Entry #9

Throughout the book, I have been given the impression that Jake and Robert Cohn are friends. Cohn even goes so far to call Jake his best friend, but I had been given the impression that Jake did not exactly share those same feelings.

"Why I felt that impulse to devil him I do not know. Of course I do know, I was blind, unforgivingly jealous of what happened to him. The fact that I took it as a matter of course did not alter that any. I certainly did hate him. I do not think I ever really hated him until he had that little spell of superiority at lunch..." (page 105).

This section affirmed my thought that Jake was getting fed-up with Cohn. He intentionally tortured his "best friend." I don't think that these two ever really seemed like best friends. Instead I though that Cohn just didn't have many friends and Jake was one person who was actually nice to him. This seems like a horrible life to me. He has what seems like an awful girlfriend, some friends who don't actually like him, and he is not happy with what he is doing and has done in life. Maybe all that partying and drinking has factored into all of this, but that's just speculation.

Entry #3

Paradox, page 23- "He loved her but he hated her."

While this statement may seem contradictory, it does reveal a truth. When i first read this, I was thinking that it is impossible to love and hate a person at the same time, but then I started to ponder about it. Sometimes, a person does things that make you so angry with them and you swear that you will never talk to them again and yet you still go back. People on the outside will have their own opinions and they will think you are wrong, but for some reason, you hate this person for what they do but love them for who they are.

I believe that this is how Jimmy Cross feels about Martha. He loves the image he has of her and the way she makes him feel, but hates her for distracting him away from his work and causing him pain. This paradox is effective because every reader can relate to what he is feeling with this one statement. They know that while he is in love, he also feels a deep hate for her. In a way, it seems that he loves to hate her and hates to love her. His emotions are confused and instead of trying to work them out, he turns away from his fantasies and becomes a soldier again.