The Sun Also Rises

It’s the next morning and the fiesta has ended. Jake and Bill have coffee and decide to get a car and travel with Mike to Bayonne, where they will all part ways. They pay their bill, and Montoya does not come near them. The car takes them out of Pamplona. Mike drinks from a bottle of brandy, but Jake drinks very little. They arrive in Bayonne, drop off Bill’s bags at the station, and drive out to Biarritz. There, they have drinks and roll dice to see who will pay for them. Mike repeatedly loses; he runs out of money and Bill pays.

They follow the coast road and, in the distance, see the mountains that lead into Pamplona. They bring Bill to his hotel in Saint Jean and bid him farewell. Back in Bayonne, Bill gets on his train to Paris. Jake disagrees with the driver over the price of a ride to San Sebastian and then decides to stay the night in Bayonne. He eats dinner at the hotel, enjoying being alone and “drinking slowly and […] tasting the wine” (236). The waiter recommends a local liqueur, but Jake doesn’t like it, and sends it back. He’s afraid he’s offended the waiter, so he over-tips to make him happy. Jake appreciates how in France, unlike in Spain, you can just spend a little money to get someone to like you. It’s easier in France because “no one makes things complicated by becoming your friend for any obscure reason” (237).

Jake takes the train to San Sebastian. He gets a hotel room, arranges to receive telegrams there, and has lunch. He goes back to his room, reads, and naps. In the late afternoon, he goes to the beach and swims and does several different dives.

He returns to the hotel for dinner and meets many bicycle racers. The racers drink heavily and don’t care who wins the race; the share the winnings between their group. Jake tells their team manager that he will try to wake up early in the morning for their departure.

By the time Jake finally wakes up the following morning, the bicyclists are long gone. He again goes swimming. When he returns to the hotel, the concierge hands him a telegram from Brett; she tells Jake to come to Madrid because she is in trouble there. He responds with a telegram that says he is coming, and he then takes a night train to Madrid.

He enters Brett’s hotel room and she kisses him, but he can tell she is thinking about something else. The day before, she made Romero leave. He wanted her to grow out her hair and look “more womanly” (246). She summoned Jake because she didn’t know if she could make Romero go away and she didn’t have any money to leave him. She says that he wanted to marry her, but she didn’t want to ruin him. She starts crying. She says she doesn’t ever want to talk about Romero and that she will go back to Mike.

Jake buys them train tickets and they go to the bar. After Brett starts drinking, her hand steadies. She notes that religion never worked well for her. They go for a fancy lunch, but Brett doesn’t eat much. They drink bottles of wine and then go for a taxi ride through town. In the taxi, Jake puts his arm around Brett. In the book’s closing lines, Brett says that they “could have had such a damned good time together” (251). Jake replies, “Yes. Isn’t it pretty to think so?”