...in which I take back some of what I said about the characters in The Sun Also Rises. Not all of it, not most of it, but some of it.
Pedro and Cohn:
After reading the last few chapters of TSAR, I find a few of the characters less repulsive than before. As mentioned in the previous post, Cohn gained back some decency by avoiding Brett and (possibly) reuniting with Frances. His immaturity and naivete were passed on to Pedro Romero, who was pretty sure that Brett was the love of his life and would make a great spouse if she would just become an "honest woman" and grow her hair out. Maybe Pedro took some of Cohn's irrationality.
Brett:
She solves her Pedro problem. She shows signs of considering how her lifestyle affects others (aka deciding "not to be a bitch"). She actually seems kind of caring when she tells Jake not to get drunk. Trouble is, her conversion is too sudden. An about-face at the end of the book can't make me like a character I've spent two hundred pages disliking.
Jake:
The last line of the book makes me hate Jake a lot less than I did when I wrote the previous post. It's entirely possible that this is just my dark interpretation of the wording, but by saying "isn't it pretty to think so?", Jake indicates that he at least realizes he can't be with Brett. This is a big flip from earlier in the book when it seemed like Jake wanted to get back together with Brett and she was the one resisting the idea (granted, she didn't want Jake to come with her to San Sebastian because she intended to be with Cohn)...
...which means that Jake has actually changed over the course of the story.
YES!!!
I like characters who change, even if the change is a transition from insanity (when defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results) to resignation. Jake's transformation is somewhat less abrupt than Brett's, since he starts to realize he has screwed up when Montoya stops smiling at him (there's Montoya again... my favorite character in the book). Still, he was kinda boring for much of the book, so his extant character arc is merely improves my opinion to something warmer than apathy.
And I still don't understand where everyone's money comes from.
Montoya was probably my favorite character as well! So it was a bit sad for me when Montoya started acting cold towards Jake (because I like Jake as well). In my group's panel presentation, we discussed how the author of the article presented Jake as having changed quite a bit in his attitude towards masculinity, and I feel that he did change in regards to his attitude towards Brett. But except for the last several pages, I see how you consider Jake as a "stuck" character, and while I do enjoy characters that develop, I liked Jake a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right...Mike's a total bankrupt as is Brett, how do they afford trains and hotels and dinners and wine every night!
It seems to me that Jake/Hemingway "forgives" Romero's "naivete" more readily than Cohn's, although it's definitely interesting how close their ideals for Brett's love turn out to be. Cohn should know better--he's a grown man, and he's ostensibly part of this modern crew who don't go around making scenes like this. Romero is a "boy," without a lot of experience with women (so he's in WAY over his head with Brett!), and his traditionalism is connected to a distinguished long line of matadors, whereas Cohn's traditionalism just seems outdated, silly, and misplacedly chivalrous.
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