“‘Oh, go to hell.’
He stood up from the table his face white, and stood there white and angry behind the little plates of hors d’œuvres. ‘Sit down,’ I said. Don’t be a fool.’
‘You’ve got to take that back.’
‘Oh, cut out the prep-school stuff.’
‘Take it back.’
‘Sure. Anything. I never heard of Brett Ashley. How’s that?’
‘No. Not that. About me going to hell.’
‘Oh, don’t go to hell,’ I said. ‘Stick around. We’re just starting lunch.’
Cohn smiled again and sat down. He seemed glad to sit down. What the hell would he have done if he hadn’t sat down? ‘You say such damned insulting things, Jake…. You’re really about the best friend I have, Jake.’
God help you, I thought.”
-The Sun Also Rises, p 47
In this passage, we see a glimpse of that “hard, Jewish, stubborn streak” (p 18) that Jake had already mentioned earlier. By writing Cohn like this, Hemingway places him within the stereotype that was held by mainstream America at the time concerning Jewish people. Cohn is depicted as extremely stubborn and rigid in ideals. He is also portrayed as increasingly short-tempered and testy. Yet Hemingway then proceeds to show that Cohn truly is not a fighter; in fact, it only takes a sarcastic apology from Jake to immediately put Cohn back at ease.
By giving Cohn such weak qualities and then repeatedly commenting on Cohn’s Judaism, Hemingway implies a stereotype that was prevalent at the time. Hemingway does nothing to refute the idea that Jews are stubbornly short-tempered, yet easy to please and, therefore, rather dim-witted. Considering how important Cohn seems to be to the plot, it almost seems like Hemingway is avoiding creating any sort of depth beside the expected depth of a Jew at the time.
I have always wondered what made Jewish people have such bad reputations. I remember learning that they were the bankers and had money during periods in history when nobody else did, but what caused them to be hated and stereotyped? I also wondered why Heminways went along with the stereotype and didn't try to give them a break.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that later in the book as well; the casual anti-Semitism is a bit unnerving, especially considering the events that would occur about ten to twenty years after this book's publication...Perhaps this casual, almost de facto anti-Semitism was one of the reasons people were so slow to believe the reports of the Holocaust.
ReplyDeleteThat is true... although don't you think that the de facto anti-Semitism would tigger the thought that if others don't like the Jewish people, why wouldn't they someone would do horrible things. Also the Jews were the scapegoats for the disasterous WWI in Germany, so I do not know why people would not think that Germany would punish them. My diagnosis... it was just a messed up time.
ReplyDeletestock character, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI thought he bordered on being a stock character, but he seemed to have a bit of individuality...just not that much.
ReplyDelete