The setting of this novel moves around from Paris and then
to Spain and then back to Paris. This is particularly significant because the characters
are all Americans who have moved to Europe to escape life in the United States. This
move emphasizes the theme of disenfranchisement that is seen throughout the whole
novel.
After WWI, many people were confused about the world
in general. Never before in modern times had the world seen so much death and
destruction, and people did not know not to react after such widespread changes. People
turned away from the conscientious rationing and patriotic attitudes that the war had
created and latched on to material pleasures. People with these ideas were called the
Lost Generation.
Jake, Robert Cohen, Brett Ashley and the
other characters are members of this Lost Generation. We can see these disillusioned and
materialistic attitudes in their flamboyant parties and melodramatic reactions to the
social world around them.
The time period of the setting
leads us to the connection of our characters to this Lost Generation. Then, their
abandonment of America shows us even further their distaste for all they have known and
their desire to separate themselves from the life they have experienced so
far.
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