As Keegan points out in
her insightful post, Hemingway's depiction of Robert Cohn is fascinating and troubling. What do you think of this character? Of how others treat him? Of how Jake, our narrator feels about him? Why is there so much focus on this character?
I think Cohn’s “inferiority” at Princeton, as Keegan pointed out, is telling of the racial distinctions Hemingway’s characters have in The Sun Also Rises. As far as Cohn’s character is concerned I think that he’s going through a mid-life crises. Cohn, as Frances points out, is apparently only writing books to have a female fan following and no longer wants to marry her. I’m not sure how trustworthy Frances’ character is, but Cohn does find an unfaithful sexual interest in Brett. Cohn’s new interest in visiting South America is another sign of a mid-life crises. Furthermore, I don’t think Cohn even has a reason for visiting South America other than looking for change (and/or women). As I wrote in a previous post, I think the narrator is jealous of Cohn and his physical abilities. Not only is Cohn able to box, but he is also able to woo women with physical abilities that Jake may no longer have. I’m not sure why Cohn’s character is important quite yet, but one theory I have is that Hemingway is using Cohn’s character to contrast Jake. For example, Cohn is physically healthy and Jake is impotent, Cohn is looking for change and Jake wants to remain static, etc.
ReplyDeleteBoth Keegan and Rachel make very good points concerning Cohen. I think the character Cohen is, as Rachel suggested, going through a sort of mid-life crisis. However, what I find most interesting about the character is how other characters, and Jake, treat and see him. I feel that other characters see Cohen as the type of person that you do not take what he says too seriously. For instance, he has been convinced three times now that he is completely "in love":the first time with his first wife, then with Frances, and then with Brett. Also, he says he hates boxing but he continues to box. Yet, I do not think other characters think poorly of him (in fact I think they see him as possessing great potential), instead they see him as naive in the way he goes about his life. As far as Jake's opinion of him I am inclined to agree with what seems to be the popular consensus, that he is jealous of Cohen. While Cohen has so much potential, physically and mentally, Jake seems to be stuck where he is and unable to more forward. Therefore, Jake's opposition to travelling with Cohen or being highly supportive of him stems from his jealousy of his acquaintance's potential.As far as answering the question as to why there is so much focus on Cohen, I think that it is directly related to Jake's view and relationship with him. If Jake were not the narrator of the story I do not think that there would be as much focus on Cohen. Why Cohen is so important to Jake's narrative I can not yet say, however, I do believe that the reason will become clear in the story soon.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading this book, I thought Cohn would be the main character and focus of the novel. I agree with Chloe and Rachel it seems that his main purpose in the story thus far is to support Jake, the narrator. I found Hemingway's narrating perspective a bit confusing until I got all of the characters and their titles in sync. Once I realized most of the emphasis was on Jake I would start to forget about Cohn until he popped back up. I feel as if Cohn's soul purpose is going to be his interest in Brett which is going to come between his friendship with Jake. Cohn seems to be a go with the flow kind of guy until it comes to women, then I see a more intriguing side of him. I am hoping to see a more interesting side of Cohn I think Hemingway wants the audience to underestimate him.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Hemingway directly sets Cohn up to be a fool and outcast of sorts. As Keegan pointed out the character's Judaism is mentioned many times and I feel this is done deliberately so that the audience will remember that the character is Jewish. I think this was done so that the audience would have certain implications about the character early on based on their own perceptions of Judaism. The fact that the mentions of Cohn's Judaism are all negative shows exactly what type of perception Hemingway expected his audience to have and perhaps what perceptions he had himself. Since the character is set up with an interest in Brett this puts him in direct opposition to Jake. Knowing that Jake is our protagonist (and perhaps a stand in for Hemingway) also adds to the feeling the author intended his audience to have for Cohn.
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