Jake Needs to Stop
Yesterday during our discussion, Maddie mentioned to me that she hates Robert Cohn. It interested me, because I don't dislike Cohn that much at all. After giving it some thought, it raised the question: is Cohn annoying because he actually is annoying, or because Jake paints him as annoying?
In all honesty, this could be quite a subjective question. If there are aspects of Cohn's personality that are irritating to you because they irk you, then perhaps Cohn is inherently annoying. There are certainly some characteristics of Cohn that I think could be quite annoying in real life. There's always something about every person that will be annoying, but I think there's a case to made for Cohn being painted as more annoying than he actually is.
We know Jake doesn't like Cohn. It comes out in various ways throughout the book. Cohn is presented as the annoying friend who can't take a hint, who doesn't really understand social cues, who's clingy. He's the most ridiculed person in The Sun Also Rises.
We've taken Jake to be a pretty reliable narrator from the beginning --- he presents the facts and nothing but the facts. Or does he? It's inevitable that someone's biases of people will bleed into anything they write. But it seems that Jake's biases are the strongest with Cohn, most likely stemming from his extreme hatred of him. In truth, it seems the only person Jake has any significant dislike for in the whole book is Cohn, and I don't think we've accounted for that. Cohn is the only character presented obviously negatively. He is the pre-war man that Jake despises, the all-too-serious man that can't understand irony. This adds an aspect of frustration to his interactions with Cohn, and it comes out in a rather negative reading of Cohn.
Yes, the aspects of Cohn we've discussed in class are annoying. Yes, he's maybe not the best with social interaction. But I can't help feeling sorry for the guy. Many of Jake's problems with Cohn form on a base of anti-Semitism, and I feel like a good amount of them are unfair issues to have with Cohn. Cohn does seem to be trying to interact somewhat positively and happily with people, despite his anger issues. And his attempts shouldn't be ridiculed by Jake.
This isn't even taking into account that Jake is kind of an asshole. He has underlying issues with almost everyone in the book, and it really only strengthens the doubt we should have of him as a reliable narrator. Nearly everything should be taken with a grain of salt in The Sun Also Rises, and everyone deserves a bit of a closer analysis that attempts to rid the interpretation of Jake's bias and criticism.
Maybe I have my own biases. I'm definitely not a fan of Jake --- he's quite the asshole: racist, sexist, homophobic, you name it. Siding with anyone but Jake is a quick and easy decision for me. But I still can't shake the feeling that Jake isn't nearly as unbiased as he would like to present himself. Jake would love to think that he's the perfect reporter, presenting everything just as it is. But he's on the complete other end of the spectrum. It's not obvious (just like the rest of Hemingway's writing), but Jake is one of the more biased presenters of a story that I've ever seen. A biased narrator isn't uncommon in itself (arguably, no narrator is unbiased), but the key difference that ticks me off about Jake is that he's just way more of an asshole as a strongly biased narrator.
In all honesty, this could be quite a subjective question. If there are aspects of Cohn's personality that are irritating to you because they irk you, then perhaps Cohn is inherently annoying. There are certainly some characteristics of Cohn that I think could be quite annoying in real life. There's always something about every person that will be annoying, but I think there's a case to made for Cohn being painted as more annoying than he actually is.
We know Jake doesn't like Cohn. It comes out in various ways throughout the book. Cohn is presented as the annoying friend who can't take a hint, who doesn't really understand social cues, who's clingy. He's the most ridiculed person in The Sun Also Rises.
We've taken Jake to be a pretty reliable narrator from the beginning --- he presents the facts and nothing but the facts. Or does he? It's inevitable that someone's biases of people will bleed into anything they write. But it seems that Jake's biases are the strongest with Cohn, most likely stemming from his extreme hatred of him. In truth, it seems the only person Jake has any significant dislike for in the whole book is Cohn, and I don't think we've accounted for that. Cohn is the only character presented obviously negatively. He is the pre-war man that Jake despises, the all-too-serious man that can't understand irony. This adds an aspect of frustration to his interactions with Cohn, and it comes out in a rather negative reading of Cohn.
Yes, the aspects of Cohn we've discussed in class are annoying. Yes, he's maybe not the best with social interaction. But I can't help feeling sorry for the guy. Many of Jake's problems with Cohn form on a base of anti-Semitism, and I feel like a good amount of them are unfair issues to have with Cohn. Cohn does seem to be trying to interact somewhat positively and happily with people, despite his anger issues. And his attempts shouldn't be ridiculed by Jake.
This isn't even taking into account that Jake is kind of an asshole. He has underlying issues with almost everyone in the book, and it really only strengthens the doubt we should have of him as a reliable narrator. Nearly everything should be taken with a grain of salt in The Sun Also Rises, and everyone deserves a bit of a closer analysis that attempts to rid the interpretation of Jake's bias and criticism.
Maybe I have my own biases. I'm definitely not a fan of Jake --- he's quite the asshole: racist, sexist, homophobic, you name it. Siding with anyone but Jake is a quick and easy decision for me. But I still can't shake the feeling that Jake isn't nearly as unbiased as he would like to present himself. Jake would love to think that he's the perfect reporter, presenting everything just as it is. But he's on the complete other end of the spectrum. It's not obvious (just like the rest of Hemingway's writing), but Jake is one of the more biased presenters of a story that I've ever seen. A biased narrator isn't uncommon in itself (arguably, no narrator is unbiased), but the key difference that ticks me off about Jake is that he's just way more of an asshole as a strongly biased narrator.
This is really something to think about. I thought I hated Cohn because he was so dislikable- he's got such a sallow, punchable face and he's so clingy. But I only think this because it's what Jake thinks, and I'd assumed that Jake was narrating without bias. It's odd that to some extent I could tell that Brett is presented as such a gorgeous and charismatic woman because we see her through Jake's lens, but not the same for Cohn.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me get this out of the way - I hate Cohn. He's creepily clingy and self-pitying and annoyingly optimistic (not to mention a terrible excuse for a father). I do understand that my opinions are likely influenced heavily by Jake's opinion, but at some points I barely care - Cohn just rubs me in the wrong direction.
ReplyDeleteBut you make a very good point! Jake really isn't unbiased at all - everything he says is shaded so subtly that we forget that we're looking through his eyes and start to develop Jake-mentality. I do understand that I am biased (especially since I like Jake better than Cohn), and that everything Jake says should indeed be taken with a grain of salt. He is a very subtly strong narrator, and I think it's easy to miss just how easily we could be manipulated by him.
I like your point here. We spent a lot of time in class talking about how Jake was a very unbiased, observational narrator. However, the more I think about it the more I realize that the way he painted certain characters did include his own opinions of them. We see Bill as a funny, ironic character through the eyes of Jake, but I think in some ways he is just as racist and homophobic as some of the other characters. Similarly, maybe Cohn isn't actually that annoying, and doesn't deserve all of the hate he gets.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a point. I kind of like Robert, because, as Jake described him in the first chapter, he seems like a "nice boy". Everything he does seems pretty innocent and in line with his over-romanticizing of everything (okay, maybe not when he knocks Jake out). I think Jake has some serious issues with the fact that a) Cohn can still reproduce and isn't masculine, b) Cohn got with Brett and c) Cohn is a jew. With these factors in mind, everything Cohn does is irritating. In any case, Cohn reacts fairly well to essentially being bullied by Jake and Mike at times.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points about Jake being kind of an asshole. He nit-picks a lot of people, and he seems to think he's higher than a lot of people in the story. I also kind of hate Cohn though, just because of the way he can't take a hint. I just think that they're both disagreeable characters, though they are very well made characters in that they are realistic.
ReplyDeleteTying back to your comment about how we trusted Jake as a reliable narrator at the beginning and how his opinion on Cohn can influence the reader, I agree with you when you say that it could be subjective whether or not you like Cohn or find him annoying. However, I also think it's very possible that its easier for the reader to see Cohn as annoying in the book than they would if they actually encountered Cohn in real life. It's very possible that, while Jake might not be lying about any of Cohn attributes, he could very well be leaving out the whole image of Cohn. There could very well be aspects of Cohn that make it worth being around him to overcome the annoying bits that Jake (whether on purpose or not) has left out when narrating.
ReplyDeleteWhile I still find myself disliking Cohn, you raise a good point about the reliability of Jake as a narrator. He definitely presents other characters in a certain way--one that jumps out to me is the infallibility and calming aura of Bill (who Jake seems to associate with the Spanish countryside?). The point of Cohn as a character seems to be to point out Jake's shortcomings, as a narrator and as a character.
ReplyDelete