Malak Kanan

11/20/16

That is what you are. That's what you all are ... all of you young people who served in
the war. You are a lost generation. Gertrude Stein, an American novelist, stated the quote about
the Lost generation, which was the generation post WW1. The group of people that made up the
Lost generation were those who came of age during or post WW1. The Lost generation
reputation came to be after writers began characterizing it through their new ways of writing; for
example, they would use their experiences that resulted in their unbearable feeling of loneliness.
The characteristics associated with the Lost generation are loneliness, hopelessness, and
unhappiness. Characteristics of this generation prove that the Lost generation were depressed
people. Many people correlate the depressed feeling of the generation to the fact that theyve just
suffered through the pain of war. Depression could be seen throughout the writings of authors
who came to be in the Lost generation.
Ernest Hemingway, a writer who wrote throughout the Lost generation, wrote plenty of
stories indicating who and how the Lost generation was. A very short story was one of his Lost
generation stories. The story was about two lovers who loved each other during the war, but they
were separated because the boy wanted to find a job before they marry. The couple would then
go on to cheat on one another after their separation. The story ended with this statement, The
major did not marry her in the spring, or any other time. Luz never got an answer to the letter to
Chicago about it. A short time after he contracted gonorrhea from a sales girl in a loop
department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park (Hemingway 7). Because the
ending was the ending of something that was once beautiful, it displayed the lives of those who
lived in the Lost generation as a generation that couldnt be happy and lost hope for those they
loved. Luz, the woman the man loved, cheated and claimed she never loved him despite the love
they had for one another during the war. The man would also then cheat on Luz and contract an
STD. The ending just demonstrated how even though a person in the lost generation was once
happy, they would become sad and lonely after the war because all they love would leave them.
Another story written by Hemingway that indicates that the Lost generation was The
Killers. The story was about how two men were hunting another man down, so they tracked him
down to the very place where he eats and held the workers hostage. While the workers were held
hostage, the men waited to see if the man would come in to eat; if the man would come in they
would shoot him dead at the spot. The man ended up not showing up, so after the killers left the
workers decided to tell him. During the warning the worker gave to the man being hunted down,
the man would responds like, I was up at Henry's, Nick said, and two fellows came in and tied
up me and the cook, and they said they were going to kill you.
It sounded silly when he said it. Ole Andreson said nothing.
They put us out in the kitchen," Nick went on. "They were going to shoot you when you
came in to supper.
 Ole Andreson looked at the wall and did not say anything.
George thought I better come and tell you about it.
There isn't anything I can do about it, Ole Andreson said.
I'll tell you what they were like.
I don't want to know what they were like," Ole Andreson said. He looked at the wall.
"Thanks for coming to tell me about it.
That's all right.
Nick looked at the big man lying on the bed.
Don't you want me to go and see the police?
No, Ole Andreson said. That wouldn't do any good.
Isn't there something I could do?
No. There ain't anything to do (Hemingway 38). Because the man being hunted down
responded with such calmness despite the fact that hes being hunted down to be killed, it
indicates that the Lost generation doesnt care about dying. Theyre hopeless and unhappy, so
why would they try to live a life that consists of sadness. It also indicates how people at the time
of the Lost generation were hopeless because after the talk with Ole Andreson the worker gave
up trying to convince to leave town. The worker lost hope after one try, so that expresses the lack
of motivation the worker has although the life of someone he knew was being threatened. Ole
Andreson was a lonely man with no hope of the future, so he didnt run away from the people
who wanted to kill him. Ole Andreson represents the Lost generation because theyre a group of
unhappy, lonely, and hopeless people who gave up on life because they dont have a purpose.
Ernest Hemingway also wrote The End of Something during the Lost generation. The
story was about a man who broke up with this lover after an afternoon of fishing. The reason for
the breakup was because he didnt find it fun, so he just ended it. The breakup was brought up in
the text with these statements, Isn't love any fun? Marjorie said.

No, Nick said. Marjorie stood up. Nick sat there, his head in his hands.

I'm going to take the boat, Marjorie called to him. You can walk back around the point.

All right, Nick said. I'll push the boat off for you.

You don't need to, she said. She was afloat in the boat on the water with the moonlight
on it. Nick went back and lay down with his face in the blanket by the fire. He could hear
Marjorie rowing on the water (Hemingway 4). The breakup happening was just another
indication that there was no hope because the man lost all hope for the relationship between him
and his lover. Also, the woman taking the separation so easily indicates that she had lost hope for
them quick after the breakup and wanted to be alone. The fact that the characters both wanted to
be alone after a sorrowful situation implies that the Lost generation was lonely because they
were so sad. Everything for the Lost generation was ending because they lost hope for
everything.
The Lost generation was a generation of hopelessness, unhappiness, and loneliness.
Although these traits were seen in the Lost generation, theyre still seen today. Many of the
reasons why the Lost generation was so sorrowful was because it was the generation after WW1.
Those who were exposed to WW1 were traumatized and made to deal with all they suffered in
the war for the rest of their lives. The soldiers turned their sorrow into alcoholism or even
writing. These traits are seen today as well. Our United States government is so obsessed with
war because theyre not the ones fighting it. Our government is sending out young men into wars
that fight for the benefit of those in power, not those in need of power. Young men are left to
deal with the pain of war so that older men would remain powerful. Those young men feel
lonely, unhappy, and hopeless because they were exposed to war and the loss of the ones they
loved. Maybe, just maybe, we all are lost. The lost generation would maybe remain till we all
learn to live peacefully amongst one another without the pain of war.