Jake & Robert Cohn in The Sun Also Rises

A comparison of the characters of Jake and Robert Cohn helps bring out aspects of each and illuminate the meaning of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway provides only sketchy information about his characters, instead allowing them to be revealed through their words, their actions, and their interactions.

Jake is a particularly significant character in that the action of the story is revealed through his narrative, and the degree to which his words can be trusted is important. His sensibility colors the novel in a way that that of the other characters does not. Jake is especially able as a reporter of events because he tends to be dispassionate. The story is his version of certain events, standing as a confession of a betrayal he committed and that he wants to explain in this written form. He blames himself for what happened and not others, so his narrative should not be seen as an attempt at expiation. If it were, what he says about others might be suspect, as if he were trying to put the blame on them. The fact that he is confessing his own "sin" adds credence to what he reports.

Jake is a reporter in life as well, writing for a Paris newspaper after returning badly wounded from the war. Robert Cohn is also a writer on a different level - he has written a novel and also edited a literary review. He is very different from Jake, and the contrast illuminates both men. Cohn is more of an academic literary man who lives through the printed word both

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he comes from a wealthy family. There is a strong sense of mistrust on the part of Jake toward Cohn. Jake knows that Cohn is very different from himself, and he also sees Cohn partially as a phony. He discusses Cohn's boxing career and how it changed his nose. He refers to Cohn's career at Princeton and how it ruined his eyes. Jake understates his perceptions in a way that actually heightens them for the reader - Jake says very little. This indicates that there is much more to say if he wanted to say it. He can convey distaste even when he might seem to be offering what some would take as a compliment: "I mistrust all frank and simple people,especially when their stories hold together, and I always had a suspicion that perhaps Robert Cohn had never been middleweight boxing champion. . ." (4). Cohn seems more introspective than Jake, and this is evident as they discuss the possibility of a trip to South America. Cohn is feeling that something is missing from his life, though he actually seems to have everything except a job. He asks Jake: "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?" (1

Category: Literature - J