What happens in Book II, Chapter 17 of The Sun Also Rises?
Book II, Chapter 17 begins after the chaotic violence of the fiesta. Jake Barnes and his friends are scattered and emotionally drained. Mike Campbell, filled with bitterness and alcohol, stays behind in Pamplona, while Brett Ashley has vanished with the bullfighter Pedro Romero. Jake gets a telegram from Brett asking him to come to Madrid, where she has sent Romero away and is now alone at the Hotel Montana. He takes the train to Madrid, finds Brett in a messy room, and listens as she explains why she ended things with Romero — she couldn’t bear the thought of ruining him, as he was too good, too young, and too clean for the inevitable fallout of their relationship. They share drinks and take a taxi ride through Madrid, during which Brett expresses the familiar, empty fantasy that they could have had a life together. Jake responds with a quietly heartbreaking remark. The novel concludes on this ironic note: movement without reaching a destination, desire without satisfaction, the open road symbolizing both hope and mockery.
Analysis
Hemingway's craft in this final chapter largely relies on subtraction. Emotion emerges from what characters choose not to say, and the prose is stripped down to reflect the moral exhaustion of the Lost Generation it depicts. Brett's choice to let Romero go stands as the novel's only true act of self-sacrifice, yet Hemingway avoids sentimentalizing it — she expresses it in negatives ("I'm not going to be one of those bitches") instead of affirmatives, keeping her distanced from any notion of heroism.
The taxi ride through Madrid echoes the opening taxi scene in Paris, creating a structural frame around the entire narrative: Jake and Brett are in motion, together yet out of reach from one another. The city itself — sun-drenched and indifferent — acts as an ironic pastoral, a false Eden that emphasizes the impossibility of return or renewal.
Hemingway's iceberg principle is most evident in Jake's final line. The surface feels sardonic, almost dismissive; the underlying depth conveys grief, acceptance, and a quiet closing of hope. The tone subtly shifts from Brett's wistful subjunctive ("Oh, Jake… we could have had such a damned good time together") to Jake's flat indicative — a grammatical reflection of the divide between fantasy and reality.
This chapter also wraps up the novel's exploration of the code hero: Romero, untainted, walks away whole. Jake, the wounded observer, remains. The real loss isn't romantic but existential — the understanding that grace under pressure doesn't ensure escape from circumstance.
Key quotes from Book II, Chapter 17
“"Oh, Jake," Brett said, "we could have had such a damned good time together."”
Brett speaks from the back of a Madrid taxi, voicing the novel's central, unanswerable longing in the closing moments of the book.
“"Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"”
Jake's reply — the novel's last line — deflates Brett's fantasy with a single, iceberg-loaded sentence that has become one of the most analysed closings in American fiction.
“"He's wilder than you think. He's not just a bull-fighter."”
Brett defends her decision to send Romero away, insisting on the depth of what she chose to relinquish rather than corrupt.