Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun...

Chapter XVII has a lot of action occurring in it. Basically, Cohn goes berserk on all of his friends and whips out his boxing skills because of Brett's newest fling with Romero. That disturbance leads to the important point that Brett has ditched Mike for the nineteen year old bullfighter; Mike handles this fact pretty well with the aid of alcohol. However, in this chapter, the thing that caught my attention was not the fighting, nor the new affair of Brett's. When Mike is retelling the events of the previous night, he gives everyone an insight into a part of Lady Brett Ashley's life. She did not always have the greatest, easiest time of it in her marriage to the man who we only know by the surname Ashley. Mike tells of terrifying parts of her marriage, such as how he "always made Brett sleep on the floor," or he "used to tell her he'd kill her," or how he "always slept with a loaded service revolver. Brett used to take the shells out when he'd gone to sleep" (pg 207). The entire story had lead me to strongly disliking Brett; it irritated me that she could play so many men and act as if she felt sorry for her actions. However, Mike's drunken revealing of one of the secrets of Brett's life allowed me the ability to feel a sense of compassion for a woman who was treated in that way.

The Itch They Just Can't Scratch

In Chapter XVI, the gang attacks Cohn and tells him to his face (again) that the group wants him to "go away, for God's sake. Take that sad Jewish face away"(pg 181) as stated by Mike. Cohn is especially beginning to get on Mike's nerves because of the tryst he had with Brett in San Sebastian earlier in the novel. Mike becomes so enraged at Cohn in this chapter that he berates him saying "do you think you belong here with us?...Why don't you see when you're not wanted Cohn? Go away"(pg 181). The tension between the two throughout the novel up to this point was bubbling below the surface; therefore, when Mike finally snaps, the blow up is horrendous, which is enough to create feelings of pity in the reader for the annoying Cohn. But it is important to recognize that it is not only Mike who is irritated by him. Brett and Jake later prove their exasperation as well in a dialogue between the two on page 185). Brett is a wench to Cohn in order to get rid of him and inquires of Jake, "Was I rude enough to him? My God! I'm so sick of him!" Jake agrees with her saying, "He doesn't add much to the gayety. He's behaved very badly." In a way, I feel bad for Cohn; he has deeply rooted feelings of insecurity and poor self-esteem. But the bigger issue I see here is the fact that he thinks he is superior to the rest of the group, which can only anger everyone else. Moreover, he slept with the fiance of one of the men in the gang; not to mention, the fiance is the true love of his best friend. I believe Cohn is experiencing what he deserves.

Vernacular

Chapter XV contains the literary term vernacular. It is actually applied many times throughout the entire novel depending on what country the crew is in. In this specific instance, the group is in Spain witnessing the running of the bulls and the bull-fighting events; therefore, the Spanish language works its way into the chapter in quite a few paragraphs. Spanish words or phrases are spoken by both the 'crew' and the Spanish people. In this chapter, the words I found were "arriba," "fiesta," "peseta," "aficianados," "mucho suerte," "torero," "matadors," "barrera," "picadors," and "jota" (pages 162-171). Quite a few of these Spanish words were necessary for me to look up in order to continue to understand the novel. For instance, I knew that the word fiesta translates to party. However, I did not know that the word torero meant bullfighter, which is incredibly pertinent to understanding this part of the novel. In recognizing the different vernacular, I now understand why it is so useful; it makes the reader focus more intently on the story. Seeing Spanish words definitely caused me to pay better attention to the story and have a better understanding of the novel in this chapter.

Dream A Little Dream

Chapter XIV contains no dialogue, which is odd for this book. It is simply the internal musings and reflections of a highly intoxicated Jake while he is attempting to fall asleep. In his thoughts, Jake has several deep thoughts while fighting his insomnia, which all occur on page 152. The individual, of course, who inspires him to say these things is Brett Ashley. The first major thought is "in the first place, you had to be in love with a woman to have a basis of friendship." This seems to me to be a very large statement the author is actually trying to make; Hemingway clearly must have certain views on women. And since I am not a guy, I don't know if this is the case in all the minds of men. Moving on to the next statement, Hemingway composes a series of thoughts. Jake says, "You gave up something and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid in some way for everything that was good...Either you paid by learning about them, or by experiences, or by taking chances, or by money." I personally believe that this is a very valid statement. It's somewhat comparable to karma; in order to have something good happen, one must pay for it in some way. I know I, as well as many others, have witnessed or experienced what Jake (or Hemingway) is saying. For his final thought, Jake ponders, "That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward. No, that must be immorality." He is struggling with morality. We all question the boundaries and limits of morals and rules in our world, and Jake/Hemingway is no exception. This question is a difficult one to think about, and Jake struggles with finding an answer to satisfy himself. After these thought-provoking musings, Jake quickly attempts to move on to lighter topics, leaving the reader with questions of his or her own.

Flat Character

Chapter XIII introduces a new character to The Sun Also Rises; in the chapter, he does not undergo any changes, rather Jake portrays him as the same throughout. The character I am referring to is the Englishman named Wilson-Harris. Wilson-Harris is introduced into the story as "very pleasant"(pg 130). In his brief appearance, he does not have the time to evolve into something more. Jake and Bill are drawn to Harris, as they nickname him because as Bill says, "we're so fond of you" (pg 132). Harris is a kind-hearted man; he buys the men alcohol, shares stories with them, and presents the two men with fishing gifts. When it comes time for the men to leave, Bill asks Jake, "Say, wasn't that man nice?"(pg 133) Obviously, Harris has not changed, but stayed flat. The word "nice" can be used to sum up the man.
Another part that made me pay special attention to Harris was the fact that all three men were in World War I. Clearly, there was a special bond between the three that only soldiers can share. Their fast friendship reminded me very much of the bonds formed in The Things They Carried. It made me again consider how the bonds of friendship can be so easily and quickly formed.

Understatement

In Chapter XII, the literary term understatement appears on pages 122-123. The understatement actually occurs after quite a bit of dialogue between Bill and Jake. Jake explains to Bill, "we have to follow this road along the ridge, cross these hills, go through the woods on the far hills, and come down on the Irati valley." I could only imagine Bill's incredulous expression as he responds to Jake with "that's a hell of a hike." Jake then states outside of the dialogue "it was a long walk." He then speaks of the journey there and how affected the two were by the heat and the distance. Clearly, Jake saying it was a 'long walk' was an understatement. Since the walk was described by Bill as hellish, if Jake felt the need to repeat the traveling the two would have to do, he should have used words such as lengthy, distant, or extensive that provide powerful imagery and a better description. Long is an overused word that does nothing to add to Jake attempting to describe their walk. The hellish hike deserves a better adjective then the overused word 'long' making it a definite understatement.

Filling Up Pages

Chapter XI, to me, felt a hundred percent like a filler chapter. Actually, my honest opinion is that a lot of the book is Hemingway rambling on and on and on. In quite a few paragraphs throughout the novel so far, I feel like he loses his train of thought and consequently, forgets the point he is attempting to make. In much of his writing, he either goes into way too much detail, causing me to get totally lost, or not enough detail, causing me to be out of the loop. By this chapter, it is really starting to get on my nerves. I do not think it is necessary to write a step-by-step narrative of Jake's travels. He writes "we passed through a town and stopped in front of a posada, and the driver took on several packages" (pg 111). That sentence is in no way adding to the story; in fact, I believe it detracts from the novel because it has no relevance. An additional annoyance is how he continues to repeat himself. For instance on page 109, in Chapter XI, he says "it was baking hot" at the beginning of the paragraph; however, four sentences later (in the same paragraph!), he states again "it certainly was hot." The redundancy of these two sentences is ridiculous. I know that much of this novel is flying over my head, even though I read each page about three times. I am surprised by the fact that this novel is so difficult to get into, for Hemingway is one of the most famous American writers. Almost every American can identify who Hemingway was/is; this novel makes me wonder if his other books are as difficult to get through as this one. Is he actually infamous for long, boring novels?