Where Do They Go from Here?

“The three of us sat at the table, and it seemed as though about six people were missing.”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 228

This sentence sums up the general mood of the denouement. Cohn has left Spain, his spirit shattered. Brett has also left the city with Pedro Romero, though considering her past, it is anyone’s guess as to how long the relationship will actually last. Now only the three comrades remain: Mike, saddened and lonely now that his fiancée has left him; Bill, always happy and cheerful, now sobered slightly by the events of the past few days; and Jake, the man who has stood by and helped allow these events to happen.

The fiesta’s closing reflects the end of the conflict concerning Cohn and Brett. Just as the people of the city must now try and revert back to the way things were before the fiesta, so must these three try and return to the lives that they lived before the fiesta. This sentence is rather melancholy and bitter in nature, yet it accurately reflects the problem that these three men will now have to face. How will they move on after such an explosive fallout? Unfortunately, considering only twenty-three pages remain, I am not sure the reader will find out.

Stubborn as a Jewish Bull (Symbol)

“It was the bull that had sprinted out and killed the man in the morning running….When he had finished his work with the muleta and was ready to kill, the crowd made him go on. They did not want the bull killed yet, they did not want it to be over. Romero went on….The bull watched him. Romero spoke to the bull and tapped one of his feet. The bull charged and Romero waited for the charge, the muleta held low, sighting along the blade, his feet firm…The bull tried to go forward, his legs commenced to settle, he swung from side to side, hesitated, then went down on his knees…”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 223-224

I am starting this blog entry by stating that this may be seen as a bit of a stretch, but this is an observation that I made as I was reading this passage the first time. As I was reading the description of the final bullfight, I could not help but think that the bullfight was rather symbolic of Cohn’s struggles. Cohn seems to parallel the bull in several ways. Just as Brett constantly leads Cohn on, so does Romero lead the bull to his death. Yet even though the bull likely realizes to some extent the danger of his charge, it stubbornly plows on in its attempt to get its way. Similarly, Cohn has had several encounters with Mike and others that warn him of the foolishness of his obsession with Brett. Yet Cohn blindly ignores these warnings, charging on.

Finally, just as Romero kills the bull in its final charge, it is in Cohn’s final violent attempt to win Brett that his spirit is ultimately broken. Whether Hemingway intended the final bullfight to be symbolic or not, he draws a strong connection between the bull killed for pure enjoyment and the man whose spirit is broken because his friends enjoy his suffering.

The Reason behind It All (Motivation)

“‘Ashley, chap she got the title from, was a sailor, you know. Ninth baronet. When he came home he wouldn’t sleep in a bed. Always made Brett sleep on the floor. Finally, when he got really bad, he used to tell her he’d kill her. Always slept with a loaded service revolver. Brett used to take the shells out when he’d gone to sleep. She hasn’t had an absolutely happy life, Brett. Damned shame, too. She enjoys things so.’”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 207

In this passage, we finally learn Brett’s motivation. Before this paragraph, we had to just assume that Brett’s flirting and romantic escapades were simply a result of her flapper personality. Without a background story, we had to guess that Brett acted the way she did because of a 1920s culture that included new freedom for women. Upon reading this passage, though, we can see that this is not the case. Before her engagement to Mike, Brett was involved in an abusive marriage. Perhaps the abuse was not physical, but being told by one’s spouse that he is going to kill you definitely constitutes as abuse. I think Brett’s previous marriage has caused her to become emotionally and romantically unstable. Similarly to Cohn, she falls in love with any man who treats her with respect because she was not given any respect in her previous marriage.

Hemingway finally includes this explanation of Brett’s motivation not only as a commentary on abusive relationships, but also as a twist in our perception of Brett and—because we can now better see the similarity between her and Cohn—of Robert Cohn as well.

Breaking Point ("I Do Not Like Robert Cohn," La Quinta Parte) (External Conflict)

“‘I’ll make you tell me’—he stepped forward—‘you damned pimp.’

I swung at him and he ducked. I saw his face duck sideways in the light. He hit me and I sat down on the pavement. As I started to get on my feet he hit me twice. I went down backward under a table. I tried to get up and felt I did not have any legs. I felt I must get on my feet and try and hit him. Mike helped me up. Some one [sic] poured a carafe of water on my head. Mike had an arm around me, and I found I was sitting on a chair. Mike was pulling at my ears.

‘I say, you were cold.’”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 194-195

Finally, we see some action! This fight between Cohn, Jake, and Mike is at last tangible proof of the external conflict of The Sun Also Rises. Cohn’s struggle with his obsession with Brett has caused him to conflict with Brett and, by extension, Mike, Bill, and Jake as well. Throughout the novel, Cohn’s “Jewish stubbornness” has isolated him from the other friends. Instead of enjoying the company of his friends, he follows Brett to the point of stalking. He refuses to accept the fact that Brett does not love him; he is blinded by his own foolish and naïve belief that he is truly in love with her. This belief, coupled with his short-temperedness, constantly drives Cohn to be at odds with the rest of the party. In this passage, it is clear that Cohn has finally snapped. What worries me is what he will do next.

"Love"

“‘I’m a goner. I’m mad about the Romero boy. I’m in love with him, I think.’

‘I wouldn’t be if I were you.’

‘I can’t help it. I’ve never been able to help anything.’

‘You ought to stop it.’

‘How can I stop it? I can’t stop things.’”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 187

Reading this passage, it occurred to me that romantically, Cohn and Brett are actually remarkably similar. Both display a sort of romantic naïveté; upon meeting a person once or twice, they both believe they are in love. Cohn fell in love with his first wife because she was nice to him, then fell in love with Frances because she stayed with him. Now he is in love with Brett because of their vacation in San Sebastian.

Brett is not much better than Cohn; in many ways, actually, she is worse. First she is in love with Jake, and still claims to love him; yet she is also in love with Mike, despite her clear annoyance with him. Now she is in love with Pedro because he’s dangerous and graceful. Without knowing really anything about Pedro, other than the fact that he’s a bullfighter, Brett claims that she is “in love with him.” To me, it almost seems a bit unfair that only Cohn is being criticized for his romantic endeavors; Lady Brett has been doing the same thing for years.

I Do Not Particularly Like Mike Campbell, Either ("I Do Not Like Robert Cohn," La Cuarta Parte) (Protagonist/Antagonist)

“‘Oh, don’t stand up and act as though you were going to hit me. That won’t make any difference to me. Tell me, Robert. Why do you follow Brett around like a poor bloody steer? Don’t you know you’re not wanted? I know when I’m not wanted. Why don’t you know when you’re not wanted? You came down to San Sebastian where you weren’t wanted, and followed Brett around like a bloody steer. Do you think that’s right?’”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 146

Another reason that I do not like Robert Cohn (though this isn’t really his fault) is that it is unclear whether or not he is the protagonist. In this passage, it appears that Cohn is in fact the protagonist, and Mike is the antagonist. In truth, however, I could see either Brett or Cohn dubbed the protagonist in The Sun Also Rises. On one hand, one could say that since Cohn’s obsession with Brett has thus far caused any action or plot progression that has taken. On the other hand, however, one could also say that if Brett had not gone on vacation with Cohn, and if she did not flirt with men other than her fiancé as much, then the plot would never have progressed.

The dynamic between Brett and Cohn clearly is an interesting one. If Cohn is viewed as the protagonist, then it appears that Mike—and, truthfully, all of the friends, considering no one wishes to stop Mike’s belittling of Cohn—is the antagonist. If Brett is viewed as the protagonist, however, the tables are turned; Cohn is seen as the likely antagonist. Brett repeatedly attempts to find love and peace of mind within her life, but Cohn’s obsession with her causes him to constantly get in the way of Brett’s pursuits. So…is Brett or Cohn the protagonist? You decide!

This Passage Has No Point

“He was the archivist, and all the archives of the town were in his office. That has nothing to do with the story. Anyway, his office had a green baize door and a big wooden door, and when I went out I left him sitting among the archives that covered all the walls, and I shut both the doors, and as I went out of the building into the street the porter stopped me to brush off my coat.

‘You must have been in a motor-car,’ he said. The back of the collar and the upper part of the shoulders were gray with dust.

‘From Bayonne.’

‘Well, well,’ he said. ‘I knew you were in a motor-car from the way the dust was.’ So I gave him two copper coins.”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 102

That also has nothing to do with the story. Actually, it seems that over half this story has nothing to do with the story. This passage occurs about two-fifths of the way through the novel, yet it is still unclear thus far what the actual conflict is. Hemingway has basically written pages and pages of mundane, mindless descriptions of everyday life with the hope that the quantity of writing might distract the reader from realizing that the quality of the writing is virtually nonexistent. Honestly, I would not complain if Hemingway chose to be overly descriptive if he actually progressed the plot occasionally. He seems to have hinted that whatever happened between Cohn and Brett in San Sebastian will likely cause some sort of conflict later in the novel. Thus far, though, that is all that we have learned concerning the actual plot; the rest of the writing has been consumed by mindless drivel about painfully ordinary events.

Perhaps if it is revealed that this porter who brushed off Jake’s coat outside the archivist’s office with two doors and apparently deserves two copper coins for his guess that Jake was in a motor-car—if you pay attention, he does not receive the coins for the service, but for his guess that Jake was in a car—perhaps if this man turns out to be Robert Cohn’s long-lost biological father, who will finally mend Cohn’s emotional wounds and give him a spine, then this passage will actually have some semblance of meaning. Otherwise, Hemingway is simply wasting space.

Flappers Do Not Make Good Social Workers

“Brett looked at me. ‘I say,’ she said, ‘is Robert Cohn going on this trip?’

‘Yes. Why?’

‘Don’t you think it will be a bit rough on him?’

‘Why should it?’

‘Who do you think I went down to San Sebastian with….I rather thought it would be good for him.’

‘You might take up social service.’”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 89

To be honest, I am not particularly fond of Brett. It seems as though her actions are at least partially well-intended; they are merely misguided. Perhaps some men would enjoy spending a vacation with a beautiful woman and then having to endure interacting with this same woman—and her fiancé—several times after this. Frankly, though, I fail to find such an experience anything but rather awkward.

Considering Cohn’s emotional instability, Brett’s actions seem even more foolish. While others might be able to move on after being with Brett, Cohn will not. His past relationships have been too damaged and flawed for him to be able to simply move on. It appears that this possible strain between Robert and Brett—or maybe between Robert and Mike—will likely be the conflict that Hemingway has yet to include in this novel. Stay tuned to see if Hemingway actually includes a plot!

Literary Waffling ("I Don't Like Robert Cohn," La Troisième Partie)

“Somehow I feel I have not shown Robert Cohn clearly. The reason is that until he fell in love with Brett, I never heard him make one remark that would, in any way, detach him from other people…Externally he had been formed at Princeton. Internally he had been molded [sic] by the two women who had trained him. He had a nice, boyish sort of cheerfulness that had never been trained out of him, and I probably have not brought it out. He loved to win at tennis. He probably loved to win as much as Lenglen, for instance. On the other hand, he was not angry at being beaten. When he fell in love with Brett his tennis game went all to pieces. People beat him who had never had a chance with him.”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 52

I find this paragraph slightly out of place. Here it seems that after spending fifty pages describing how stubborn and pathetic and exacerbating Robert Cohn is, Hemingway suddenly changes his mind and decided Cohn is not too of a fella after all. Personally, I just find it rather annoying. It would have served Hemingway much better to place this paragraph within the first five or ten pages of the novel, before the reader had already formed an image of Cohn. Frankly, I find it is much easier to change one’s opinion of a character from good to bad than from bad to good. It would have been much more effective to describe Cohn as a good person first, and then describe how Lady Brett affected his behavior. Instead, though, Hemingway shows Cohn’s behavior post-Brett exposure, then attempts to backtrack and prove in hindsight that Robert Cohn, despite fifty pages that say otherwise, is in fact a good person. I don’t believe it.

Hemingway's Cop Out ("I Don't Like Robert Cohn," La Deuxième Partie) (Stereotype)

“‘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.

You Sad Little Man (Part One in the "I Don't Like Robert Cohn" Saga-Because I Feel This Will Not Be My Only Post on the Subject)

“‘Listen, Jake,’ he leaned forward on the bar. ‘Don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already?’

‘Yes, every once in a while.’

‘Do you know that in about thirty-five years more we’ll be dead?’

‘What the hell, Robert,’ I said. ‘What the hell.’”

-The Sun Also Rises, p 19

Well, Robert Cohn sounds like a cheerful character, doesn’t he? It seems that Cohn might be suffering some sort of midlife crisis. Then again, given his history, a midlife crisis is not too surprising. Hemingway does an excellent job of depicting Cohn as a rather pathetic creature. A victim of culture shock, Cohn becomes embittered and self-conscious. He marries the first girl that smiles at him. He then is shocked by his wife’s departure from him, though considering he was planning on doing the same, it seems as though the shock is not so much from the departure as from the idea that he was not his wife’s entire world. He promptly falls into the same rut with Frances.

Now, Cohn is suddenly beginning to realize that perhaps he does not have to attach himself to the first woman that shows him a bit of kindness. I am not stating this to summarize the plot; I am proving his patheity (thank you, chacha.com, for providing the noun form of “pathetic”). It is evident that Cohn is suffering from some degree of depression—or at least self-awareness—yet Hemingway’s rather despicable description of Cohn makes it rather difficult to show any amount of pity for him. It appears as though Hemingway wants the reader to feel pity for Cohn; frankly, I feel more disgust.