Debased: Hemingway’s Not-So-Destructive Portrayal of Alcoholism in The Sun Also Rises
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Issue Date
2015-04-10
Authors
Treadwell, Matthew
Publisher
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Abstract
I first examine the xenophobic motivations of the 1920’s prohibitionist movement through their backing of legislative policies like the “Johnson-Reed Act of 1924,” and their alliance with organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. I also explore some of the social correlations (such as widespread disregard for prohibition in urban areas with large immigrant populations) that led many prohibitionists to adopt nationalist beliefs. I then investigate Hemingway’s portrayal of alcohol in The Sun Also Rises as a form of subversion against not only the racist ideologies of the prohibitionists, but their belief that consuming alcohol was an immoral affair.