![]() Cite this Quoteįor Robert, boxing emerges as a means to assert himself-his masculinity and his athleticism-despite the antisemitic perception that he is inferior due to his Jewishness. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. This motif is established in the opening pages of Chapter 1, when Jake remarks that Robert must have been ostracized in college: As a motif, Hemingway uses boxing as an opportunity to explore the competitive spirit of Jake and his friends before complicating-and threatening-their conception of its importance by introducing Romero and the world of bullfighting. Hemingway creates a juxtaposition between the brute violence of boxing and the stunning elegance and athleticism of bullfighting that is omnipresent throughout the portion of the novel set in Pamplona. This scene, though not a formal boxing match, has all the physicality of one. Mike had an arm around me, and I found I was sitting on a chair. Some one poured a carafe of water on my head. I felt I must get on my feet and try and hit him. I tried to get up and felt I did not have any legs. As I started to get on my feet he hit me twice. He hit me and I sat down on the pavement. I saw his face duck sideways in the light. There, the bullfight reigns supreme as the dominant cultural phenomenon, but Jake, Mike, and Robert still end up fighting: While Jake and his band of expatriates find entertainment in boxing as a competitive sport and an opportunity to gamble in Paris, any idea of boxing as a unique masculine ideal is quickly dashed upon arrival in Pamplona. “I’d like to see it, rather”-he was making an effort to pull himself together-“but I can’t go. Later in the same chapter, Bill tries to rally his friends to see a fight together: The reader’s first introduction to Bill Gorton, in Chapter 8, sees the character give a lengthy account of a fight in Vienna. ![]() It is true that she hurts many people along the way as she lashes out in pain, but she hurts herself even more.Throughout The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway continues to reference boxing. Her low self-esteem and guilt have caused her to enter into a self-destructive lifestyle where she continually punishes herself. To hurt Romero would be a bitch-like act, and she cannot do it (Withlow 155). He says,īrett is better than she wants to think herself, however, for this time she would not be causing discomfort to someone who deserves it (like Cohn and Mike Campbell) or to someone who consistently asks for it (like Jake). However, Withlow suggests (and I agree) that Brett is finally taking the right action in this case. One could look at this situation as another excuse to call her a bitch. Once in Madrid however, she leaves Romero who has offered to marry her. She used Jake as a pimp in order to get Romero. She had to have him even though she knew that it wasn’t the right thing to do. Over and over, Brett takes men in and then casts them aside.Īt the end of the novel, Brett leaves Romero. She uses Jake for comfort, support, and to get things that she wants she uses Jake as a pimp. She knows that he loves her and will do anything for her. Jake is the man she treats the worst though. In Pamplona, Brett has an open affair with Romero that she doesn’t even attempt to hide from her fiancé, Mike Campbell. She brushes him aside saying that she has her dance saved for Jake and then they are leaving. He is captivated by Brett, and he wants to dance with her. She brushes Robert Cohn aside when they first meet. At one point, she even sends him out to get some champagne, as if he were her servant. She drags the count across town to Jake’s flat where she proceeds to ignore him. For example, when she is out with the count, she has a sudden desire to go visit Jake. She does this to Jake Barnes, Robert Cohn, the count, Mike Campbell, and finally to Pedro Romero. She verbally puts them down and casts them aside when she wants to move on to another. She acts badly towards all of the men that she is with. Brett seems to use these men that she attracts and then seems to throw them away. Her beauty and personality attract many men throughout the story. Poster for the 1957 film Beauty on the Outside
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |