need of publicizing their economicsuccess and high grade consumption so that the conspicuous consumption comes intobeing. As a result, analyzing The Sun Also Rises from the perspective of consumerculture, which researches into the shortcomings of western consumer culture and itssolution, is of substantial significance to have a general idea of the tendency ofmodern consumer culture in China and of its sound development.