Brett and Jake
"I am sure he had never been in love in his life. He had married on the rebound from the rotten time he had in college, and Frances took him on the rebound from his discovery that he had not been everything to his first wife."
Jake throughout the book is hard, stubborn, and skeptical. He silently and verbally judges relationships, writing the majority off as loveless or dysfunctional. This heavily contrast with his behavior with Brett.
"'It's funny,' I said. 'It's very funny. And it's a lot of fun, too, to be in love.'
'Do you think so?' her eyes looked flat again.
'I don't mean fun that way. In a way it's an enjoyable feeling.'
'No,' she said. 'I think it's hell on earth.'"
He is mopey and almost needy. "Don't you love me?" he asks Brett, looking for condolences after she refuses to kiss him. But outside, he almost adopts her attitude towards love. Brett took on that attitude after the death of her husband, and he took it on after the death of their relationship. When he's with her, he is blindsided by her charm and his puppy dog dopiness, contrasting starkly with his unfeeling, masculine persona outside. refusing to cry. The parallels between Brett and Jake are evident, but along closer examination, Jake's lost love is Brett, but hers is not him. She undoubtedly loves Jake, but it almost appears as if she reminds him of her husband- the wounded war veteran, broken, reminds her of happier times and the man she loved so dearly. They met when Jake was in the war, with her love likely alive. His persona is almost a souvenir, a piece of what she once had, or at least that is what appears to be reflected in the way she treats him. She cannot spend too much time with him, telling him she loves him and leaving him minutes later, coming to him in times of emotional vulnerability and disappearing.
"He is blindsided by her charm and his puppy dog dopiness, contrasting starkly with his unfeeling, masculine persona outside, refusing to cry." I very good line I may say that demonstrates Jake's character when he is with Brett. Also the "puppy dog dopiness" made me laugh lol. Anyways, I like the points you make. We don't get a full telling of Jake's emotions when he is with Brett because Hemingway, like many scenes throughout this book thus far, doesn't explicitly tell us what his character is feeling emotionally and we have to pick it apart from this reporter-like style of narration. However, we can definitely tell through discussions of our interpretations that Jake's language, actions, and what he narrates does show us things about how he is feeling and how he is around Brett. Nice post :)
ReplyDeleteYeah I definitely agree that Jake seems to be more in love with Brett than Brett is with him. I guess she does act like she loves him when they're alone, but she doesn't seem to take their relationship as seriously as Jake does. I would like to see how she acts with the other men she's involved with when they're alone and how that compares to her and Jake. I hadn't thought about the possible similarities between Jake and Brett's husband, but the comparison makes a lot of sense. She could definitely be using him as some sort of temporary replacement for the man she lost, which would explain her only spending short periods of time with him.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that Brett coming back to Jake for short periods of time whenever she is in need of emotional support is a reflection of her conflicting feelings for him. She knows that she will not be able to have a fulfilling relationship with someone who cannot have sex. Yet, she has an emotional connection to Jake that keeps her tied to him. She can't bring herself to move on, although she does seem to be trying. Jake, on the other hand, knows that he wants to be with Brett and because she keeps coming back to him, he still has false hope about their relationship.
ReplyDeleteI like your take about Jake being "a piece of what she once had" as well. It's a really interesting assertion that Brett's love for Jake stems from the fact that he reminds her of her true love.