What are some similarities and differences between today's society and the society in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises?

Despite the long span of years that separates contemporary society from the society of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, the novel is still relevant and contains many similarities to the current cultural climate. The two similarities that I want to focus on are gender roles and technological advancement.

The Sun Also Rises chronicles a time of great social change, especially in terms of gender roles. Published in the middle of the 1920s, the...

Despite the long span of years that separates contemporary society from the society of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, the novel is still relevant and contains many similarities to the current cultural climate. The two similarities that I want to focus on are gender roles and technological advancement.

The Sun Also Rises chronicles a time of great social change, especially in terms of gender roles. Published in the middle of the 1920s, the novel arrived at a time when women were gaining greater independence in many countries and challenging traditional gender roles that subordinated women to men. In the novel, one of Hemingway's primary goals is to find a definition for masculinity within the context of rapidly evolving gender roles. This trend has definite similarities to contemporary society; while the United States has come a long way since the 1920s, society still has much progress to make before true gender equality can be realized. Thus, as in Hemingway's time, many individuals, both men and women, are still trying to redefine masculine and feminine roles in society.

Additionally, the society in The Sun Also Rises experienced rapid technological advancement. Cars were becoming more accessible, economies were adapting to increased manufacturing, and the world had just witnessed the atrocities that advanced weaponry had brought on the battlefield in World War I. Likewise, our own society is seeing a glut of technological evolution, with cell phones, social media, and computers taking on roles of greater and greater importance. Just as individuals struggled to make sense of human life in the midst of the increased technological presence during the '20s, so too are members of our own society trying to define what it means to be human in the age of Facebook and iPhones. 

In short, the 1920s were a period of swift advancement in all spheres of life, and society was changing rapidly. As such, it bears many similarities to our own quickly changing society, despite the fact that the book was published nearly 100 years ago.