The Sun Also Rises Chapter 19
The following day, Jake, Bill, and Mike hire a car to take them to Bayonne. Mike gambles away all of his money. Brett had given all of her remaining money to Mike before leaving with Pedro. They drop Mike off at a place called Saint Jean de Luz, while Jake and Bill continue. These two-part ways when Bill leaves on a train from Bayonne.
Jake “makes friends” by tipping generously. He is careful to give large tips to those whom he anticipates meeting again, but only tips the minimum to those he does not plan to meet again. He notes that to get people to like you in France, you only need to spend some money.
The next day, Jake takes a train to San Sebastian, where he plans to relax for a few days. However, he soon receives two messages, both from Brett, imploring him to come to Madrid, where she is “in trouble.” Jake immediately makes arrangements to travel to Madrid.
Upon arrival, Brett kisses Jake. She explains that she has sent Pedro away from her, not wanting to corrupt him. Brett says that she doesn’t want to talk about it, but proceeds to do nothing more than to talk about it. She says that Pedro was at first embarrassed about her appearance, and asked her to grow her short hair out to a more ladylike length. Pedro even wanted to marry her. Brett then tells Jake that now she wants to return to Mike.
The two go to a bar for drinks, then to a restaurant to eat. They drink more there. Brett asks Jake not to get drunk, but he insists that he is fine.
They get into a taxi, and Jake has his arm around Brett. Brett expresses that the two of them would have been good together as a couple. In a symbolic moment, closing the story, the taxi brakes hard, at the command of a traffic officer. Jake’s and Brett’s bodies are pressed together, as Jake replies, “Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so?”
Analysis
We see that Jake will always obey the whims and fancies of Brett, regardless of her behavior. This justifies Jake’s philosophy that equal trade, or appropriate results from given behaviors, are not valid. Her shallow and abusive nature is no match for Jake’s love for her. He runs to her, even being fully aware of the damage she will continue to do to his sanity.
Yet, Brett still appears to have developed the small seed of conscience, as she has sent Pedro away for his good. She realizes that otherwise, she will corrupt his pure nature, and like all other men before him, she will leave him heartbroken, and worse for the wear. She, possibly for the first time, unselfishly sends him away from her.
This final chapter expresses Jake’s loneliness. He remains alone and has accepted this as his permanent condition. His sexual disability is permanent, and he will probably never love another, as much as he loves Brett. Yet, even in the closing scene, which is charged with sexual innuendo (such as the two being pressed tightly together in the cab), the finality of never, ever having a chance to be together is finally let go, with Jake’s response. He no longer holds out hope, and he no longer thinks that there’s a possibility of finding some way to make it work. He admits the fatality of their chance to be together by expressing that having that type of relationship is nothing but a fantasy of the past.
