The Sun Also Rises Essays (2591 words) - English-language Films

The Sun Also Rises The Hemingway Hero Prevalent among many of Ernest Hemingway's novels is the concept popularly known as the Hemingway hero, an ideal character readily accepted by American readers as a man's man. In The Sun Also Rises, four different men are compared and contrasted as they engage in some form of relationship with Lady Brett Ashley, a near-nymphomaniac Englishwoman who indulges in her passion for sex and control. Brett plans to marry her fiancee for superficial reasons, completely ruins one man emotionally and spiritually, separates from another to preserve the idea of their short-lived affair and to avoid self-destruction, and denies and disgraces the only man whom she loves most dearly. All her relationships occur in a period of months, as Brett either accepts or rejects certain values or traits of each man. Brett, as a dynamic and self-controlled woman, and her four love interests help demonstrate Hemingway's standard definition of a man and/or masculinity. Each man Brett has a relationship with in the novel possesses distinct qualities that enable Hemingway to explore what it is to truly be a man. The Hemingway man thus presented is a man of action, of self-discipline and self-reliance, and of strength and courage to confront all weaknesses, fears, failures, and even death. Jake Barnes, as the narrator and supposed hero of the novel, fell in love with Brett some years ago and is still powerfully and uncontrollably in love with her. However, Jake is unfortunately a casualty of the war, having been emasculated in a freak accident. Still adjusting to his impotence at the beginning of the novel, Jake has lost all power and desire to have sex. Because of this, Jake and Brett cannot be lovers and all attempts at a relationship that is sexually fulfilling are simply futile. Brett is a passionate, lustful woman who is driven by the most intimate and loving act two may share, something that Jake just cannot provide her with. Jake's emasculation only puts the two in a grandly ironic situation. Brett is an extremely passionate woman but is denied the first man she feels true love and admiration for. Jake has loved Brett for years and cannot have her because of his inability to have sex. It is obvious that their love is mutual when Jake tries to kiss Brett in their cab ride home: 'You mustn't. You must know. I can't stand it, that's all. Oh darling, please understand!', 'Don't you love me?', 'Love you? I simply turn all to jelly when you touch me' (26, Ch. 4). This scene is indicative of their relationship as Jake and Brett hopelessly desire each other but realize the futility of further endeavors. Together, they have both tried to defy reality, but failed. Jake is frustrated by Brett's reappearance into his life and her confession that she is miserably unhappy. Jake asks Brett to go off with him to the country for bit: 'Couldn't we go off in the country for a while?', 'It wouldn't be any good. I'll go if you like. But I couldn't live quietly in the country. Not with my own true love', 'I know', 'Isn't it rotten? There isn't any use my telling you I love you', 'You know I love you', 'Let's not talk. Talking's all bilge' (55, Ch. 7). Brett declines Jake's pointless attempt at being together. Both Brett and Jake know that any relationship beyond a friendship cannot be pursued. Jake is still adjusting to his impotence while Brett will not sacrifice a sexual relationship for the man she loves. Since Jake can never be Brett's lover, they are forced to create a new relationship for themselves, perhaps one far more dangerous than that of mere lovers - they have become best friends. This presents a great difficulty for Jake, because Brett's presence is both pleasurable and agonizing for him. Brett constantly reminds him of his handicap and thus Jake is challenged as a man in the deepest, most personal sense possible. After the departure of their first meeting, Jake feels miserable: This was Brett, that I had felt like crying about. Then I thought of her walking up the street and of course in a little while I felt like hell again (34, Ch. 4). Lady Brett Ashley serves

Abigail Williams of the Salem Witch Trials

Abigail Williams of the Salem Witch Trials Abigail Williams (estimated to be age 11 or 12 at the time), along with  Elizabeth (Betty) Parris, daughter of Rev. Parris and his wife Elizabeth, were the first two girls in Salem Village to be accused of witchcraft during the infamous ​Salem Witch Trials. They began exhibiting odd behaviors in mid-January of 1692, which were soon identified as being caused by witchcraft by a local doctor (presumably William Griggs) called in by Rev. Parris. Family Background Abigail Williams, who lived in the home of the Rev. Samuel Parris, has often been called a niece or kinfolk of Rev. Parris. At the time, niece may have been a general term for a younger female relative. Who her parents were, and what her relationship was to Rev. Parris, is unknown, but she may have been a household servant. Abigail and Betty were joined by Ann Putnam Jr. (daughter of a neighbor) and Elizabeth Hubbard (a niece of William Griggs who lived in the Griggs home with the doctor and his wife) in their afflictions and, then, in accusations against individuals identified as causing the afflictions. The Rev. Parris called in Rev. John Hale of Beverley and Rev. Nicholas Noyes of Salem, and several neighbors, to observe the behavior of Abigail and the others, and to question Tituba, a household slave. Abigail was a key witness against many of the early accused witches, including the first ones identified, Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good, and later Bridget Bishop, George Burroughs, Sarah Cloyce, Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Proctor,  John Proctor, John Willard and Mary Witheridge. Abigails and Bettys accusations, especially those on February 26 after the making of a witchs cake  the day before, resulted in the arrest on February 29 of Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Thomas Putnam, Ann Putnam Jr.s father, signed the complaints as the girls were minors. On March 19, with the Rev. Deodat Lawson visiting, Abigail accused the respected Rebecca Nurse of trying to force her to sign the devils book. The next day, in the middle of the service at Salem Village Church, Abigail interrupted Rev. Lawson, claiming she saw Martha Coreys spirit separate from her body. Martha Corey was arrested and examined the next day. A warrant for the arrest of  Rebecca Nurse  was issued March 23. On March 29, Abigail Williams and Mercy Lewis accused Elizabeth Proctor of afflicting them through her specter; Abigail claimed to see John Proctors specter as well. Abigail testified that she had seen some 40 witches outside the Parris house in a ritual of drinking blood. She named Elizabeth Proctors specter as being present and named Sarah Good and Sarah Cloyce as being deacons at the ceremony. Of the legal complaints filed, Abigail Williams made 41 of them. She testified in seven of the cases. Her last testimony was June 3, a week before the first execution. Joseph Hutchinson, in trying to discredit her testimony, testified that she had said to him that she could converse with the devil as easily as she could converse with him. Abigail Williams After the Trials After her last testimony in the court records on June 3, 1692, the day that John Willard and Rebecca Nurse were indicted for witchcraft by a grand jury, Abigail Williams disappears from the historical record. Motives Speculation about Abigail Williams motives in testifying usually suggest that she wanted some attention: that as a poor relation with no real prospects in marriage (as she would have no dowry), she gained much more influence and power through her accusations of witchcraft that she would be able to do any other way. Linda R. Caporael suggested in 1976 that fungus-infected rye may have caused ergotism and hallucinations in Abigail Williams and the others. Abigail Williams in The Crucible In Arthur Millers play, The Crucible, Miller depicts Williams as a 17-year-old servant in the Proctor house who tried to save John Proctor even while denouncing her mistress, Elizabeth. At the end of the play, she steals her uncles money (money which the real Rev. Parris probably did not have). Arthur Miller relied on a source that claimed that Abigail Williams became a prostitute after the period of the trials.