As Hemingway said himself, "The Sun Also Rises" is a book "about a few drunks." Obviously, there's a lot more to these characters than just their drinking, but I'd like to take a minute and focus on that aspect of them. First off, they're a lot more than just drunks. They are super-drunks. I mean, seriously! What is their alcohol tolerance level? Do they permanently have a constant blood alcohol level? It's absolutely insane how much all these characters drink! Like, drinking light for them is a bottle of wine, two beers, and an imitation absinthe. How can they handle that much? Are their bodies really that accustomed to that much alcohol? It blows my mind.
You have to also wonder how the hell anyone of them survive. How come none of them have died from alcohol poisoning? Even simpler than that, how come none of them ever seem to wake up with a hangover? We get snippets of them passing out, Robert Cohn especially, but very rarely do the characters seem to complain of a headache, or show any regret for their actions from the previous night. Instead, they just seem to wake up, go out, and drink some more! It's insane!
Also, what I find really insane, and also really funny, is how whenever anybody talks in the book, they talk perfectly fine. Nobody slurs! Never! Not once! No slurring! Nothing! It blows my mind, really it does. I mean, Hemingway probably didn't write them as slurring because then the entire book would be unintelligible, but still! If it had had the occasional slur...even by Robert Cohn! I mean, it's just so funny! It seems like all the characters have such a high alcohol tolerance level, that even when they're so drunk they're about to pass out, they can still have a coherent and intelligent conversation. I'd like to see "The Sun Also Rises" written with slurred words. I think it would be more accurate, and insanely hilarious.
1 comment:
You can *hear* the effects of alcohol on Mike's speech, for one--the way he keeps repeating the same phrases, or his crude belligerence in the bar where Romero and his crew are holding court. But you're right--Hemingway depicts a bunch of drunks who all become pretty witty and quick-tongued after a few drinks. Brett seems like a woman of fewer words on the rare occasions when she hasn't (yet) been drinking, and we see/hear her come alive after a few. It may just be one more (maybe slightly boastful/macho?) way that Hemingway wants to show how well he and his pals can hold their liquor.
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