Manifestation of PTSD in “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway

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The Manifestation of PTSD in “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was one of the most well-known authors of his time. He served in many wars to warrant his experience in understanding various mental health conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During WWI, for instance, he was an ambulance driver. “The Sun Also Rises” is one of Hemingway’s first novels in which he showcased his experiences during his service during WWI. This passage opens chapter XIV of the novel and displays one of the protagonist’s rants with himself before he goes to bed. The passage is set at when Jake is drunk and after a meeting with Brett who he loves but is unable to have a relationship with because of an injury that left him impotent during his service. This essay argues that in passage XIV from “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is shown through the element of shadow story and through representing the symptom of hyperarousal.
The readers can deduce some aspects of the character’s life through the element of shadow story. Ernest Hemingway was a fan of the iceberg theory of prose considering how he does not tell the readers much about the characters' past lives. However, insightful readers can still outline the author’s intentions. In the paragraph, for example, Jake admits that “for six months, [he] was not able to sleep with the electric light off” (Chapter XIV, 152-153). While he does not directly state that this is because of trauma, the reader can deduce that he has to keep “the electric light” on when he sleeps because of a traumatic experience endured while he was serving in the war. The traumatic experiences are the reason for his PTSD. Later in the passage, Jake refers to having to pay for something. He says, “The bill always came…” The phrase can loosely translate into the understanding that there are...