, an image that conveys the emotional truth of the novel as the author feels and perceives it. And the image is an epiphany of the fatal collision of the absolutes, culminating in a polarity upon which the entire novel is constructed. Thus all modes of tragedy operative in the novel converge without disharmony in its thematic implication: 'Life is tragic; one defines oneself by the action he takes against catastrophes'" (Williams 141-42).
If Robert Jordan is the major character of For Whom The Bell Tolls, and if his character is defined by the action he takes, then Jake Barnes is the major character of The Sun Also Rises, and his character is defined by his inaction, or at least by his willingness to let others define him through their actions.
As we read from Hemingway's novel itself, in a
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