The Sun Also Rises: The Indefinite Pronoun "It"

In the novel The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway uses the indefinite pronoun "it" to express the idea that simple, insignificant words can show a surreptitious meaning that the reader may have been unaware of. As the novel reaches the end, Jake Barnes, the main character, states to his companion, Lady Brett Ashley, "Isn't it pretty to think so?" The meaning behind the word "it" is presented to the reader in a form that requires some ingenuity to decipher the intent that Hemingway had on placing that word in that final line.
Throughout the course of the novel the word "it" is used constant…