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.