As we closed the novel The Sun Also Rises this week, I found myself wondering why the title is The Sun Also Rises. After all, Jake never really actively talks about or describes sunrise. The most we've ever gotten in terms of description of the sun is about how it's warm or bright. I thought about the nature of the ending of the novel, and I came to a realization and interpretation that I was satisfied with, but of course, please offer your own interpretations. I believe that The Sun Also Rises refers to Jake and Brett's relationship.
Specifically, it seems like it's referring to Jake and Brett's relationship resurfacing as calm and "good", or at least stable. At the beginning of the novel, Brett and Jake's relationship starts dipping down into negativity, in that it starts with the tense car ride. From there, it goes down, as Brett engages in a fling with Cohn. Jake becomes agitated at this, and his agitation only grows as Cohn continues to follow them around in Spain as well.
Their relationship seems to continue to spiral downwards. In Spain, it finally hits the bottom when Brett begins sleeping with Romero, and Jake hammers himself with alcohol to deal with this. They don't contact each other for a short period of time, and things calm down suddenly for Jake, something we haven't experienced often in the story.
This time period in which Jake seems genuinely calm seems like that grey time in the morning just before the sun rises. Though the sun hasn't begun to rise yet, it's obvious that it is going to and that light will shine again. When Brett calls him back to Madrid, they're meeting is relatively calm, considering the circumstances. Not only that, but they seem to have a genuinely nice time, other than Jake's drinking and Brett's lingering mind on Romero. Finally, on the last page, the book settles in to a peaceful ending, when they share a truly peaceful moment together, one that feels perhaps not rid of all tension, but rid of much of the tension that had existed when we first saw them in a car together. Thus, the sun has risen again, mostly calm and collected. But of course, it rises differently today than it did yesterday, and in this way I also believe that the sun rising refers to how Brett and Jake's relationship has changed, if only slightly. It seems at the end of the novel, that Jake is more accepting of his position in their relationship, depending on how you read his last words. The sun has not only risen again, but risen on a new age of their relationship.
