Entry #18

"'I just couldn't stand it about Brett. I've been through hell, Jake. It's been simply hell. When I met her down here Brett treated me as though I were a perfect stranger. I just couldn't stand it. We lived together at San Sebastian. I suppose you know it. I can't stand it any more'" (page 198).

This quote really shows the effects of Brett's actions. She uses every man she meets, including Jake. When she can get something out of a man, she will be nice and friendly to him. As soon as she is down with him though, he better leave her alone. She made Robert Cohn's life a living hell for the time he spent with her by pretending like he had meant nothing. I think he at least deserved an explanation. He may have been hanging around them, but technically it was originally his trip with Jake; Mike and Brett intruded by asking to come, so they should have been kind to Cohn for allowing them to. I really do feel bad for Cohn now and I wonder what became of him after he left.

Entry #14

Implied Metaphor- "'They lead such a quiet life. They never say anything and they're always hanging about so'" (page146).

Although Mike never comes out and says that Cohn is like a steer, he makes it very clear that he believes this. He says that he hangs around Brett and follows her, never really saying anything. During this scene, I thought Mike was being extremely mean. Although it seems like Cohn is that guy who is always annoying everyone, he still doesn't deserved to be treated like an animal.

"'Mark you. Brett's had affairs with men before. She tells me all about everything. She gave me this chap Cohn's letters to read. I wouldn't read them'" (page 147).

Okay so this is just getting ridiculous! During Mike's rant about Cohn, he mentions that he knows about Brett's affairs!!!! How can this guy know that she "gets around" for lack of a better term and just put up with it like that. I would think that if they truly loved each other they could avoid sleeping with other people. Maybe I'm crazy but that's how i always thought a relationship was supposed to work.

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 #6

External Conflict- "As i went out the door I looked back through the two thicknesses of glass and saw them sitting there. She was still talking to him" (page 58).

Here, Jake is speaking of Cohn and Frances. This part was extremely annoying to me. Frances was griping at Cohn in public and in front of his friend. Apparently to her, it was appropriate to speak of private things to anyone who would listen. Cohn seemed to just sit there and take her sarcastic and rude remarks which was surprising to me. If it had been me, I would have gotten up and left her there to complain on her own. This external conflict between Cohn and Frances seemed to drag on and on. At this point in time, the reader has no idea what else they had to fight about.

Entry #1- The Sun Also Rises

Simile- "For a man to take it ("The Purple Land") as a guide-book to what life holds is about as safe as it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from a French convent, equipped with a complete set of the more practical Alger books" (page 17).

Alright so here we go again!!!! So I haven't found this book to be interesting so far. I definitely thought "The Things they Carried" was much better, but it is still too soon to know for sure.

Here, Hemingway compares Cohn's obsession with "The Purple Land" to a middle aged man going from a convent to Wall Street. I don't know about anyone else but I think that would be a funny sight to see! The man would be lost and totally out of place. I guess this is how Cohn became. He got so wrapped up in trying to live out this book that he lost track of reality.

Sometimes I think that people today get wrapped up in what could be and they try to live by a book, song, or movie. I think this is ridiculous. All of these paint unrealistic images. We have to pave our own path in life and make it what we want it to be. Life is an unending maze and no book, movie, or song is going to help us find our way out in one piece.