In the novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, a fiesta takes place as the main characters watch three professional bull fighters compete in their last day of fighting. Romero is a younger talented bull fighter on the upcoming; Marcial is seasoned bullfighter, he is good, but not great, and Belmonte had just recently come out of retirement to compete against Marcial in what is assumed to be one of his last bull-fights. Although, Belmonte’s return to glory was over shadowed by the incredibly high expectations of the crowd: “the public were disappointed because no real man could work as close to the bulls as Belmonte was supposed to have done, not, of course, even Belmonte” (217). The crowd wants to feel the same captivating fight as they did when Belmonte first started out, however, now that they know how he fights the crowd has moved onto cheering for someone else. Romero a young bull-fighter is now the favorite as he is carried out on the shoulders of the crowd after he wins his fight against the bull. Belmonte was no longer the fan favorite and Hemingway acknowledges this: “He no longer had his greatest moments in the bull-ring. He had flashes of the old greatness with his bulls. Pedro Romero had the greatness” (218). Belmonte is having to swallow the hard pill that he has been replaced. Belmonte is similar to Ed Tom Bell because they both are clinging onto what once was. They are now in the position to be replaced and as a way to easy the pain they both recount the days where they were still vital to their operation. They both feel that there line of work is now a younger man’s game and they should set aside, o matter how hard that is to do.
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Great American Novels 