We are first introduced to Robert Cohn, someone who we are given to believe is annoying, and in my case, pitiful. Hemingway sort of somersaults through his characters in a quick, concise detailing of who these liquor-marinated, lost generationers are and what they mean to one another. All the while, Brett is at the center. I could not quite put my finger on it in the beginning of the novel, but there was something wholly troublesome with Brett from the get-go. She was in many ways a siren, wildly dangerous as she succumbed to any and every one of her fanciful whims. It is there, in the very whimsical, flippancy of her personality that I believe the Climax of the whole novel is brought into being. She’s a tease, burning through men like she does money and who cannot not help but fall in love with her. And they do. In fact, it seems the majority of characters are men either spurned by Brett or helplessly romanticizing her. Lapdogs that she calls on when she sees fit. Quite clearly, we are given the extent to which Cohn has fallen for Brett and as the novel progresses, are given context to the abuse he experiences while he peddles after her—a fair bit of which is at the hands of Brett herself, even perpetuated. Therefore, when Brett again runs off with another man, Pedro Romero, the bull-fighter; how else is Cohn to react? Again, he is cast aside, tormented, and put down for a fantasy he has put too much stock in. He explodes all over Jake, Mike, Bill, Brett, and finally, in violent spurt of rage, Pedro. “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 see this post apocalypse, after Cohn has slugged Jake into incoherence on the streets and, as we find out later, after he attacks Pedro Romero. From there, we are catalyzed into final pages of the novel. We watch as Brett runs off with Pedro, as Jake deals with it solemnly and as the characters part ways. Then, finally, as Jake runs off to Madrid to rescue the damsel.

            When Brett runs off, I believe we see the finality of Jake’s acceptance in her waywardness. Brett, in all her flaws, was the center of everything; the voice of jubilation. She had this natural ability of inflating the group even though most of them pined for her. Once she is gone, you can feel the impact. “The three of us sat at the table, and it seemed about six people were missing.” The characters part ways and, surprisingly, Jake does not return to stay in Paris. He takes a reprieve and runs off to San Sebastian. Maybe he wants to be close to Brett, or the idea of her. Maybe he wants to be free of her. One thing, though, is clear. I believe that Jake was scarred, subconsciously, by Brett. He was so used to her, the way she used him and called on him whenever she pleased, that he overcompensated in other areas of his life. When he leaves France, he talks about how he over tipped everyone so that when he came back, they would remember his generosity and be his friends. Sad, but it speaks to the heart of where exactly Jake was in his life. He was never going to let her go. And she would never let him. “That seemed to handle it. That was it. Send a girl off with one man. Introduce her to another to go off with him. Now go and bring her back. And sign the wire with love. That was it all right.”

            The ending was no surprise. How could it be? Knowing that Brett would eventually run off or need saving and that Jake would be there to fix it. It’s infuriating. Jake even at the end holds on to this lofty, lovely idea of a romance with Brett. Something that can never come into being, but it does nothing to deter his adoration for her. It’s maddening to see two people feed into each other’s messes; that Jake will never see Brett with anything, but love. And that Brett, silly and foolhardy, will never see that Jake may very well be the man she needs most. Sure, she calls on him and holds to him, but it seems more like to her he is a safety-blanket. Moreover, that their time for a romance, for being together has passed. “‘Oh, Jake,’ Brett said, ‘we could have had such a damned good time together.’” Even there, she cannot see a future for them despite that they have the rest of their lives ahead.

“I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it.” ― Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises