The Finale
The last few chapters of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway was a dramatic one, with fights from every important male characters and Brett's love being a toss up between all of them (besides Bill). In the end, the ending is not something that I expected. Here are my thoughts on all the male characters.
Jake: I really feel sorry Jake because with his injury he has to deal with what happened in Pamplona. If we are "keeping score" for what happened, Jake lost some points from Brett moving away to Spain with Romero, when Jake doesn't like to be in Spain for long periods of time (therefore he can't see Brett as often). He loses more points for being called a pimp and getting beat up by Robert Cohn. I think Jake doesn't deserve all of that despite him being nasty towards Cohn in the beginning.
Mike: I do not like Mike at all. He is drunk all the time, and when he is drunk he is a bad person to be around, so basically he is a bad person 24/7. Along with his money problems he does not deserve Brett and he deserved the beating by Cohn 100%.
Cohn: Cohn is literally me my freshmen year, if I got asked on a date. Because of that I do feel sorry that he gets "friend-zoned" (OK, it was more than a friend-zone) by Brett, and I would probably done the same thing Cohn did, if I was competent at fighting.
Romero: I lost all respect for Romero after what happened in Madrid. In 2018, people don't love other people because of their looks, or what society thinks about them. Love is love, and Romero doesn't seem to understand that.
Bill: Bill is a free-spirited (or you can say, ironic) character that doesn't care about winning or losing. He just joins Mike in fighting the English just for the sake of it. I won't say how I feel about Bill as a person, but it is very amusing to see/read Bill throughout the book.
Jake: I really feel sorry Jake because with his injury he has to deal with what happened in Pamplona. If we are "keeping score" for what happened, Jake lost some points from Brett moving away to Spain with Romero, when Jake doesn't like to be in Spain for long periods of time (therefore he can't see Brett as often). He loses more points for being called a pimp and getting beat up by Robert Cohn. I think Jake doesn't deserve all of that despite him being nasty towards Cohn in the beginning.
Mike: I do not like Mike at all. He is drunk all the time, and when he is drunk he is a bad person to be around, so basically he is a bad person 24/7. Along with his money problems he does not deserve Brett and he deserved the beating by Cohn 100%.
Cohn: Cohn is literally me my freshmen year, if I got asked on a date. Because of that I do feel sorry that he gets "friend-zoned" (OK, it was more than a friend-zone) by Brett, and I would probably done the same thing Cohn did, if I was competent at fighting.
Romero: I lost all respect for Romero after what happened in Madrid. In 2018, people don't love other people because of their looks, or what society thinks about them. Love is love, and Romero doesn't seem to understand that.
Bill: Bill is a free-spirited (or you can say, ironic) character that doesn't care about winning or losing. He just joins Mike in fighting the English just for the sake of it. I won't say how I feel about Bill as a person, but it is very amusing to see/read Bill throughout the book.
I like how concisely you wrapped everything up, giving each character a summary of your opinions. For the most part, I agree with your descriptions. I think Romero is a very traditional character. The Spanish setting where everything is untainted from the war provides a certain backdrop in which the character of Romero must fit into. I don't think we can blame him for being startled by Brett's short hair, as he probably hasn't been exposed to many women like that. Eventually, he even seems to accept it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinions on Mike. While he isn't drunk 24/7 (although he is drunk quite often), his attitude when drunk is ridiculously unruly and distasteful. I was actually quite relieved when he got beat down by Cohn as I probably would've done a similar thing in Cohn's situation. I also agree with your points about Bill. Bill seems like a wild boy (like that one high school kid who seems to just go with the flow and everyone likes to be around).
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