Jake Barnes In The Sun Also Rises

“Oh, Jake, we could have had such a damned good time together.’ ‘Yes, Isn’t it pretty to think so?”. Their final discussion is right where they started in the back of a cab. Brett has just dug a hole even deeper into the abyss of disappointment that Brett has already given him. Jake has lost his masculinity in more ways than one. He has to live without Brett, and with his disability, denying him any chance at all with women. He has finally accepted the loveless relationship that has become of them, and will push forward knowing how it will never be.

          The most prevalent theme in this story is loneliness. Jake is obviously lonely, so much so that he stoops to such pathetic lines as, "I'm kinda hoping so, just so it takes a little more time and we can talk some. Or else you can give me your phone number now and I won't have to lay my regular b.s. on you to get it later." His loneliness also shows when Gilb describes how, "her hand felt so warm and soft he felt like he'd been kissed." Jake seems to crave the human intimacy of love, and yet all he does is flirt with a woman whom he does not even care for enough to be truthful to. This is also situational irony. Corresponding with this theme of loneliness is the concept that everyone is looking for love. This need is very evident in Jake and is also displayed in Mariana. No intelligent female would even relent a little in the face of such an apparent swindler as Jake. However, Mariana must be a little flattered and lonely because she smiles at his attentions and even makes small talk with him.

“Why? What’s the point?”. Jake has a wife and a daughter and he hasn't spoken with his kid in months. His daughter refers to him as “the man that used to live with us” and he doesn't like speaking with his

The main reason that Brett’s life is so miserable is because she loves Jake, but they cannot be together. Critics have speculated as to whether she really loves him or not, even going so far as to say she merely wants what she cannot have. However, the text does not support that claim. Brett says over and over again how much she loves Jake and cannot stand being apart from him. She recognizes that it is better for them to be apart, but that she has no control over it. When Jake asks whether she wants them to see each other, she simply replies, “I have to” (35). Each time they touch each other and become affectionate, Brett becomes shaky and must stop it. She says to Jake in the cab, “Love you? I simply turn all to jelly when you touch me” (34). These two have a special kind of relationship that none of the other

Jake is consciously aware that there is a problem, which is more than can be said about his friends. Perhaps the people that surround Jake are the issue, though. His close friends and the people whom he travels with include Lady Brett Ashley, Robert Cohn, Bill, and Mike. Brett, the target of Jake’s unrequited affections, is likely someone whom he should stop spending time with; however, it seems that he just can’t get away from her. She is a very strong and independent woman who isn’t known to behave in a traditionally feminine way. Jakes does remark that although she is very independent, “She can’t go anywhere alone.” Robert Cohn is a Jewish, wealthy expatriate; but unlike many of his friends, did not spend any time in the war. Cohn also falls head over heels in love with Brett, who soon rejects his affections as well. As a wealthy, Jewish, non war veteran Cohn stands out in the group and his fumbling attempts to court Brett are the source of much mockery and leads to many fights. Bill is also an American veteran who seems to be always drinking. He tends to use humor to try and deal with the emotional scars of war; however, is not immune to the immaturity and cruelty sometimes characterized by Jake and his friends. Finally, Mike is a very heavy drinking Scottish war veteran who is completely bankrupt. He is seen to have a terrible temper, which most often displays while he is drunk. Mike is also not comfortable with the

Reflecting members of the Lost Generation, the characters in the novel are negatively affected by being a part of it because many are incapable forming genuine relationships. The fight between Cohn, Jake, and Mike especially illustrates such an idea because it shows just how meaningless the idea of friendship is to the characters. Cohn in particular gives little meaning to true relationships. He says that Jake is his best friend, yet he insults him prior to the physical altercation; “‘You’re really about the best friend I have, Jake’” (39). Despite Jake allegedly being his best friend, he still refers to him as a pimp, showing how little Jake means to Cohn. The negative effect of meaningless, dishonest relationships is also found in the overall relationship of the group: Cohn claims to like Jake, while Jake claims to hate Cohn. Mike abhors Cohn as well, yet they are all out together nonetheless. Their lack of honesty, which led to the fight, stresses the significance of the negative effects of being a part of the Lost Generation, which is Hemingway’s meaning of the entire work.

The part of the novel that best defines the relationship of the two is when Brett and Jake are alone while Jake is getting dressed. Jake tells her that he loves her, and Brett asks if he wants her to send the man she is with away. She goes outside and sends Count to get some champagne, so the two can talk alone. Everything seems to be going well, until they talk about the situation in detail.

Jake, on the other hand, is young and inexperienced. Near the beginning of the case, Jake says to Carl

Jake is calling her a hoity toity Yankee bitch because he thinks that since she moved away she has become someone she’s not. Although they used to be in love and married they use these hurtful stereotypes to get their point across. The point of the stereotype usage is to hurt the other and the outcome is anger and even a little hurt.

This shows he is hard working and not a lazy kid, but when you figure out that his dad beats him and takes the money Jake earns at work to buy alcohol, you understand why Jake is the way he is. His father provides him with a shack as a shelter, but on most nights Jake spends his nights sleeping in a trash can. To me, this shows Jake’s great maturity for his age accepting the conditions he is faced with. In my opinion, this also shows his toughness and brevity to endure these rough situations that he is forced to be in the middle of. A part in the book that I found very symbolic of a theme was when Jake was caught by Mr. Gerbati stealing out of his business’s money safe. Although Mr. Gerbati was very upset, from my point of view, it seemed as if he understood why Jake was doing something like that. Mr. Gerbati was very firm with his voice, but told Jake he was willing to take care of him. In my opinion, this is the beginning of a very important recurring theme in this story, transformation.

The value of monetary exchange extends to his relationships, particularly with Brett: “I had been getting something for nothing. That only delayed the presentation of the bill. The bill always came. That was one of the swell things you could count on” (Hemingway, 152). In this instance, Jake is referencing that his friendship with Brett, has given him the benefits of having as much of a romantic relationship as he can, which makes him feel he has cheated Brett of deserving payment. This explains why Jake supports Brett’s sexual promiscuity, as other men are capable of giving her what he cannot, sexually.

It shows how Jake is persistent and dedicated to his job, even if it always seems like he is in over his head. Jake, however, also departs from the film noir tradition when he lets his emotions get the best of him. The greatest example of this is seen during the exchange between him and Evelyn when he is trying to find out the truth about Katherine. Resorting for the first time to violence against a woman, the near desperation with which Jake pushes Evelyn to confess is an expression of his fears and anxieties about being completely lost amidst the lies that surround him. The result is the humanization of Jake Giddes’ character. He simply is not perfect, and ultimately fails to see the bigger picture of what he is involved with until .

However, Jake is not married, nor does he live with a woman in Paris. The characters of the

Jake is not a wealthy man; however, his ego gets the better of him. Time and again, he keeps a tight check of his bank account balance. But when Brett starts hanging out with Count Mippipopolous, Jake is not averse to offering up his money when they all go out together. Money takes a back seat to Jake's ego. Once, Brett sends the Count out for champagne so that she could be alone with Jake. Whereupon she talks to him about her fiancé, Michael and this shoots down Jake's already bruised ego to its lowest. However, For Jake, just to be with Brett is pure happiness. He is so blinded with love for her that he doesn't even flinch when she does

     Unfortunately, Jake does not undergo a change throughout the book. Jake stays the same uncaring, selfish person from the beginning where Jake said he never thinks about how much he’s wasted his life to Robert Cohn, until the last line where Brett Ashley says, “We could have had such a damned good time together,” and