Perhaps more than any other conflict in history, the First World War simultaneously shattered an old world that generations of individuals had known for centuries and at the same time ushered in a new era of a more brutal type of warfare. The generation before the First World War was the last of the old ways, with the glory of combat on the battlefield and of strong morals at home. World War One effectively shattered these traditions. As World War One ushered in a more savage form of combat, honor and glory were replaced with waves of men being cut down by new deadly weapons. The new era that the First World War ushered in also brought with it a new wave of novels directly from the veterans themselves. Probably the most influential writer to come out of this period, besides Erich Maria Remarque, was American writer Ernest Hemingway.
             Ernest Hemingway, both a veteran of World War One and a well-known expatriate in Paris, was the best voice for that generation. From his experiences, he wrote perhaps his best work, The Sun Also Rises. The purpose of this novel was to show the world what had become of the lost generation, and it does this effectively in both a direct and implied way, as Hemingway himself admits. Thus it is understandable that "the war is inescapable in the attitudes and conditions of the characters" (Martin 8). His novel, more than any other on the subject of the First World War, shows the moral bankruptcy of his generation. Because of this, it is therefore a true "study in moral failure"(Reynolds 45). While it is true the novel does present moral failure, the novel is much more complex than that. It is a study of the First World War's effect on the individuals who endured both the war itself and the aftershocks that came after it. And through the themes of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway has shown generations of readers the far-reaching effects of the First World War.
             Perhaps the greatest theme in The Sun Also Rises ...