Entry #20- I made it!!!!

'"Oh Jake,' Brett said, 'we could have had such a damned good time together.'

Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.

'Yes,' I said. 'Isn't it pretty to think so?'" (page 251).

So I finally made it to the end, and honestly it was quit a let down. I thought that eventually Jake and Brett would end up together because her love for him would over power her wants. Obviously I was wrong. I thought that as a whole, The Sun Also Rises was not climatic. There never seemed to be much going on other than Jake's everyday life and his vacations he took. I thought the most exciting part of the whole book was the bull-fighting and the stories of the fights between Cohn and Romero.

Now to this particular quote. Brett has angered me once again! She sits there and tells Jake how much she loved Romero, but that she is going back with Mike. Then she has the audacity to say how much fun they could have had together, like she didn't have a say in that decision. She had many chances to be with Jake, but kept choosing to leave him. She acts like the world revolves around her, making everyone who gets to close to hr suffer.

Entry #17

"'I'm a goner. I'm mad about the Romero boy. I'm in love with him, I think'" (page 187).

Surprise Surprise! Brett is 'in love' once again. I think that when she says she's in love she is really just infatuated with a man who has caught her attention. She had never even really talked to Romero at this point and she already knew that she was in love.

Secondly, I completely agree when she calls herself a goner. She is definitely not going to recover from her addiction to having affairs. When she can't even resist a man whom she absolutely hates (Robert Cohn) then obviously she has a big problem. I once again have the urge to scream at Jake for still being in love with her and admitting it.

Entry #15

Stream of Consciousness- "Mike was unpleasant after he passed a certain point. I liked to see him hurt Cohn. I wished he would not do it, though, because afterward it made me disgusted at myself. That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward. No, that must be immorality" (page 152).

Many times throughout the novel, the reader gets an inside look at Jake's thoughts. This is one of those times. We see the true side of Jake. He enjoys to see Cohn be tortured, but then feels bad for getting enjoyment out of it. Some kind of friend he is. At least he feels some kind of remorse for his inner thoughts. Before this section, I really did not like Cohn, but I'm starting to feel bad for him. The poor guy seems to have a miserable life and he obviously has no true friends.

I would like to throw in two random comments now...

First- I've decided that a stream of consciousness is like a blog. It lets you into the mind of someone else without leaving anything out.

Second- I found the quote of the book. "Probably I read the same two pages over several times" (page 151). I don't know about anyone else, but I definitely feel empathetic for Jake at this point in time!

Entry #13

"When they saw that I had aficion, and there was no password, no set questions that could bring it out, rather it was a sort of oral spiritual examination with the questions always a little on the defensive and never apparent, there was this same embarrassed putting the hand on the shoulder, or a 'Buen hombre.' But nearly always there was he actual touching. It seemed as though they wanted to touch you to make it certain" (page 137).

This is a great example of how closed off American culture is. People are surprised to see that the Americans, meaning Jake, could have "aficion" or passion about something so un-American, bull-fighting. Sometimes I see this as well. People are so passionate about football because it is the "All American Sport," but recently the World Cup occurred in South Africa and although people knew about it, they were not passionate about it. If you ask me, I think the World Cup is so much more interesting than the Super Bowl because it is so much bigger! It is bringing together many countries and giving us a common bond, even though when the game is going on, we are enemies.

I also like how Jake describes passion. I never thought of it this way before, but many people who claim to have passion for something are really just faking everyone, sometimes including themselves. I think that passion is something to be seen, not heard. If someone is all talk about their passion or "aficion," then I don't believe they truly have passion. It should be seen in a person's movements, actions, and personality.

Entry #12

Allusion-

"'You ought to dream,' Bill said. 'All our biggest business men have been dreamers. Look at Ford. Look at President Coolidge. Look at Rockefeller. Look at Jo Davidson'" (page 129).

Here, Bill incorporates many men from culture, including politics and history. I think this is an excellent allusion because all of these men had dreams and tried to fulfill these dreams. He is giving Jake advice on how to succeed and become well-known.

I think that when Bill is saying this he means two different things. He is telling Jake that he should dream as in when he is sleeping, but also that he should have dreams as in aspirations and goals in life. I think that so far it has not seemed like Jake has had many aspirations. He seems to live a lazy life that is headed nowhere. I think he needs to listen to Bill more often and try to live by what Bill tells him.

Entry #11

1st Person point of view-

"'Were you ever in love with her?'

'Sure.'

'For how long?'

'Off and on for hell of a long time.'

'Oh hell!' Bill said. 'I'm sorry, fella.'

'It's all right,' I said. 'I don't give a damn any more' (page 128).

Okay so this has been evident from the beginning but just in case anyone missed it this book is written in a first person point of view from Jake's view point. Okay now that we have that settled lets move on. I think that this passage shows how genuine the relationship between Jake and Bill is. Unlike his relationship with Cohn whom he often speaks badly of, Bill and Jake can have a serious conversation about their personal lives. So far, I have not picked up on Jake bed mouthing Bill or vice versa. Jake can share his true feelings about Brett with Bill, even though I believe that he might be telling a little white lie. I believe that he is still very much in love with Brett, but he is denying it even to himself. This relationship between Bill and Jake seems realistic to how a friendship would be in real life.

Entry #10

"He shook hands and turned around to the back seat again. The other Basques had been impressed. He sat back comfortably and smiled at me when I turned around to look at the country. But the effort of talking American seemed to have tired him, He did not say anything after that" (page 113).

I found it interesting that although Jake and Bill could not communicate with the Basques, they still enjoyed a great trip together. They drank with the men and through this connection they became friends. When this one man who had spent 15 years in America spoke to them, the other Basques were in awe. This seems odd to me that these Basques looked at two men from a different country with such reverence. They seem to almost worship the men even though they have no idea who they are. It is weird to think that as soon as people see Jake and Bill, they know that they are not from around the area and that they are Americans specifically. I think this shows how different and secluded America is. I believe this to be a bad thing and I think that we need to follow Jake and Bill and at least attempt to widen our horizons and expand our culture.

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 #7

"Brett was gone, I was not bothered by Cohn's troubles, I rather enjoyed not having to play tennis, there was plenty of work to do, I went often to the races, dined with friends, and put in some extra time at the office getting things ahead so I could leave it in charge of my secretary..." (page 75).

I would like to start off with saying Ohhh my gosh Jake works?? It seems to me that all he does is wake up, go drink with friends, and sleep! To put in "extra time" at the office seems like an exaggeration to me since he never puts in time anyways. I don't know how these people get anything accomplished. They are sort of like big babies. They eat, drink, and sleep. They seem to have the easiest lives too, also like babies. Nothing to worry about except the occasional problem with a book not getting published. From what I have observed, I don't even know when they wrote the book. Possibly when they were drunk after a long morning with friends (since apparently they wake up and go out with friends to drink). I wish my life could be this easy!

Entry #4

Internal Conflict- '"When I think of the hell I've put chaps through. I'm paying for it all now.' 'Don't talk like a fool,' I said. 'Besides, what happened to me is supposed to be funny. I never think about it.'" (page 34).

Okay so at this point in time I am really not liking Brett. She says she wants to be with Jake and she tries to have a relationship with him, but as soon as they get too close she backs down and claims she can't be with him. To me, this is absolutely ridiculous! If she is truly that selfish then I don't think she deserves anyone.

When she is having this conversation with Jake, she reveals the internal conflict she is having to the audience. She feels that because her and Jake 'can't be together' she is being punished for all the horrible things she has done to other men. I agree with her totally and completely; this is one time she is actually right! I guess karma actually is real- what comes around goes around!