My favourite part of The Sun Also Rises so far is the contrasting characters of Cohn and Jake. Throughout the first book, we see them interacting in very similar ways, although with different motivations or different desires. First of all, Cohn is a very physically fit man. He is very strong, very big, but seems to be emotionally damaged, due to his previous experiences with women. These experiences include being in serious relationships twice, and both times the women breaking his heart.
On the other hand, Jake is not a big man, and he is not physically fit. He is in fact impotent, something that he constantly dwells on, which means that he is also, in a way, damaged because of his inability to interact with women successfully. He is not as large as Cohn, or as strong, but he still manages to find some success in what he does.
These two characters are both very similar, and very contrasting. They both have problems with women, they both have varying degrees of literary success, and they both seem to love Lady Ashley. Jake approaches this in a way that seems to be that of a platonic friend, and tries to spend time with her, and simply talk to her, but Cohn sees it as something a lot more visceral. He sees it as a love that he would attribute to somebody that he wants to marry.
Finally, they are similar in the ways that they feel about each other, however they display these in very different ways. Cohn is very open about his affection towards Jake, and even tells him at one point that he is his best friend. Jake is a little reluctant about admitting his feelings towards Cohn, and only expresses his friendship to Cohn in hidden ways. He rescinds comments that hurt Cohn's feelings, and feels bad for Cohn when Cohn says that Jake is his best friend. This shows that Jake does care about Cohn, just doesn't feel comfortable expressing these feelings, possibly because he is a very 'manly' man.
This contrast is something thats very prominent in fiction, and something that helps to build character. In one of favourite book series, The Legend of Drizzt, the main character is almost parallel to his arch-enemy, except for one fact. Drizzt is compassionate, and his enemy is not. This is not only helps to build character, but it also highlights one of the main reasons for conflict, in real life and in fiction. It highlights that similarities between people generally lead to conflicts. If you have two people that are very similar, chances are that between them they are going to end up starting a fight. Although that hasn't happened yet between Cohn and Jake, we see some definitite tension between them, which is mostly a cause of this.
One of my classmates, Sitara, disagrees with my theory, however. She believes that the relationship is completly one-sided, with Cohn showing un-recipricated love towards Jake. I understand what she is saying the piece, but I feel that she is wrong, as if Jake didn't like Cohn, why would he be taking back his insults? She makes an interesting point on Jake putting Cohn down because he feels insecure in his masculinity, which is understandable from Jake's point of view, but then every guy puts down his friends, just to get that little bit of an edge on them. You can read more on what she has to say on it here:http://sitaramathur.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/jake-barnes-vs-robert-cohn/
On the other hand, Jake is not a big man, and he is not physically fit. He is in fact impotent, something that he constantly dwells on, which means that he is also, in a way, damaged because of his inability to interact with women successfully. He is not as large as Cohn, or as strong, but he still manages to find some success in what he does.
These two characters are both very similar, and very contrasting. They both have problems with women, they both have varying degrees of literary success, and they both seem to love Lady Ashley. Jake approaches this in a way that seems to be that of a platonic friend, and tries to spend time with her, and simply talk to her, but Cohn sees it as something a lot more visceral. He sees it as a love that he would attribute to somebody that he wants to marry.
Finally, they are similar in the ways that they feel about each other, however they display these in very different ways. Cohn is very open about his affection towards Jake, and even tells him at one point that he is his best friend. Jake is a little reluctant about admitting his feelings towards Cohn, and only expresses his friendship to Cohn in hidden ways. He rescinds comments that hurt Cohn's feelings, and feels bad for Cohn when Cohn says that Jake is his best friend. This shows that Jake does care about Cohn, just doesn't feel comfortable expressing these feelings, possibly because he is a very 'manly' man.
This contrast is something thats very prominent in fiction, and something that helps to build character. In one of favourite book series, The Legend of Drizzt, the main character is almost parallel to his arch-enemy, except for one fact. Drizzt is compassionate, and his enemy is not. This is not only helps to build character, but it also highlights one of the main reasons for conflict, in real life and in fiction. It highlights that similarities between people generally lead to conflicts. If you have two people that are very similar, chances are that between them they are going to end up starting a fight. Although that hasn't happened yet between Cohn and Jake, we see some definitite tension between them, which is mostly a cause of this.
One of my classmates, Sitara, disagrees with my theory, however. She believes that the relationship is completly one-sided, with Cohn showing un-recipricated love towards Jake. I understand what she is saying the piece, but I feel that she is wrong, as if Jake didn't like Cohn, why would he be taking back his insults? She makes an interesting point on Jake putting Cohn down because he feels insecure in his masculinity, which is understandable from Jake's point of view, but then every guy puts down his friends, just to get that little bit of an edge on them. You can read more on what she has to say on it here:
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