One of the first characters introduced in The Sun Also Rises, outside of the evident character that was Jake, was Robert Cohn. In fact, the opening line of the book, introduces him as a, “once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton,” (Hemingway 4). He was established as an acquaintance of Jake's from the beginning, but a friendship even then was not entirely supported. Quantities of anti-semetic jokes were made of Cohn, and he was seemingly the punchline of many jokes made by Jake, who “always had a suspicion that perhaps Robert Cohn had never been middleweight boxing champion, and that perhaps a horse had stepped on his face,” (Hemingway 5). This baseline level of friendship(?) that was seen at the beginning of the book was scrapped towards the latter half of the book, where many of the other characters started to develop feelings of great unfavor towards Cohn. The friend’s of Jake who interacted with Cohn rallied amongst each other's resentment of Cohn, sending them into further dislike.
Jake was Robert’s connection to all the other characters in the story, but that did not stop the others from developing similar feelings for him. The first one to establish such intense bitterness for Cohn was Jake, in which he said that he “certainly did hate him. I do not think I ever really hated him until he had that little spell of superiority at lunch—that and when he went through all that barbering,” (Hemingway 100). While Robert and Jake were the first initial and set friends of the book, the friendship may have just been one sided towards the end. Cohn had knowingly gone off with Brett to San Sebastian, where he wanted to pursue his emotions for her, yet she did not view this trip in the same light. This trip with Brett not only harmed how Jake viewed Cohn as he had previously expressed his tricky relationship with her, but also how Brett perceived Cohn. The obsessive attachment that Robert Cohn ended up developing for Brett was the spiraling point for the intense repudiation of him. When Robert would simply not leave Brett alone once the group had their trip to Spain, she did her best to ward him off with sharpness, “‘Was I rude enough to him?’ Brett asked. Cohn was gone. ‘My God! I’m so sick of him!’” (Hemingway 182). Brett must have been interested enough with Cohn at one point to allow him to be one of her many men she was with throughout the book, yet that prior attraction could not outweigh the character of Robert Cohn. Even if he was welcomed with open arms at the start of a relationship or friendship, the warmth was not extended at the end.
Bill, another friend of Jake’s, that Jake actually implied to enjoy being around, met Cohn in France and proceeded to be stuck with him in Pamplona. After Bill’s initial meeting with Cohn and understanding of who he was, he immediately held a subpar notion of Cohn. On Jake and Bill’s fishing trip Cohn gets brought up in conversation, not fondly, however. In conversation it was decided that, “‘for this Robert Cohn,’ Bill said, ‘he makes me sick, and he can go to hell, and I’m damn glad he’s staying here so we won’t have him fishing with us.’ ‘You’re damn right’” (Hemingway 103). Bill had no effort in sugar coating his bitterness towards Cohn, there was no evidence of support or window for Cohn to slide his way back into Bill’s good graces. Jake in the presence of Bill allowed for them to build on each other's resentment, something that they perhaps may not have felt so strongly about without the other. Once again, when in the company of one another, Robert Cohn slithered his way into conversation. The elements of pity were being thrown around by Bill, who then states that, “‘...You have no pity. Say something pitiful.’” towards Jake, who responded, “‘Robert Cohn.’” (Hemingway 115). Robert effortlessly becomes the butt of many jokes made, sending his character to an unredeemable valley of group[ resentment. Hatred, disdain, abhor, and pity are all emotions that the characters of The Sun Also Rises express for Robert Cohn. However, without the company of the other characters throughout the story, they might not have gotten to have such a strong emotional view of Cohn.
Works Cited
Ernest Hemingway. The Sun Also Rises. The Project Gutenberg, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926, United States.
Hi Annika,
ReplyDeleteAdding to what you said about Brett's outing with Cohn, in the book it is not even framed as Brett being attracted to Cohn at one point. Instead she describes it to Jake as a service she thought Cohn needed. Jake and Cohn also never seem to be friends past Jake calling him his tennis partner. Implying that Cohn was only useful for holding a tennis racket and nothing deeper than that. Other characters relationships with Cohn also seem to be strictly transactional and when Cohn makes an attempt to extend a friendship beyond that everyone wants him to go away. Maybe because everyone else's friendships in the book seem to stay at a transactional level.
The quote about them sort of being friends at some point is something that is sort of hidden behind the mountains of hatred for Robert Cohn and that he has some similarities with Romero who Jake is fine with. Maybe its time that made Jake hate Cohn.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that, starting from the opening paragraph, Jake has a lot of mean and critical things to say about Robert Cohn, and our general impression is of Jake "making fun of him" along with the rest of the gang. But if we look more closely, there actually aren't many scenes where Jake DOES reveal his disdain for Cohn publicly. He talks a lot of trash behind Cohn's back, as a narrator and to Brett and Bill, but he mostly narrates all the others saying rude things to him--Mike, especially. It's also important to remember that Cohn doesn't seem particularly aware of Jake's feelings for Brett, and he also doesn't seem to know about Jake's injury--so he lacks a LOT of the important context for the "iceberg" that is following Brett and Jake around when they want to talk and he keeps hanging around. He doesn't have any reason to suppose that Brett and Jake are intimate or need time alone together--and in fact he thinks HE has more of a "claim" on Brett's attention after their little getaway in San Sebastian. And it's BRETT who tells him to get lost, not Jake (as usual).
ReplyDeleteOne of the saddest/funniest moments in the novel, in terms of Jake and Robert, for me happens when Cohn tells Jake that he's his "best friend"--"God help you, I thought," Jake narrates. But he DOESN'T say it aloud.
Robert to me received so much unjustified hate, and I really enjoyed how you broke that all down. He was the butt of so many jokes (and honestly pure hate), and everybody sort of just blew it off as if it were an okay thing to say. I feel like Jake's insecurity with himself really fueled these feelings. A lot of his statements were toward the reader, not the other characters, so it felt really genuine. He really thought those things about Robert, and he made a point to try to convince the reader to feel the same way. I think it's also interesting to think about how the sort of group mentality contributed to these feelings. As you mentioned, his friends "rallying" together sort of fed into each other's hate and only made it worse.
ReplyDeleteWhile much of the hatred expressed towards Robert Cohn is illegitament---stemming from antisemitism and ungrounded distaste for innocuous personal characteristics---Hemingway portrays him in such a way that readers can understand some of the animosity. At times he is unnecessarily pompous and self-important, and there's also his affair with Brett as you mentioned. He can be viewed as a very annoying character, but yet readers and characters alike can't help but pity him.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post! I completely agree with your assertion that the group gangs up on Cohn, and he wouldn't be as vocally hated if not for the group amplifying each other's hatred for him. I think it's interesting that Cohn is under the impression (at least for most of the book, I'm sure this is completely gone by the time he attempts to beat like half of them up) that these people are his friends. It's clear when listening to them talk that they openly hate him, but a lot of what they say directly to his face is more passive aggressive and doesn't truly show the extent to which they hate him. Great post!
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