preview

Robert Cohn : A Man

Decent Essays
Open Document
The novel begins with Robert Cohn, a boy who is seeking to become a man. Throughout the book, Cohn is seeking out heroic characteristics, but little does he know what a real hero is. Robert Cohn is introduced in the first few lines of the novel: "Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn" (Hemingway 5). Tracy Caldwell, a literary critic, gives another description of arrogant book writer Robert Cohn as she says, "Cohn is described as a wealthy Jew from New York, and a Princeton graduate. Shy and innocent, if naive and van at times, Cohn becomes unpleasantly 'vain ' after some modest success as an author and entrepreneur"…show more content…
Cohn never finds true fulfillment or success because he is always the "rebound," someone 's second choice, or the center of conflict. Hemingway describes Cohn 's first marriage as a 'rebound ' when he says, "He had married on the rebound from the rotten time he had in college, and Frances took him on the rebound from his discovery that he had not been everything to his first wife" (Hemingway 8). As Cohn tries to succeed in being a people pleaser, he fails in doing just that. From his writing career to his relationships with others, Cohn 's life is a constant cycle of let downs. Jake Barnes, the narrator of The Sun Also Rises, is one of the many who were impacted by World War I, leaving him searching for that which was lost. Jake is constantly searching for something greater, perhaps a chance to undo his past and take away the wounds he will live with forever. Jake describes his longing to search for something more when he says, "Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters" (Hemingway 9). Lori Fulton describes how Jake is searching for something far out of reach when she says, "In desiring Brett, he too longs for that which he cannot have" (Fulton 63). Jake believes that living life as a bull-fighter is the only way to live a fulfilled life. Jake succeeds at accepting his battle scars and wounds, but fails at dealing with them. Jake reveals how he is
Get Access
Related
Get Access