A Simple Exchange Of Values: Money In The Sun Also Rises

Throughout The Sun Also Rises, money is a central metaphor. Although scholars have paid a great deal of attention to money in the novel, they have largely failed to move beyond its explicit mentions to examine economics more broadly or to analyze money outside the context of the Hemingway ‘code.’ In this essay, I argue that the characters’ use of money classifies them socially in terms of gender, titles, and religion, and that these social classifications form their own economies beyond explicit monetary exchange. Additionally, I argue that money positions the expatriates culturally, since the majority of their interactions with French and Spanish nationals are mediated by money and since characters such as Jake Barnes even evaluate France and Spain in terms of the function of money in those countries. Together, these modes of analysis expand the critical conversation surrounding money in The Sun Also Rises to incorporate new perspectives and to move beyond simplistic readings of a central metaphor in a novel, which so rarely provides simple answers.