The Women Characters

At the beginning of the summer I had alot of trouble finding a copy of this book so i had to resort to borrowing the last copy from the library. (there were 14 Roncalli students on the waiting list for The Things They Carried). However this has added a few good things to my reading because the book i checked out was written in by some one who had read it previously. I personally found this person to be very critical of the book but they did make notes on a few interesting parts. for example the person underlined every time a women was referred to as weak or and object. They also pointed out the relationships these women had with men and how society and men viewed them. I may not have noticed this with out the anonymous reader so thank you who ever you are. Among Jake and his friends, there are almost no healthy, loving relationships between men and women. Although Jake and Brett seem to truly love one another, Brett is unwilling to commit to Jake. Moreover, she frequently exploits Jake’s love for her. She often goes to him for emotional support and then abandons him to pursue affairs with other men, as when, directly after unloading her emotional troubles on Jake, she breaks her appointment with him to spend more time carousing with the count. Although her ill treatment causes Jake pain, he never mentions it to her and only rarely acknowledges it to himself. He essentially allows himself to be abused, unable to stand up to Brett. Ironically, in this respect Jake resembles Cohn, who stoically endures Frances’s verbal assaults.Frances and Cohn’s messy breakup reveals how little true affection ever existed between them. Cohn abandons Frances as soon as he gains the confidence to do so and finds a woman who interests him more, namely Brett. Frances’s main complaint is that she is now too old to find a husband and has wasted her time pursuing Cohn. She is not so much concerned with losing Cohn as with losing the chance to marry.

Foil

-a character who acts as contrast to another character.- Bill Gorton provides an important contrast to Jake. While Jake is generally tight-lipped and hesitates to express what is on his mind, Bill takes a different approach to communicating his feelings: he jokes constantly, using humor as a coping mechanism. Bill, like all of Jake’s friends, wrestles with the demons of the postwar world. Thus, he feels compelled to drink himself blind for four days in Vienna. But humor allows him to talk about the issues that haunt him in the wake of the Great War. For instance, he addresses the issue of weakened masculinity in the postwar world through his motto of “Never be daunted.” He presents this phrase in the context of drinking, telling Jake not to be daunted by how much he needs to drink in order to “catch up.” The phrase implicitly touches upon notions of valor and bravery. Bill subtly suggests that in the postwar world, such notions have meaning only in the realm of alcohol. jake seems to be able to express himself more truthfully to jake than any of his other friends and bill seems to feel the same way. His claim that he could not express his fondness for Jake in New York City because he would mark himself as a “faggot” seems to be an attempt to relieve an unconscious anxiety about his close relationship with Jake. Jake feels comfortable enough to discuss his wound with Bill. The wound does not provoke the silence or uneasiness in Jake that it usually does. Bill does not react as though Jake’s wound has made him any less a man. Earlier in the novel, Jake explains that when he was recovering in the hospital, one man remarked that Jake had given more than his life in the war—implying that Jake might as well be dead. Bill, on the other hand, does not regard Jake in this way. This acceptance helps Jake come to terms with his wound without having to give up his masculinity in the process.Bill’s anxiety about close male relationships could very well stem from World War I: during the war, soldiers experienced intense intimacy in their relationships with one another. Moreover, these relationships were quite domestic in character. The men constantly worried about obtaining adequate food and clothing for one another and relied on one another for emotional support. with this relationship the reader learns more about jake and society's symptoms of the war.

Conflict

-THE struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story- When the book opened with the life of Robert Cohn I assumed that he would be a well liked character if not the main character. However, the story has taken a completely opposite stance. Jake finds Cohn some what annoying in the first few chapters but after Robert expresses intrest in Brett Jake seems to have little friendliness towards Cohn. This is something that most of the other characters do not truly know the extent to because no one knows of jake's love for Brett. Later in the story jake discovers that Robert had a short fling with Brett and his jealousy increases. Jake talks poorly of Robert to other people but he hides this hatred to the point that Cohn considers him his best friend. They have a strange relationship and are always in conflict.

Stream of Consciousness

-a style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind- At the end of chapter four Jake is lying in bed thinking to himself and it is revealed to the audience that Jake fought in World War I and suffered a battle wound that has made it impossible for him to have sex. It is for this reason that Brett will not marry him. This literary technique is very useful. the reader learned about Jake's past and his relationship with Brett. Also we learn a little about Brett's personality and where her priorities lie. I find it very odd that although Brett is hurting Jake over and over (emotionally) with her flings with other men, Jake is always with her and seeking her out. Brett says she loves Jake but she obviously does not or she wouldn't have the strength to hurt Jake repeatedly and she would be able to give up her immoral lifestyle to be with him.

mood chapters 2-4

Ok so these people are extremely boring. their lives are extremely mundane. They wake up, work for a few hours, have lunch, drink, meet a friend, drink, go to a café, drink, go to a club, drink, go home, drink, go to sleep. They are constantly moving from one place to another in an endless procession of social appointments, always drinking tons amounts of alcohol, seemingly never having conversations of any substance. I think this may be a point the author is trying to convey. These people, who seem to just be leading the life of most people of their time, are BORING just like everyone is. Its kind of funny to think about how boring our lives really are and how sometimes we created unnecessary problems and drama just so we can have something new to focus on. I've been thinking about this alot because this summer i started a new job working in my Dad's office and helping the secretary. and I'm not gunna lie it is soooo boring and the real secretary has worked there for over ten years. same stuff over and over for ten years just getting older and spending her life sitting in the same office. Further more I've noticed that this woman has an immense amount of "drama" to talk about. probably because she has nothing better to do! She reminds me of the main characters in this book.

Characterization and indirect Characterization

I'm so excited I just found the perfect literary term for the first chapter of this book! As I explained in my previos post the author desplays Jake barnes (the main character) in an intersting way. Not only does he use characterization by gradualy describing how Jake responds to specific situations, he also reveals Jake's character by having Jake describe Robert Cohn thus indirect charaterization!! This was a pretty creative way to show Jake Barne's personna in a more realistic way. People have different sides to their personality such as how they respond physically, what they say and how they view others. I really think the author was able to touch on each of these personality traits right away by presenting the story in this mannor.

Begining The Sun Also Rises

Ok so I finally was able to track down a copy of The Sun Also rises. It was difficult but I found one at the Greenwood Library, which in fact I believe is a better copy because it was printed just a few years after the actual book was published! (this thing is ancient) Anyway, I began the book just a few days ago and I thought the way it began was very intersting. I thought that the main character was going to be Robert Cohn and the book would be told from the perspective of an all-knowing narrator. However, the narration switches over to Jake Barnes later on in the chapter. I was unsure of what significance this played but if i were to draw conclusions I would say that this technique was necessary to demonstrate the closeness of the narrator(Jake Barnes) to his friend Robert. I'm assuming Robert will have a huge impact on the story. Further more, by hearing from Jake what has happened through out Robert's life we learn how jake views certain topics and how robert's life relates to his own. Hopefully this is close to what the author was trying to get accross.

first post

I don't have my books yet but i'm getting started with my blog!