XIX- Dynamic Character

"Yes. Isn't it pretty to think so?" Yay! I feel like a proud mama. Jake has finally come full circle and let Brett go. This quote to me showed that Jake has finally decided to move on and realized that their life would have never worked out. For some reason, a wound he received in the war had come between him and Brett and neither could get past it. Brett moved on in a messy way, but at least she moved on. I don't think Jake ever did and that held him back psychologically. By saying that it is pretty to think so, Jake has shown that he realizes that it would never work out and that moving on is the best thing to do. Hopefully, this will let him be happy with himself and a better friend to those he has pushed away.

XVIII- The Symbol of the Bull

I think the bulls are symbols in the novel because Pedro Romero says that the bulls are his best friends and he kills them because they'll kill him if he doesn't. This is interesting to me because it almost seems like it is mirroring the relationships between our group of characters. They never seem to be in good terms with each other, but yet they are still friends. Also, from studying bullfighting in Spanish class, I learned that the bulls are seen as extremely noble creatures that stay and fight instead of running away. In early Spanish culture they were revered and even worshipped. So, I think that Hemingway is an aficionado of bullfighting himself and wanted to incorporate the honor that is seen as in Spanish culture into his novel to set almost a standard for the changing world. I also researched Belmonte and found that he is considered to be the most famous matador of all time. I think that when Hemingway said that the crowd was against Belmonte, it means that they have abandoned the old way and are now ready to start anew after the war. Bullfighting is used as a symbol to convey truths about the time to his readers.

XVI- Pedro Romero no habla Ingles

For me, this chapter is about Pedro Romero. At the beginning of it Jake's friend Montoya asks Jake to keep Romero from being taken over by the ambassador's people because it would ruin him as a leader. Montoya did not want him to be mixing with foreigners because they could corrupt him and his image. he wants him to stay with his own people. However, later in the chapter Montoya sees Romero sitting and drinking with Jake and his friends and he is very displeased. I think that he sees any foreign influence on Romero as a poison because he might be influenced more by money and power other than the love of the sport. In the end though, Romero is shown to know English pretty well. I think this shows that while is is the leader of the people, he is not as innocent as everyone believes him to be and can be influenced strongly. He says that none of his people can know about his English because it would ruin his standing with the people and he says "Bull fighters are not like that." I think it means that the bull fighters are supposed to be pure and good models for the common people. A bull fighter who knows English would be denying his people and his homeland.

XV- Cohn Drunk... what a concept!

This is going to sound a little weird, but I think it was a good thing that Cohn finally got drunk. The rest of the characters have been drunk for the majority of the book, but Cohn never was. I think it is going to snap him out of the rut he is in. That simple act of having too much I think will be good for him. One, it will get him a little more respect from the other people in the group since they think he is weak. Two, it will let him get past his old routines and start to make new ones and get a healthier life style. Cohn is seen as uptight and not fun, so by showing that he can party with the other characters, he will be less despised in the group and seen more as a comrade. On the other hand, it could also be really bad for him since he acts out when he is sober and he could really be bad if he is drunk. It will be interesting to see how he progresses.

XI- Random Thoughts That I Think

I decided to do a blog entry to express my thoughts about some of the things in this novel so far. First of all, I feel really sorry for Cohn's children from his first marriage. They are mentioned once, maybe twice, so far and it seems that he has no contact with them and doesn't care about them. I think it would really stink if my dad didn't visit or write. I also feel really bad for Francis too. She is sent off to England by Cohn because he wants to spend two weeks in San Sebastian with Brett. Francis has been with Cohn for a long time and I think he is losing interest in her. I also think it is extremely distasteful of Cohn to intrude on Michael and Brett's time together in San Sebastian. So, while I feel sorry for Cohn, I also think he is being a butt head to say the least. Finally, these are my thoughts on the actual going-on's in this chapter. I think this sojourn to the Spanish mountains to fish will be a good thing for Jake. I think it will help him relax and have time away from those who push his buttons. This will be important because I predict it won't be the last time we will see Cohn, Brett,m and Michael and I think Pamplona is going to be interesting.

X- Passports

The Basque man getting turned away by "border control" is what stuck out to me in this chapter. It kind of reminded me of the Mexican people crossing into the United States. I did not know that there were border control problems back in the 1920's and that surprised me. However, I guess there has always been a desire for a better life, so crossing over into different areas of more wealth has been around for ages, I mean look at Moses and the Promised Land. I am also surprised about how much I am learning about this time period and the people from this novel. I don't like the novel so much because I find Hemingway hard to read and I do not get some of the things happening or the words, but I am learning. Anyway, back to the Basque man. How can a man who just wants to sell his goat not get a passport into a country he can just cross a stream into? It is not like he wants to live there; he just wants to make a living. It also makes me think about how people like Jake, Bill, and Cohn can get passports while the poor, old Basque man cannot. I think it comes down to learned versus illiterate, the white versus the indigenous, ans all of those usual differences. I think this is one of the universal truths of the world which is sad. The poor were treated differently back then and they are treated poorly now.

XIV- Light On, Light Off

"There is no reason why because it is dark you should look at things differently from when it is light." There are a couple of things I would like to point out from this chapter and maybe it is because I really have something here, or because I'm a smart-Alec (something my mom calls me), or even because I procrastinated and am finishing this blog while visiting family in Pennsylvania. I really don't know, but I'll say what I think anyway because this is my blog. first off, I would like to point out that when Jake was thinking this, he was extremely hung over and feeling pretty sorry for himself because Brett is not with him, but with Cohn, then Mike. Second, most of the time you cannot see anything in the dark unless you are a cat or a superhero and the things you do see are fuzzy and more blob-like. So, you can look at things in the dark and in the light the same if you really want to, but in the light everything is so much clearer. Also, light usually means day and that usually means not drunk, so everything is usually clearer anyway. I believe Jake is starting to pine for Brett just like Cohn and that is why he is acting so messed up. I think that when he finally learns that everything is really clearer in the light, he will feel much better and have a better understanding.

IX- Flappers

Brett reminded me a lot of flappers form the 1920's in this chapter. I think with that hint, Hemingway is describing the shift the world made from pre-WWI to post-WWI life and culture. Flappers were the new breed of women who wore short dresses and skirts with no stockings, smoked cigarettes, are were not the quiet women of old. Brett is the epitome of that lady. She is already seen to be a little loose with her morals. She drinks liberally and has no problem with letting the men know what she wants. also, she does not go around with a chaperone and has no problem telling men what she wants. She is the first hint at the changing world that Hemingway is describing and living in. I am not quite sure yet if he is approving of the changes or whether he is offended by them. I think though that with his tribute to Brett, the way she holds the men's attention, and the careful details he gives her design, that is at least approving of the changes of the women.

VIII- Drunks, Dogs, and Diction

I don't know what it was about this chapter that made me think a lot about the diction in the novel, but I have a feeling it was the word "tight" and how Bill Gorton went on about stuffed dogs. It literally took me probably four times reading this chapter and a couple of Google searches that finally told me that 'tight" meant drunk, which makes no sense to me. I always think of uptight or something that is tight and doesn't let loose when I hear the word. My understanding couldn't be farther from the truth. They definitely let loose when they got drunk. I guess it was just the word that was used int he 1920's. Hemingway is quite masterful in his diction. I feel as if I am getting a glimpse of the culture and the people when reading the novel and mostly it is from he conversations not the details. And the dog... Bill was quite set on getting the stuffed dog, but it wasn't the fact that he wanted a stuffed dog that got me, but how he said it. It is hard to explain how different it is from now, but it is. Hemingway wanted to portray his characters to a T and the diction used is more descriptive than background or personalities. I wouldn't be surprised if Hemingway modeled some of his characters off real people he knew because he seems to know his characters so well.

XII- Local Color

I don't know if Hemingway has ever been to Burguete, but he seems to have a special place in his heart for it. He vividly describes the Basque people they met on the way, the beautiful landscape, and the tranquility of fishing. I think the emphasis on this place is the calmness of it and the refreshing nature. Jake and his friends had been having a difficult time before, drinking and having a hard time getting through the day. The trip to the mountains helped and I think the pace of the book changed for a little while. I did not have to read and think so hard during this chapter and I think that reflected what the characters were feeling. So far, I have not seen such detail in Hemingway's settings. Paris was described, but it was mostly the people doing the describing, not the author, so I had to look for hidden meanings and think about the characters. When describing Burguete, Hemingway painted a picture by telling us himself, not the characters telling the reader. By him telling his audience, I think it showed his feelings for the place and his need to not complicate it with the problems of the characters.

VII- All That Drinking

I have to say that I am confused on what the purpose of all this drinking and therefore drunkenness going on in this novel already. I know that it is frowned upon now and that there are laws to keep the drunk from driving and from even going certain places. It makes me wonder if it was a celebration: eat, drink, and be merry for we won the war, or, whether it is a way for these hurting people to become different and not hurt as much. I believe it is most likely the second, but I could be wrong as the book progresses. So far we have met people with some pretty heavy problems. Francis is in danger of losing a man she has given up two and a half years for. Brett is quite a mess form loving Jake, but marrying another man, not being able to marry Jake, and sleeping around. And Jake, Jake is likely the most stable of them, but is still hurting from not being with Brett and his mystery wound. Cohn also has a lot of problems, but interestingly enough I have not seen him drunk yet. In conclusion, while I think being drunk is an insanely stupid thing to do especially on such a regular basis, I think it is from the character's desire to wash aware their problems.

VI- Culture Changes

So far in this book, the culture of the time surprises me, I am not sure if it is just the characters Hemingway chose for the book or whether it is actually how people were. What stood out most i show Harvey called Cohn a moron to his face before Cohn said one significant thing. In the 21st century, that type of conversation would be out of line. I have seen this type of interaction earlier in the novel too. It makes me wonder whether the characters are being brutally honest, are speaking their mind, or are just trying to rub the other the wrong way. It is also the way that friends talk to each other in this book, although it is a little less harsh. So I have come to the conclusion that if it is the way of acting, then culture has come a long way from the 1920's and I'm glad I live in the 21st century.

V- Foil Friends

This chapter is quite interesting to me because it actually makes me wonder why Jake and Cohn are even friends. It seems that Jake says whatever he feels and is quite blunt about everything. On the other hand though, Cohn takes offense at everything and does not even want to hear the truth. In theit conversation about Brett, I could see that Cohn had already fallen under another woman's spell and that Francis was forgotten. I wonder what will happen to her seeing as Cohn is smitten with Brett. But going back to the friendship thing, Jake is obviously the protagonist and while I do not believe from what I have read so far that Cohn is the antagonist, I think he is the foil of Jake. Jake seems to strong, not quite happy but okay with his situation, does not have a love but is not pining for someone he cannot have, and mostly importantly, has had an adventure. Cohn is weak and overly-sensitive, discontented with his place in life, has a steady relationship but is head-over-heels in love with a woman he just met, and has not had an adventure worth telling anybody. I think it is safe to assume that while Jake and Cohn are friends, Cohn is jealous of the fact that Jake has "lived" while Cohn is stuck.

IV- Connotation of Funny

In this chapter, funny is used to describe a couple of very different scenarios and a couple of very different feelings. I always think of something as funny when I laugh at a joke or think something said is laughable. So, I guess you could say that for me laughing and funny go hand in hand. However, in this chapter, Brett describes Jake's wound as funny and that word choice confused me because a bullet going anywhere in a human body is a tragedy to me. I htink that funny in this situation means unfortunate enough to be ironic because it keeps Brett and Jake apart. Another situation is when Jake says being in love is funny. He later clarifies it as being enjoyable, but neither Brett nor Jake are enjoying this "funny" situation where the funny wound keeps Brett and Jake from living together. I can say that I don't think the situation is funny and I think that it is actually quite sad. Anyway, I think the different meanings and overtones of funny let the situation stand out to the reader. I think Hemingway wanted to show the irony of this love and the humor of, well, the unfortunate events. I had to reread this section many times before I could understand Hemingway's motives because I could not get past the word "funny."

III- Stereotypes

I can't help but think that Hemingway used a stereotype in his most famous novel. I think I heard somewhere that when an author relies on a stereotype then they are inexperienced. However, I don't think Hemingway ever wrote something that didn't have an explicit purpose. Anyway, I think he portrayed Paris in its stereotypical manner, but having never been to Paris I don't really know what it is really like. I do know the stereotypes and it is famous for being a city of loose people and morals and for being a dirty city. I think that Hemingway had his characters start out in Paris and continue on their journey to other places to prove a point and show growth, but that could just be me. I think it is to show where the characters started out mentally and psychologically and to set a clear beginning. Then, as the characters travel and meet new people, the changes start to show up. It is kind of like rising to the climax of their growth and then falling down with new insights.

II- Alluison

I think this chapter is about midlife crisis that Robert Cohn faced when he read "The Purple Land" by W. H. Hudson. He did not have such a great life before the book because he was bullied in college, his wife left him, and he is rethinking his relationship with Francis, and this all took a toll on him. However, I think the book did it in for him. It showed him how he had been a failure compared to the man in the book. I think it showed him that his life was getting a little dull or boring and that he needed to become more like the man from the book who went on adventures in an "intensely romantic land." I feel sorry for him because he needs something to do to keep himself interesting. Ultimately, I think that everything is about girls for Cohn. He could not keep his wife, so Francis was nice to him, but controlling. Then other girls were nice, and he forgot about Francis, and now he wants to go to South America. This is a common case of the "I'm boring's and nobody like me's." If he heads off to this exotic place and brings back some exhilarating stories, maybe he thinks people will stick with him. However, another interesting thing about Cohn is that he won't go alone. He wants to go, but he refuses to go alone. This puts him between a rock and a hard place because he has never had the adventure that Jake did. Jake went to war and had his adventure, but Cohn never did and that is why going to South America is so important to him. I hope he gets his adventure because I think he'll be stuck if he doesn't.