Random thoughts with Regeneration and The Sun Also Rises

Reading Regeneration by Pat Barker after Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises brings a lot of epiphanies (that word looks a little funny) when I was reading it. The novel takes place in a medical hospital for mental problems in soldiers, which is interesting because I think I learnt more about the war in this setting outside of the war than I would have reading something with a bunch of battles and gunfights. More than that, Barker's novel allowed me to understand a bit more the characters within Hemingway's novel. I have to admit, sometimes I didn't quite understand what some of the characters were talking about, but now I feel that I understand them all a bit better- and not only the ex-soldiers involved in the war, but the women as well.

Here are some quotes and ideas from Regeneration that really made me connect to The Sun Also Rises. Feel free to read some of them, all of them, or none of them.

Mindset of the soldiers in war:

"He was feeling distinctly cheerful. Exactly the same feeling he had had on boardship going to France, watching England slide away into the mist. No doubts, no scruples, no agonizing, just a straightforward, headlong retreat towards the front" (Barker, 248).

• So there is this clear connection about having a clear goal, much like Jake likes to have, where there are no doubts. Here the character, Sassoon, likes war because he knows his purpose and who he is. Jake, on the other hand, misses the war because he is lost without it.
• But what I found particularly interesting is that Sassoon says, "retreat towards the front". It's almost as if he isn't going somewhere, but running away from something. One of the ideas in this novel is that people weren't fighting the war because they wanted to kill, but because they felt a duty to their country and/or their comrades who were also fighting. The soldiers were unsure about a lot of things, but pretty much everyone still believed that the war was worth fighting- they just weren't sure why. Pacifists are looked down upon by everyone. I think here, Sassoon "retreats" from his normal life- he's running away from all his problems, and going to something that was clear, where he didn't have to think too much. Perhaps Jake is lost because he can't run away from his problems? In the war there was a strict structure they had to follow. In the world Jake currently lives in, it seems a bit chaotic. Anyways, I think the word "retreat" gives a lot of insight into the mindset of some soldiers.

Attitude of soldiers away from war and their relationship with non-soldiers

Sassoon also says some other things which might give some understanding to Jake:

• Talking with Rivers, the doctor, we discover that Sasson has cut himself off from the army, "the only place I've [Sassoon] ever really belonged" (36).
• This has led him to isolation. Sassoon "can't talk to anybody" (36).
• But he talks with Rivers, the doctor, because he doesn't "say stupid things" (36).
• I think these things combined can help us understand why Jake is who he is. Jake is isolated, and he doesn't talk much at all.
• Then a little bit later, Rivers asks Sassoon if he "might find being safe while other people die rather difficult" (36). To which Sassoon replies, "Nobody else in this stinking country seems to find it difficult. I expect I'll just learn to live with it. Like everybody else" (36).
• Another thing throughout the novel is this general hatred towards civilians who know nothing about the war. Many of the soldiers dislike them, because they have not experienced the harshness, and are still gung-ho for the whole idea. Especially for those in the medical ward, who have suffered through quite gruesome events that put them there in the first place, many soldiers feel separated from all the other people; they feel they are not understood, and they resent that. There is this them and us. Soldiers even feel distant from their family- their fathers and mothers don't quite understand what their children have gone through, and they come off more as annoying than caring.

Women during the war:

I was impressed by how expansive the effect of the war was. Soldiers, doctors, even women all felt a certain doubt about the war. Speaking of women, a relationship between a soldier (within the mental hospital) and a woman helps me understand Brett. The women during the war have actually felt a new kind of freedom- they are being paid more, their husbands (who may or may not be mean) are gone, and they feel in power of their own lives. And in respect to love, the woman in the relationship, Sarah, is both careful and reckless. I think Sarah is distrustful of men, and has lost the idea of this "romantic love" just as Brett has. Brett no longer believes in monagamy, maybe because she has seen men do the same thing she does and has gotten tired of caring about it. During the war, it seems the attitude among the women was one where they got a little tougher in the way that they thought- the traditional woman was considered weak, and they felt like they had to do everything themselves.

Some short random stuff that may spark some thought:

• Another thing I found interesting was how Rivers (the medical doctor) tells people that it is not one event that puts someone off the edge, but it is an erosion over time.
• Entirely separate from the above, I noticed that a lot of soldiers spoke in detached sentences, and one of them said they felt like it was happening to someone else. I wonder if that's what Jake kind of feels like?
• Soldiers get a lot of nightmares at night, which I think parallels Jake's realization that at night it's hard to ignore his problems.

Sexuality:

Prior, another soldier in the mental hospital, describes a battle. He talks about getting bombed at, shelled at, then walking in a straight line in broad daylight towards enemy lines. When asked about what he felt, he says, "'It felt...' Prior started to smile again. 'Sexy.' [...] 'You know those men who lurk around in bushes waiting to jump out on unsuspecting ladies and - er-um - display their equipment? It felt a bit like that. A bit like I imagine that feels. I wouldn't like you to think that I had any personal experience" (78).

Any thought in relation to The Sun Also Rises?

Masculinity:

"'I mean, there was the riding, hunting, cricketing me, and then there was the... the other side... that was interested in poetry and music, and things like that. And i didn't seem able to ...' He laced his fingers. 'Knot them together.'" (35).

For soldiers as well, there was this definition of manhood- the hunting, the riding, the adventurousness. But quite a few soldiers had a thoughtful side to them, where they wrote a lot of poetry. Intriguing, however, is the fact that out of the war, when they were recovering from a wound or something, is when they wrote their poems. There's no time between battles to do that kind of thing. Writing and creativity is something that runs throughout the novel in The Sun Also Rises- hmm...

There's this one scene that's kind of freaky and peaceful at the same time (page 39), I might analyze it a bit later- any thoughts?:

"Looking up, he saw that the tree he stood under was laden with dead animals. bore them like fruit. A whole branch of moles in various stages of decay, a ferret, a weasel, three magpies, a fox, the fox hanging quite close, its lips curled back from bloodied teeth.

He started to run, but the trees were against him. Branches clipped his face, twigs tore at him, roots tripped him. Once he was sent sprawling, though immediately he was up again, and running, his coat a mess of mud and dead leaves.

Out in the field, splashing along the flooded furrows, he heard Rivers's voice, as distinctly as he sometimes hear it in dreams: If you run know, you'll never stop.

He turned and went back, though he knew the voice was only a voice in his head, and that the real Rivers might equally well have said: Get away from here. He stood again in front of the tree. Now that he was calmer, he remembered that he'd seen trees like this before. The animals were not nailed to it, as they sometimes were, but tie, by wings or paws or tails. He started to release a magpie, his teeth chattering as a wing came away in his hand. Then the other magpies, the fox, the weasel, the ferret and the moles.

When all the corpses were on the ground, he arranged them in a circle round the tree and sat down within it, his back against the trunk. He felt the roughness of the bark against his knobbly spine. He pressed his hands between his knees and looked around the circle of his companions. Now they could dissolve into the earth as they were meant to do. He felt a great urge to lie down beside them, but his clothes separated him. He got up and started to get undressed. When he'd finished, he looked down at himself. His naked body was white as a root. He cupped his genitals in his hands, not because he was ashamed, but because he looked incongruous, they didn't seem to belong with the rest of him. Then he folded his clothes carefully and put them outside the circle. He sat down again with his back to the tree and looked up through the tracery of branches at grey and scudding clouds.

The sky darkened, the air grew colder, but he didn't mind. It didn't occur to him to move. This was the right place. This was where he had wanted to be.

Dear Abby Responses from Characters in "The Sun Also Rises"

Here are two Dear Abby letters and responses- I couldn't decide what to write so I just did a little of both. I followed a theme in both responses where the two characters were trying to convince themselves that what they had done in their life was right, instead of what they might have said if they were trying to save the people some trouble. I think I took the characters from midway in the novel, rather than the end (which might cause them to answer these letters differently).
______________________

Dear Abby:

I'm a single man, in my mid-forties, an Air Force Academy graduate and former officer, who has never been married. I fell in love with a divorced mother of two who told me while we were dating that for the last 10 years she'd been having an affair with a married man I'll call "Rex." She left her husband because Rex promised he'd leave his wife and marry her, but he reneged -- so they met twice a week for sex. Rex worked nearby and would stop over during his lunch break. She told me all this while I was seeing her.

She finally broke it off about six months ago, saying she knew Rex was no good for her. Subsequently, I gave a job in my business, and she has turned out to be an excellent employee. Well, she recently confided to me that Rex came over during Easter and they'd had sex.

Abby, this woman is extremely bright. She's a wonderful mother to her daughters, a great worker, yet she lives like someone who's still in college and accountable to no one. She says she's not proud of what she does, bus she continues to do it. We no longer date, but I still have strong feelings for her. Does this make me nuts too? How can I help her? how can I break the spell he has cast over her? 

Mind-Boggled in Cincinnati 

Dear Mind-Boggled,

You are definitely nuts. Why do you want to help her become someone she’s not? She is accountable to no one. You have to follow your philosophy: we all pay in the end. Just because she has sex with other people and she tells you about it which makes you jealous and angry and she treats you like you’re no one, and tells you she loves you but then doesn’t do anything about it, and you don’t know who you are because of it doesn’t mean that she has to change. People are who they are- if she doesn’t want to marry you, why make a problem bigger? Love is meaningless. What rot! That’s life: this woman owes nothing to you. So you love her- what good does that do? There is no magical “spell” that makes a woman love you- believe me. It’s just sex. It doesn’t mean anything to her, why should it mean anything to you? Have you ever considered she doesn’t want to marry you because she’s not proud of what she does? Women are complicated- don’t get too hung up on people; they all die in the end anyways. Everyone comes with baggage. There's always one thing or another that they have. She's got two children for god's sake. It's just trouble. Love means nothing.  What the hell. Don’t get tight. Just accept the way things are. Don't think about it.

Jake

 ______________________

Dear Abby:

I am 37, never married, and have never even dated much. I am quiet, shy, overweight and plain. I have been seeing a man who is 42 years old, and has also never been married. He has proposed, but I haven't given him an answer because I don't hink I really love him. He is very good to me and treats me like a queen, but there is absolutely no spark. (There's also no sex. He's impotent and has no plans to do anything about it.)

My question is: Do I marry him and "settle," just to be married, or do I live the rest of my life alone? Is it better to take this chance and marry my best friend, or should I wait for a Prince Charming who might never arrive?

 Wavering in the Midwest

Dear indecisive fool,

I’d say get married. I mean, if you guys can talk and get along that’s fine. You can always have sex with someone else. I’m sure he’d understand, right? Seriously, if you change your mind later, and find someone else, just get a divorce! But let me tell you, there’s no Prince Charming. What rot! There’s always rather some fault or another. Don’t worry about love. It just makes things more complicated. Go with what’s easy- there’s fewer problems that way. Love! What rot! If he treats you nice, then I say keep it. Love isn’t what you’re looking for in a marriage. Have fun, drink. Love’s the problem. If you loved him, I’d say don’t marry him. It would just cause more problems. What rot! You should be married at least once, I think. It makes things easier. Just make sure you like him. If he is annoying, and follows you around everywhere, it can get tiresome. But then you can always divorce him later. Don’t worry about the future- spend what you have now; you can always get more later. Marriage isn’t that important.

Brett

Brett and Circe

I was reading the story of Circe in the library, and since I was looking for it, a lot of similarities came up with Brett from The Sun Also Rises. Circe is a witch who trapped Odysseus’ men and turned them into pigs, but then fell in love with Odysseus who remained immune to her magical powers due to Hermes’ antidote. Circe frees all of the men and they remain on the island until Odysseus decides to leave. She ends up helping him in the end, telling him his next path in the journey- although this is the Underworld, so it’s not a great place. She lives on an island, in control over her victims, a mistress to her land. She has tamed animals, and lives with a bunch of nymphs. When Odysseus comes, she tries and gives him everything he desired (but freedom), and holds onto him quite tightly. She poisons people with a drink before she touches them with her wand.

Brett is much the same. She sort of lives alone in her own world- not that she may want to, but everyone treats her differently. For instance, in Spain, Brett attracts the attention of not only men, but also women: “The woman standing in the door of the wine-shop looked at us as we passed. She called to some one in the house and three girls came to the window and stared. They were staring at Brett” (142). Brett is separate from other women, and hangs around mostly guys, as Circe does around Odysseus and his men. She has control over these men- she being both Circe and Brett. With her beauty and her “magic” (in Brett’s case, I think her independent and elegant atmosphere), both of them have power over their “victims”, the people whom they turn into swine. Cohn in The Sun Also Rises makes this direct connection: “'He calls here Circe,’ Mike said. ‘He claims she turns men into swine’” (148). While Brett does not literally turn men into animals, she does bring out the worst in people. In an essay I read, the author describes:

“Cohn engages in brawls with a number of Brett’s other lovers, including Mike, Romero, and even his close friend, Jake Barnes. Brett weakens men by heightening their desires, turning men into animals and against each other, like Circe. In doing so, Brett strips them of their masculine unity. She sleeps around, though one man at a time, performing sexually as a man would stereotypically do, turning the men in her path into hopeless monogamist saps.”

While this may be a bit harsh, I do think there is a point made here; what I find particularly interesting is the idea that “Brett strips them of their masculine unity”. And it’s somewhat true. Brett is “one of the guys”, and in doing this she may make some of the friends question who they are. She pits the men against one another, Cohn and Jake fighting, Mike and Cohn fighting- in fact, it is only Bill who seems immune to her “powers”. I wonder why that is.

The difference between Circe and Brett is that Circe only fell in love with one man, while Brett debatably falls in love numerous times. However, both of them have a certain hatred for love and attachment, and yet both of them fall pray to it.

I’m not sure where Brett would parallel the part where Circe helps Odysseus move on with his life. I mean, assuming that Odysseus is Jake, the author of the essay mentioned above says something to the contrary:

“Brett specifically targets Jake, though certainly not with malicious intent. In the ending scene, Brett presses aggressively into Jake as she speculates about what they could have had, taunting him with unattainable love as well as her bodily presence. Assuming the masculine role Jake is unable to fill, Brett emasculates Jake psychologically."

Brett certainly in the end makes Jake tumble off the cliff. He finally gets really drunk when Brett goes off with Romero, and admits that he is “tight” (227) for the first time. More than that, after he is all alone he goes back to Paris and returns to the philosophy about paying what you get- for example he spends a lot of money so he can get a lot of friends. He seems to be a lot less sure of himself, and feels the need for people to like him. In a way, he is emasculated. Brett, unknowingly or not, “taunts” Jake. I noticed as I read a version of Circe’s story, however, that Odysseus helps Circe just as much as she helps him. Before, Circe had a “dark past” where I gathered that she was married earlier or something, which is paralleled with Brett’s lost love. In the end of The Sun Also Rises, I think Brett realizes that she isn’t that great of a person. She mentions how Romero wanted her to get “more womanly” (246), and then she starts to cry: “’I’m thirty-four, you know. I’m not going to be one of these bitches that ruins children” (247). Here she knows that she shouldn’t ever marry, that she doesn’t want to ruin people’s lives. In fact, she goes back to Mike not only because “he’s so damned nice” (247) but also because “he’s so awful” (247). So he’s right for her because she doesn’t have to mind hurting him sometimes. She feels happy, because of Jake, and so I think Jake has helped her a bit. At the end, however, where she says “’we could have had such a damned good time together’” (251) and Jake replies, “’Isn’t it pretty to think so?’” (251), I’m not sure if Jake believes her or not. Or that he’s let go/accepted his love. So as to whether Brett helps Jake move on with his life, I can’t tell. I mean, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a happy happy ending, since Odysseus after leaving Circe goes to the Underworld, but hey. While Jake may not be immune, she doesn’t harm him as she does everyone else, that is to say, Brett makes fun of everyone but Jake.

To add onto the similarities between Circe and Brett, they both have “nobility” in them. Circe is the daughter of Perse and Helios, so she has some God blood in her. And Brett is Lady Ashley. To add onto this, they both have a positive and negative connotation to them. Circe is beautiful, elegant, and goddess-like, yet a witch, just as Brett is both beautiful and promiscuous. On a side note, one of the books I was reading talked about Circe’s enchanting eyes, which reminded me of how Brett’s eyes always crinkle- I wonder why? There is also a similar element- the poisonous drink. Circe gives a toxic drink to her guests right before she transforms them, and Brett- well, she drinks a lot. Odysseus’ men first go to Circe’s island for food and shelter, and I think men flock to Brett because they think she is perfect (Cohn, for instance, won’t accept any bad words about her). Brett has class, and everyone loves her- yet she may do more harm than good. Now that I think about it, most of the conflicts that arise surround Brett, but never include her. Cohn might actually not be so annoying if Brett wasn't there. And all the other tensions exist, I think, because of her.

Anyways, that’s a lot of Circe and Brett.

Sources:

1. Atsma, Aaron J. "Kirke." Theoi Greek Mythology. 2011. Web. 16 Oct. 2011.<http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Kirke.html>.
2. Lahrmann, Jessica E. "Metaphorical Illness in Hemingway's Works." Diss. University of Pennsylvania, 2006. Print.
3. Mangum, Marc. "Circe." Encyclopedia Mythica. 26 May 1999. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/circe.html>.

Thoughts on "The Sun Also Rises"

Excerpt from The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway: Chapter 2, page 19


"'Listen, Jake,' he leaned forward on the bar. 'Don't you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you're not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you've lived nearly half the time you have to live already?'
'Yes, every once in a while.'
'Do you know that in about thirty-five years more we'll be dead?'
'What the hell, Robert,' I said. 'What the hell.'
'I'm serious.'
'It's one thing I don't worry about,' I said.
'You ought to.'
'I've had plenty to worry about one time or other. I'm through worrying.'
'Well, I want to go to South America.'
'Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn't make any difference. I've tried all that. You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There's nothing to that.'
'But you've never been to South America.'
'South America hell! If you went there the way you feel now it would be exactly the same. This is a good town. Why don't you start living your life in Paris?'"
 _________________________________________________________


This passage I believe introduces a lot of central things of the novel: characterization of Jake and Cohn, the "lost generation", the idea of escaping, and problems, and lots of things... The things I've looked at is more what they are talking about.


I think this passage is a bit different from others because usually Jake is just an observer and talks very little with little emotions or ideas that would normally keep a conversation going. But here he voices an opinion, one that is actually quite emotional. I mean, we see that he's tried to get away from himself, and that it's not possible. He also doesn't want to think about living/dying, when he answers Cohn's question about living half the life they've lived already with "what the hell"- and he says it twice. In fact, when he says that "it's the one thing I don't worry about", we know that he doesn't mind dying- it's the living part that he's not so sure about. Also, at the end where he says "why don't you start living your life in Paris?" it's a little ironic, since I'm not really sure he's living his life in Paris, but perhaps it speaks to how he doesn't really care where he lives, or that he lives? I'm not sure.


And Cohn, well, he seems to be having a kind of mid-life crisis, wanting to do something worthwhile. Throughout the novel, I noticed that Cohn is always trying to show his masculinity, or just wanting appreciation. He doesn't care whether he wins any bets or anything, just so long as he is not someone to be pitied or cast aside. So here he wants to go to South America, an idea he got from the Purple Land, where this guy did a lot of memorable things, and he wants to do the same thing. This foreshadows his character in the future. How Cohn lives his life: "all your life is going by and you're not taking advantage of it", is much like everyone else- they are all watching their life go by, and not actually doing anything. What's interesting is that Cohn is the only one who really admits this. Which kind of ties into the lost generation: they are like this.


 Also, what Jake says, "'You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There's nothing to that.'" is what people do, as a part of the lost generation. Jake meets a lot of people throughout the novel, sometimes small characters for a short time period. Each of these characters are different, and react differently, but it seems as if they are all avoiding one part of their lives. For instance, Harris, the person who Jake and Bill fish with, won't leave the comfort of his fishing place and go to the city. He's avoiding a lot of contact with people. All the main characters are doing the same thing. Cohn is ignoring the fact that he is wanted by practically everyone, and Brett flees from commitment- for example, after she's done with Romero she leaves him immediately, and goes to and from Mike.


So I guess this passage is different because there's a lot of talking explicitly about things- rarely does Jake (or anyone for that matter) come out and say things clearly about how people are. I find it intriguing that it becomes a whole lot clearer and more important after you've read the book. What dya think?


When James says that he disagrees, and that Jake talks emotionally because he is comfortable with Cohn, much like the stream scene, I have to admit I do not quite see it. James says that "Jake feels superior to Cohn, and therefore he feels comfortable around him, and able to express himself", but if he does feel superior to Cohn, then why is this the only time that Jake talks explicitly about his own emotions? I do not think that Jake does this often, and also that Cohn is disliked because people envy him. Cohn comes from a rich family, and is strong physically- because of this people pick on him for the smallest reasons: that he's a Jew, or that he's slightly annoying. And this is why Cohn is trying to show his masculinity (not in this scene, but throughout the novel). Everyone criticizes him, so he feels the need to justify himself. I agree that Cohn "is just being himself", but that by being himself he needs to justify himself. I remember we said once in class that Jake is strong mentally but weak physically, and that Cohn is the opposite. So Cohn is weak mentally, and I think has little confidence and a sensitive ego- when Jake once called him a name, Cohn made him take it back. And Cohn hangs onto Jake because Jake is the only one who doesn't say anything that bad to Cohn out loud. While Jake may show him "in a bad light", I do not think that he is comfortable around him but envious, as Cohn has the physical strength that he lacks. I do agree, however, that "he feels that Cohn doesn't deserve that masculinity."
_______________________________________________________

I also looked at James' blog about an excerpt from Chapter 3 (Click here to see James' blog)

What I think is important about the excerpt are several ideas that it has:

• There is a constant mention of ethnicity and race in the novel: everyone has one, and many are introduced right away with them. As if it labels them. So this mention of Flemmish, and it having some importance as to whether Georgette would like Jake is similar to what happens throughout the novel. Everyone judges others based on their race, among other things.
• This is pretty much the only time Jake "goes out" with someone, and so this is interesting- because here it looks like he wanted the company, and not an actual date. Also, when he says "a vague sentimental idea that it would be nice to eat with some one. It was a long time since I had dined with a poule, and I had forgotten how dull it could be", it looks like he's already starting to regret it. He forgot that for him, people tire him and cause him more trouble than he wants. (Contrast of mood between city and fishing expedition)
• "We had another bottle of wine and Georgette made a joke. She smiled and showed all her bad teeth, and we touched glasses."
• - In the novel Jake always describes at least one quirk that people have. For instance, Brett always wrinkles her eyes and says "rot" a lot. Then there was that lady that kept taking off her glasses, cleaning them, and then putting them back on. And Montoya always pats Jake on the shoulder in an embarrassed way. But why does he notice these things?
• "Its a shame you're sick. We get on well. What's the matter with you, anyway?"  --> When Georgette says this, it's how Brett is too.
  "I got hurt in the war," I said.
  "Oh, that dirty war."
• even though Georgette didn't fight in the war, she has the same opinion as Jake.
• "We would probably have gone on and discussed the war and agreed that is was in reality a calamity for civilisation, and perhaps would have been better avoided. I was bored enough."
• It's interesting, because here he seems to equate war talk with boredom. I'm not really sure what he's getting at, though, but it seems important.

James had some interesting things to say about the excerpt:

He said, "He only says what he feels is necessary, once again giving us an insight into his character. He is a journalist, and therefore feels that there is no need to mince words. He feels that you just need to get the point across to the reader, or in this case, the listener. " And here James hits a point throughout the novel- he never says more than what is necessary. For me, I think the details for Jake help him feel he has a bit of control over his life, and help him detach himself emotionally, a trick he probably has to use when writing as a journalist. In this excerpt, I think this can tie into how he always notices tiny little quirks/faults in people. When Georgette has that smile with her "bad teeth", he could be noticing all these details as an effort to detach himself, from people. He likes company, which is why he goes out with Georgette in the first place, but he doesn't want to get too involved, so he keeps repeating that people can be "dull" and boring.

So I think that this passage is important because as James says, it "provides large amounts of characterisation", but also because it has all these little things that are the same throughout the novel. James mentions one thing that I'm not sure I understand, talking about the vague sentimental idea Jake has: "This shows how he still tries and keeps some semblance of his life before the war, and that he wants to keep living." In the rest of the novel, Jake hangs out with people (at least in my opinion) to lose himself and his problems and just become a part of the crowd; this is why he likes to work and do what everyone else is doing. While I do agree that the vague sentimental idea may be something of the past before the war, I can't remember him ever doing this again. If we keep in mind that Jake never brings anyone out again to hang out with, then this would not be a sign that he wants to keep living- almost the exact opposite. However, I do not think Jake has a suicidal tendency, only that he stops trying to go back to the past later on. He accepts where he is; in the end of the novel things go back to the way they were before- Brett and Mike are back together, Jake is going back to France, but I think his attitude is slightly different. He doesn't try and go back to the way it was before, but just to "go with the flow", if that makes sense.

The Work I've Done

Blog Portfolio Quarter 1


Coverage:


Aug. 8, 2011_The Way Comedies Work
Aug. 10, 2011_"As You Like It" Family Tree Act 1
Aug. 15, 2011_Act 1: the Introduction
Aug. 22, 2011_Writing vs. Acting
Aug. 25, 2011_Sarcasm Keeps us on our Feet
Sept. 5, 2011_New vs. Old
Sept. 7, 2011_Jaques: Antagonist or Not?
Sept. 18, 2011_Comic for As You Like It
Oct. 4, 2011_Clashing, or Identical?
Oct. 9, 2011_TSAR: Allusions in Chapters 11-12
Oct. 9, 2011_Thoughts on "Route March"

Depth:


Jaques: Antagonist or Not?

• In this blog I looked at the role of Jaques in As You Like It, and I think I explored the subject pretty thoroughly using different examples and situations from the play as well as from the Director's Cut and another essay. Then I looked at Jaques character in different plays. I think I looked in depth at Jaques character- although in the end, I still don't think I understand him completely, or ever will.

Interaction:


New vs. the Old

• Here I talked about the Globe Theatre Production, but I also looked at Sabrina's blog about it, in which I found her interpretations interesting. In particular I looked at what she mentioned about the Orlando realization of the Rosalind-Ganymede masquerade. I took here statements and questioned them and fleshed them out a bit. She widened my view and I hope I broadened hers.

Discussions:


Sarcasm Keeps us on our Feet

• I got comments from different people on this blog, and I think I made people think a bit when they read the blog. Through the discussion that followed, I think we all came up with new ideas.

Xenoblogging:


Globe Theatre

• I liked Elizabeth's post about the production in Globe Theatre, and with the comments I added after I read it, I like to think I helped to develop some of her ideas.

Wildcard:


Jake and I

• In this blog I played around with the characters (not literally, of course) and just kind of thought about who they were and why all these different characters were included. I think blogs are about thinking, and sharing your thoughts, and even just writing down some things in the hope that you'll come up with new thoughts: and I think this blog kind of follows this idea. I wasn't really sure where I was going when I first started it (sort of like when I first look at a poem for an IOC) and by the end, I had all these ideas. Blogs are about progressing.

Jake and I

I was thinking about all the different characters in The Sun Also Rises, and I think I relate the most to Jake.  Personality wise, I almost understand where he's coming from; I sometimes act the same way he does, albeit for different reasons. The weird thing is, I am also very opposite from Jake as well. Jake is quiet, he listens a lot, and he is more of an observer than a participator. I am quiet, I listen a lot, I do not talk much about myself, and I often prefer to watch and try and understand than jump right in. However, Jake tries to be detached as much as he can, he drinks (although less than everyone else), he is insecure about who he is, and likes bull-fighting. I don't enjoy the idea of bull-fights, or what it represents: living in the moment, with a life or death situation, away from the world. I am very attached to people (although I may not act like it); I love my family, my friends, everyone, and the world. I really do. Each and every person, every living thing. I'm giving them all a hug in my mind right now. Jake tries to lose himself in society, to work and distract himself from others and himself. I instead like to sit and think about a lot of things, and take a break from what seems to me the mindlessness of work that I sometimes adopt when doing homework.

Of course, in looking at a novel the similarities and differences between the characters and I are not that relevant. It speaks a little bit as to the timelessness of novels and themes, and how they may apply today, but thinking about Jake's character has started me thinking about his relationship to all the other characters as well. After reading The Sun Also Rises, I thought that the novel was one of relationships. I felt it was kind of documenting all these relationships that Jake had. There were long ones, for instance Cohn and Brett, but there was also close ones like Bill and random ones like the person who gave him some fishing bait, or the Basque of whom he shared wine with. Hemingway introduces so many characters to the reader, but to what end?

Each one of the characters foil each other, but they also show the diversity of the generation, to cover the whole "lost generation" bit. People he meets only briefly are just a window into thousands of lives, and each one deals with and is affected by the war differently. And it is not only the war that affects people: Cohn's school and marriage experience has made him way too attached to people, Brett's lost love experience has made her free with her emotions, Jake is detached, etc. One did not have to be in the war to be a part of the lost generation.

The lost generation may be lost, but they hang together in their isolation.

Thoughts on "Route March"

Here are my thoughts as I progress through "Route March" by Charles Hamilton Sorley.

1. Reading through it a couple of times, the general feeling I have toward it is: the world is one of death, and not one that is sad about this fact.
2. What the poem is generally about: the characters in the poem are soldiers, and they are marching towards their inevitable death. And yet there is a jolly tone about it.
3.
Who: The narrator seems to be one who has seen war, and is traveling with the soldiers.
To Whom: The narrator is speaking to another soldier.
What: The soldiers are marching towards their death. They are in a time of war- and yet the poem alludes to many other moments where people died. So it is always a time of war and death.
Where: They are on Earth, a place where people are always dying and no one every cries.
How/ what patterns : Literary elements:

• tone: joyful, yet with a harsh sardonic lilt
• diction: there are two kinds -->
• gleeful, happy
• singers
• "bursting into song", "sing with joyful breath", "gladness that you pour", "never doubts nor fears", "pour gladness on earth's head", "so be merry"
• death, dark, gruesome
• "going to die perhaps", "you are going to death", "knows of death, not tears", "hemlock", "road to death", "so be dead"
• rhyming/rhythm: said like a song, a children's rhyme: something happy, it is the cruel song of the world- gives it that ironic tone: they should be happy they are dying, because that's how the rest of the world feels, and has been, for a long time. Also, that the marching men are dancing forward to their death, not a grim movement, but a joyful one. This could mean that the narrator feels that the marching men do not . The rhyming also brings the happiness and the death into one.
• Structure: There are these indented parts, which are sort of like the chorus: although they are not the same, they talk of the current action of the marching men: it's not just a commentary on the world, it's talking directly to the soldiers, sort of where everyone joins in and sings along.
• The last two stanzas end with "so be merry, so be dead"--> that direct contradiction

4. Main idea: combination of joy and death

5. Thesis statement: 

Sorley, in his Route March, combines death with joy in order to comment on the war-like attitude of the world and its jadedness towards sorrow, using diction and rhyming to bring the two contradictory ideas together creating an ironic tone.

6. Brief Outline:

1. Intro
1. Charles Hamilton Sorley
2. Route March
3. Thesis Statement
2. Diction
1. Combination of joyful diction and morbid diction
1. Eg. repetition of singing
1. "the singers are the chaps", "so sing with joyful breath",  "ringing swinging glad song-throwing"
2. And directly the next line after each of these joyful lines --> "who are going to die perhaps", "for why, you are going to death", with other words like "Earth will echo still.../ lies numb and voice mute"
3. Contrasts connotations of singing and death and puts them together, to show what we should feel about it and what the world really does feel about it
2. Allusions
1. Jesus Christ and Barabbas
1. from what I understand, Barabbas was executed, like Jesus Christ- so I need to brush up on my knowledge about this, but I think there is both a good and a bad feeling here
2. Hemlock for Socrates
1. Socrates, declared a good and wise man, poisoned by others who were jealous of him. The state of the world is always one of killing and war, not of peace and happiness. Things always end in death.
3. Rhyming
1. Rhyming in couples
1. Sing-song feeling vs. grim subject.
2. Marching soldiers often sing as they go to war.
1. Words create a rhythm of them marching to a joyful song- the common soldier's attitude towards war, they do not know what is coming. There is quite a bit of repetition as well
1. "gladness", "singing", "marching", "so be merry, so be dead"--> create that rhythm of doing the same thing over and over again- marching.
3. Rhyming helps bring death and singing together
1. the couplets are often contradictory of each other: saying that the two are not so different
1. "Pour gladness on earth's head / So be merry, so be dead".
4. Tone
1. Diction: pushing the joyful attitude onto the action/situation of death
2. Rhyming: same thing --> combining joy and death into one
3. Tone: ironic and sardonic: satirizing and criticizing the view that the world has, one of war and death and yet happiness because of this
1. They should be sad, but they are happy
1. As the tone suggests, the morbid subject is "sung" in a happy manner
5. Conclusion:
1. The world has gone awry, according to the author- makes the audience, listeners, and readers question what they feel about death:
1. In the news today even the numbers don't mean anything- do we realize how many die in war, and that everyday we act as if we are in war, and not in peace?

"The Sun Also Rises": Allusions in Chapters 11-12

Here are some allusions within The Sun Also Rises and my interpretations of those allusions.

1.     Basques- people who live in both northwest Spain and southwest France. This resembles Jake, in a way, as he travels in between these two countries. Also, the Basques in the novel on the train are travelling, connecting the two countries.  There is often a mention of ethnicity when introducing characters, and the Basques are grouped together- “These Basques are swell people” (Hemingway, 110). The Basques also drink and joke around, something that Jake likes, as it isn’t serious or emotional. They seem to live in the moment, and I think Jake connects with them: “Two of our Basques came in and insisted on buying a drink. So they bought a drink and then we bought a drink, and then they slapped us on the back and bought another drink” (112). They have a friendly attitude- and when Jake says “our Basques” we can see that he likes them. The old Basque, whose “effort of talking American seemed to have tired him” (113), may let Jake relate to him as a quiet detached kind of guy.

a.     "Basques - Introduction, Location, Language, Folklore, Religion, Major Holidays, Rites of Passage, Relationships, Living Conditions." Countries and Their Cultures. Advameg. Inc., 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Basques.html>.

2.     Ronceveaux- The Battle of Roncevaux Pass: where Charlemagne faced defeat. The French were caught off-guard, and when ambushed many were killed; a book was written about it, the Song of Roland. I’m not sure if this is what The Sun Also Rises alludes to, but as it relates to France, perhaps it sort of sets the mood, how these men went off to battle and then many of them died for it, probably pointlessly for a pointless war. The whole pointlessness of situations gets to Jake a lot of the time.

a.      Bodell, Sarah Jane. "The Battle of Roncevaux Pass." History In An Hour. 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.historyinanhour.com/blog/read_24664/the-battle-of-roncevaux-pass-.html>.

3.     Fratellinis: circus family, was famous and popular, adored by many. So when Bill is singing about irony and pity, Jake says that people are "mad about it in New York" (119) just like the Fratellinis. He may be remarking on how everyone, even those around him (Frances, for instance, even Cohn and Brett) are kind of hypocritical, and hung on self-pity. Frances used to not care that much for Cohn, but as soon she started feeling insecure about her looks, she held on to him, and demanded pity from Jake and Cohn for her misfortunes and how she was being treated. It seems to be the going attitude of the time.

a.     "Fratellini Family." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 21 June 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fratellini_family>.

4.     Primo de Rivera: a Spanish general and dictator. Was in the army, then dissolved the Spanish parliament and placed the country under martial law. Used censorship but had policies that helped the poor. When mentioned in The Sun Also Rises, Bill says "say something ironical. Make some crack about Primo de Rivera" (119). It's ironic that Primo de Rivera was a dictator yet seemed to genuinely care about the poor. This relates to what I said earlier about irony and pity (which are actually capitalized when the idea is first introduced). Perhaps here Hemingway could be suggesting that even throughout history this is how humankind has been. Irony and Pity.

a.     "Primo De Rivera." History Learning Site. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/primo_de_rivera.htm>.

5.     Dred Scott (case): Dred Scott sued for his freedom, where it was decided that slaves and free African Americans could never be citizens, and couldn’t sue. Slavery was maintained. When mentioned in The Sun Also Rises, Bill and Jake are talking about love, and more particularly homosexuality. But the Dred Scott case is more about equality, and maybe Bill was talking about that. How nobody is ever treated the same.

6.     Anti-Saloon league: A league against saloons. Just kidding. It was a league against drinking, which turned into a constitutional amendment. But then later, this amendment was taken back. This is mentioned in the same sentence as the Dred Scott Case, and I’m not quite sure as to its relation. Although, perhaps the inconsistency of the prohibition laws relate to the inconsistency of equality and in something that is supposed to be stable: the justice system. So by saying, “The Dred Scott case was framed by the Anti-Saloon League. Sex explains it all” (121), it was about people denying who they were, and who others were, and that people in the Anti-Saloon league actually wanted to drink (as everyone does throughout the novel) and whether Dred Scott was a slave or not, a person or not.

7.     AEW Mason: British writer; served in the military, he wrote some mysteries and other fictions. This may help Jake relate to him, and in particular enjoy “reading a wonderful story about a man who had been frozen in the Alps and then fallen into a glacier and disappeared, and his bride was going to wait twenty-four years for his body to come out on the moraine, while her true love waited too” (125). So Jake respects the author, and enjoys the story, which is about faithfulness (of which Brett his love is not) and patience, and of a happy ending (which he believes doesn’t exist). It’s almost like a wishful mood that is created in this scene, the fishing scene, which as far as I can tell, Jake is the most peaceful at. Later he is stressed and unhappy, before the same, but when fishing he is in a safe blissful state.

a.     "A. E. W. Mason." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._W._Mason>.

8.     William Jennings Bryan: congressman from Nebraska, three-time presidential candidate, and secretary of state. In The Sun Also Rises, he is mentioned when Bill says: “‘First the egg,’ said Bill. ‘Then the chicken. Even Bryan could see that.’” (126). He is then proclaimed dead, and Bill says to reverse the order. I’m not sure as to the importance of the specific person in relevance to the novel, but the way Bill talks about him, he creates this playful mood, and also sort of shows that it doesn’t matter the order of things, in life, or in eating eggs and chicken; things can be turned upside down (Jake already feels like things are upside down) and nothing much will change.

a.     Edwards, Rebecca. "William Jennings Bryan." 1896. 2000. Web. 9 Oct. 2011.

9.     Mencken-“American author, critic, newspaper man and iconoclast”: “‘We will say, and I for one am proud to say- and I want you to say with me, on your knees, brother. Let no man ashamed to kneel here in the great out-of-doors. Remember the woods were God’s first temples. Let us kneel and say: ‘Don’t eat that Lady- that’s Mencken’’” (127). Here Bill mentions God, and Jake is at times religious (which is unlike Cohn and Brett). But Bill connects with Jake at this moment, connecting faith, heaven, and peace with the out-doors, with fishing, what they are doing now. This relates to the setting, how I was saying that fishing is one of the few times Jake feels comfortable and at home, out-doors away from his troubles and worries.

a.     Home Page: Mencken Society. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.mencken.org/>.

10.  Holy Cross: I’m not sure in this moment (page 127) it Holy Cross is a place, but I’m guessing it has to do with religion. It could either stand for heaven, happiness, and peace, free of worries, or it could stand for a place where one just ignores one’s problems (which Jake mentions earlier that the Church is good at in Book 1). However, looking at the three characters that “went” (127) there: Mencken, Bryan, Frankie Fritsch (excluding Bill), I think it is the former one.

11.  Frankie Fritsch (misspelled in text): German American Major League Baseball, nicknamed “The Fordham Flash”. He seemed to have lived in the moment, and had great success; much like Mencken and Bryan, he seemed like an important person. So in going to the “Holy Cross”, he went to a ‘perfect place’, that is to say, somewhere that Jake wishes he could be sometimes free of his problems, with a successful past and a clear path in the future.

a.     "Frankie Frisch." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 24 Sept. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Frisch>.

12.  Bishop Manning: Moved from England to the U.S., got a bachelor degree, then became a deacon. He was in WWI, as a volunteer chaplain. Again, this is in connection to the three who went to the Holy Cross together. Both Jake and Bill claim to have traveled with Manning, and at this point they start joking around, not serious about what they say. I don’t know why Bishop Manning is the person they are talking about, other than the fact that he is a religious man, and perhaps that he traveled, like them, to a different country, and was a veteran (which gives them some connections).

a.     "William Manning (Bishop of New York)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 5 Oct. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Manning_(Bishop_of_New_York)>.

13.  Wayne B. Wheeler: leader of the Anti-Saloon League. Bill and Jake continue to joke around with who they went with and where. As it has to do with drinking alcohol, perhaps this could relate to how Jake does not drink as much as everyone else. Here I almost get the feeling that they are arguing about who is drinking and who isn’t. I’m not exactly sure.

a.     "Biography: Wayne Wheeler." Alcohol: Problems and Solutions. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/Biography-Wayne-Wheeler.html>.

14.  Pres. Calvin Coolidge: President of the U.S., was a lawyer before becoming president, a republican, with the nickname “Silent Cal”. The whole time when Bill and Jake are fishing they seem to be joking around- but the people they mention link them to bigger ideas- for instance all these important people like Pres. Calvin Coolidge. It gives me the feeling that they are not only joking around but almost ‘philosophyzing’ about the meaning of life, or something- the only time Bill comes right out and asks Jake about something important is when he mentions Brett- but then he goes back to the code words of random (or not so random?) people, looking at successful people (which Jake and Bill are not). And yet, there are comparisons and similarities between Jake and the leaders Bill mentions. So there are two things that can be said- 1) Bill is trying to cheer Jake up by relating him to all these important people, showing Jake that Jake is a good person, one that others look up to and talk to, and that he does have purpose. And 2), Hemingway may be hinting at the fact that leaders may not be all that much different from everyday people, the common person; Bill “went to Austin Business College with Wayne B. Wheeler” (128), and it is only certain circumstances and situations, and luck that differentiate those who are successful from those who are not.

a.     "American President: Calvin Coolidge." Miller Center. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://millercenter.org/president/coolidge>.

What do you think?

Clashing, or identical?

In class we discussed a lot about the relationship and characterization between Jake and Cohn. Some thought they were similar, and others thought they were the opposite. I can understand both sides; Jake and Cohn are both insecure, both have no purpose. However, Jake and Cohn are also dissimilar in their attitudes, their views of people, and their actions. Someone mentioned how Jake is strong mentally but weak physically, whereas Cohn was easily-manipulated mentally, but physically strong. But why?


The two are quite different, in my opinion. I think the two are put there to contrast the two characters, and reveal the two different perspectives the two have. For instance, in the theme of love, a prevalent idea throughout the novel, Jake never admits he is in love, and he doesn't want to be in love; Cohn on the other hand has married once, had a fiance, and says he is in love with Brett.

Also, on a slight side note, I think Jake is a nice person. And I think Cohn is a bit selfish. For instance, everyone likes Jake; as we said in class, he listens, and he doesn't want to make trouble. So he's nice to everyone, and while he doesn't get attached, he doesn't get angry either. Cohn is the opposite; he doesn't say bad things about each other because he is never really a part of the group, and he wants to be included. He is very attached. Jake is actually the only one who doesn't insult him, except for a few times, in which he takes it back. Everyone Cohn meets at some point scolds him or shunts him. So the two are different around other people as well. While they may both be insecure, Cohn still tries and finds a purpose, while Jake accepts his role of not really having a role. Jake still wishes sometimes, but he pushes it aside, and doesn't complain when nothing happens. Really, I wonder what happens to Cohn at the end of the novel, when he is forced to realize that he is unwanted.

In their pasts, where Cohn was a Princeton student, married, and from a rich Jewish family, and Jake a survivor in the war, they are opposite as well. Jake faced a physical war, while Cohn had a more mental war, dealing with troubles of discrimination, loneliness, and marriage. The two come out of their experiences with different perspectives: Jake pessimistic, critical (on the inside) and detached (on the outside), and Cohn still hopeful for a future (when he wants to go to South America, or falls in love).

Maybe by showing all these differences, yet in the same circumstances, in the same generation with no purpose, Hemingway introduces the idea that the war affected everyone, and that people dealt with it in different ways. I'm not sure.