Rhetorical Question

In Chapter IV, Brett & Jake get into some pretty intense dialogue in the taxi cab on page 34. Their conversation turns to deep, thought-provoking statements for the reader to ponder on themselves. Hemingway even furthers the intensity of the conversation with a rhetorical question made by Brett. As she begins to unload her miseries on Jake, she takes the role of oh-woe-is-me and asks him, "Don't we always pay for all the things we do, though?" She answers her question after a pause in the dialogue to add for effect, saying, "When I think of all the hell I've put chaps through. I'm paying for it all now." Brett's rhetorical question positions her to be exactly where she wishes to be; she wants to make herself look less guilty in Jake's eyes. In addition to this being a critical part of the dialogue, I do believe Hemingway wanted to make a deeper point however. I think he wanted the reader to pause and take a moment to reflect on his point. We all pay for our mistakes, somehow or another, during our lifetime; to most people it is commonly known as karma. If this is so, it certainly worked on me. It made me hesitate for a moment before continuing to read the rest of the chapter.