Two Characters in The Sun Also Rises

On first glance, Jake and Robert could not stand in greater contrast to each other. Jake is a part of the circle of characters in the book, while Robert is clearly an outsider, even a despised outsider. Their relationship reflects this apparent contrast as well---Jake longs to a part of Jake's circle, while Jake has ill-disguised contempt for Robert. Despite these surface differences, however, the two men are in fact both outsiders. The question is, outside of what? As members of the lost generation, from what are they lost? The answers are that both men are outside of life itself, and the redeeming power of love that life can give those capable of yielding to life. They are members of a generation which has lost faith in life, in love, and in their ability to partake fully in life and love.

Immediately we see the relationship of the narrator/protagonist Jake with Robert:

Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, i

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h facts. Robert is incapable of accepting these facts with the courageous stoicism of the Hemingway code of behavior, while, for the most part, Jake is capable, although with clear signs of resentment and sadness. If Robert is outside of life and love because of his denial of his status, his self-ignorance, and his urgent and pitiful need to be accepted by others, Jake is outside of life and love because of the injury he received in the war, an injury which has left him impotent. In one sense, from Jake's perspective, he is different from Robert in their lostness, their outsiderness, and superior to him, because of the difference in the nature of their essential flaws. Jake sees himself as the victim of circumstances---he could not control the fact that he was injured in the war, yet he lives with it with as much dignity and acceptance as he can muster. Robert, however, in Jake's view, brings his grief upon himself with his stubbornness, his denial, his refusal to face facts and accept his status as an outsider. In fact, however, both Jake and Robert are equally incapable of entering into the redeeming stream of life and love. Robert is no more capable of achieving stoicism or acceptance of his status than Jake is capable of ov
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Jake Robert, Jew Princeton, America Dream, Robert Jake's, Romero Brett, Robert Cohn, Robert Jake, Brett Jake, Robert Despite, Romero Robert, life love, jake robert, robert jake, lost generation, outsiders lost generation, outsiders lost, brett romero, outside life, jake finally, robert robert, love brett, unlike jake robert, giving brett romero, outside life love,
Approximate Word count = 1677
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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