Swimming in San Sebastian

Please finish The Sun Also Rises before reading!

Something that jumped out at me towards the end of the novel is Jake’s thoughts and actions while he is alone. Throughout The Sun Also Rises, there are very few moments when Jake is fully alone; in a “typical” scene, he is a member of a group in which he often plays the role of observer. He has one-on-one interactions with main characters (like Brett, Bill, or Robert), and through those interactions we learn more about Jake’s character. In class, we’ve said that one of the distinctive traits of Hemingway’s style was use of dialogue to expand on character. So what happens when there’s no one Jake can talk with?

Throughout the entire time he is alone, Jake seems more unburdened. When he goes swimming, we are given a detailed description of the beach, the ocean, and Jake’s experiences. He swims for a while and then stops on a raft, where a boy and girl are sitting and talking. While these two are clearly reminiscent of Jake’s ideal relationship with Brett (“The boy lay face downward on the raft and talked to her. She laughed at things he said (…).), Jake doesn’t seem particularly upset by them or even mildly interested in them (239). We don’t overhear any dialogue, Jake doesn’t even get involved. Instead, Jake describes his dives in the ocean, then gets out and walks around town and people-watches. He seems content to be out of the drama.

The next day, he goes swimming again, but this time he is fully alone. We get a vivid image of what life is like for him (see p. 241). He marvels at how small the people and the town are, and how big the ocean is. Overall, the passages with Jake alone in San Sebastian seem very calming and relaxed, even though for me they evoke memories of Brett. Jake doesn’t seem sad to me, instead he seems unburdened, which puzzles me because he just was very upset about what happened with Brett. In this case, I’m not entirely sure whether or not Jake is thinking about Brett without actually articulating anything in the text (relying on iceberg-theory thinking) or if he isn’t thinking about her at all. But why describe these ocean scenes so thoroughly if we aren’t meant to see that Jake is thinking about Brett? Hemingway could have made the San Sebastian scenes much more clear-cut and simple, unless the scenes are meant to give the reader a chance to process what’s happened. And, if Jake is thinking about what happened with Brett, why is he so calm?

One of the scenes the swimming reminds me of in particular is the fishing trip with Bill, which was also very nature and detail oriented and away from people. Both the fishing trip and the trip to San Sebastian feel very introspective in that Jake is distancing himself from others, not letting himself be sidelined in the observer role. However, once Brett sends him the telegram, he returns to his typical position.

Thoughts? Why does Hemingway choose to include these details at the end?

What happened to Rezia?

Rezia is Septimus’ companion throughout Mrs. Dalloway. She left her home so that she could live with him in England. While at times she gets frustrated with him and his condition, she stays with him and loves him. She tied up and kept his messages of Universal Love, which was very meaningful for Septimus. On pages 144-145, Septimus sees Rezia as “a flowering tree” who “triumphed” over the doctors. Overall, (in my opinion), they genuinely loved each other, and (hear me out) the death of Septimus is to Rezia what the death of Evans is to Septimus.

After Septimus’ death, we stay in Rezia’s point of view for five paragraphs, then do not return to her for the remainder of the novel. In these paragraphs, we seem to get Septimus-like thoughts as someone she has a deep connection with has just died. Directly after Septimus dies, Woolf narrates from Rezia’s point of view: “Rezia ran to the window, she saw; she understood” (146). Not only does Rezia understand what has happened to Septimus; she also understands how Septimus felt after losing Evans. Septimus had formed a close bond with Evans throughout the course of the war, and, very close to the end of the war, Evans died. The preceding section where Septimus and Rezia are together is very reminiscent of that: they are on the same side, against the doctors. Mrs. Filmer’s apron reminds Rezia of a flag, and she thinks “Men killed in battle were thus saluted, and Septimus had been through the War” (146).

As we go further after the death of Septimus, Rezia begins to focus on things that Septimus tended to focus on, such as Big Ben: “The clock was striking—one, two, three: how sensible the sound was; compared with all this thumping and whispering; like Septimus himself” (146). Because Rezia has gone through a similar traumatic experience, she now understands the sensibility of Septimus’ reactions and behavior.

Perhaps the most distinct emotion Septimus has after the death of Evans is his inability to feel. Rezia has this too, as she talked with Mrs. Filmer: “’He is dead,’she said, smiling at the poor old woman who guarded her with her honest light-blue eyes fixed on the door.” (147). Contrary to what we would think of as a normal reaction, Rezia seems very subdued, almost content. She is in a dream-like, hallucinatory state for our last interaction with her. Now, how much of that reaction comes from whatever sedative Dr. Holmes put in her drink and how much of it is genuine is up for debate, but either way, it seems almost as if Rezia can’t quite feel any emotions either.

A similarity Rezia and Septimus have is their distrust of the doctors. Septimus truly hated the doctors and placed special emphasis on their use of the word “must” in their prescriptions, where Septimus felt he must do things because the doctors told him. After Septimus’ death, Rezia hears Dr. Holmes: “She must be brave and drink something, he said (What was it? Something sweet), for her husband was horribly mangled, would not recover consciousness, she must not see him, must be spared as much as possible, would have the inquest to go through, poor young woman” (146). Later on, there is the sentence “But they must do as the doctors said” (147). While Rezia herself does not say that she is bothered by the word “must,” it still comes up a lot in our final paragraphs with Rezia.

Readers leave Rezia in an ominous position: “She saw the large outline of his body standing dark against the window. So that was Dr. Holmes” (147). Rezia finally fully sees and understands the Dr. Holmes that Septimus saw. By showing Holmes as a dark figure against the window in Rezia’s point of view, Woolf shows readers that Rezia knows the cruelty of Holmes and that Rezia suffers similarly to Septimus.

That is where Rezia disappears and readers are left to wonder what would happen to her next. Woolf could have just as easily omitted this part of the story, cutting off where Septimus dies. But I think she includes it to prove a point: that when Rezia underwent a traumatic event, she easily sees the reasoning behind Septimus’ behavior; that responses like Septimus’ are not unsual when someone has been traumatized. Throughout the novel, I tended to think of Rezia's perspective as normal, but Woolf shows how quickly that can all change. 

Thoughts?