At the beginning of Chapters 15, Jake and the crew seem to be having a great time, dancing and drinking to their hearts content. The following morning the group decides to watch a bull-fight where they meet a fighter named Romero who is the "best-looking boy" Jake has ever seen. Its around here I got worried because if Jake is thinking this, it's only a matter of time before Brett gets hold of him. I wonder who'd win in a fight, the middleweight boxing champion of Princeton or an upcoming bullfighter, because it looks like this may be some set up for a possible confrontation between the two.
Jake in this reading really shows us his love for bullfighting, going into detail about Remero's skill and telling Montoya not to deliver the message from the American Ambassador which may end up being a distraction from his bullfighting. I think Jake messed up tho when he went on and on about how attractive and skilled Romero is to a girl who has a history of going from relationship to relationship without a second thought. Brett later on asks if he still loves her and like every other time she's asked, he says yes. But the next words that come out of her mouth is Brett saying that she loves Romero. She's only seen him for like three days for crying out loud! The next part really confuses me because it goes against his love for bullfighting and Brett when he sets her on a date with Romero. This is what he tried to avoid earlier with American ambassador and setting up your love on a date with someone else isn't helping your chances. During that date he's acting as a translator for their drunk flirting and when he leaves for 20 minutes they're no where to be seen. Not the best choice of actions.
These two chapters seem to be setting up for some big conclusion with the addition of a super hot and talented Romero to an already complex group. I don't think Jake really has any chance if its this easy to sway Brett to a new target but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Jake's going for the long con by allowing Brett to be with every attractive guy in Spain and France so she finally realizes she needs him or maybe Jake just doesn't care enough to stop her.
I do agree that it is interesting how Jake seems to act as a colloquial "wingman" or, to Jake's possibly dismay, "gay best friend". Although he voices his feelings about Brett, (but only to Brett) he never acts on them. He just lets Brett run around with every man on the street. It could be argued that Jake lets her do this so she can, at some point, realize her wrongs. This is evident when Brett is introduced to Cohn, and they take a vacation together. While in Spain, Brett realizes that it was wrong of her to tempt Cohn with this vacation, because now he just follows her around like a lost puppy. In this, Brett can see the effect she has on people who take things too seriously. It's a trait that may come back to bite her in the end.
ReplyDeleteI'm very torn over the character of Brett. On one hand, I see how her behavior kind of taunts Jake and leaves destruction in its wake. On the other, I commend her for doing what she wants in an era where women often didn't have that opportunity. This post is important because it points out that all the men who Brett toys with do so willingly. She can't really play the part of the vixen if there is nobody who will fall prey.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it felt like he's deliberately not being possessive of Brett and letting her go off with other men because he knows he should get over her, but he can't give her up completely so they keep coming back to each other even though they're going through the same motions (Jake proclaims his love, they tell each other how awful they feel, Brett tells him about her latest flame) every time and it's not really helping either of them.
ReplyDeleteJake isn't being possessive of Brett because he can't. Brett is the type of person who will brush off everyone to get to what she wants, and also, because of Jake's problem, he isn't able to keep her. He has nothing to entice her to stay while she is finding what she wants in other men. But they do have a sort of connection that keeps on bringing them back together. I think that is because Brett needs someone she can count on to support her in all of her philandering after she breaks something off. She found this support in Jake and will probably keep on using him to make herself feel better, which leaves Jake in a pit of despair and suffering because of how they can never be together.
DeleteI think Jake is spending way too much time on Brett. She seems to ruin every relationship she is in, and often drags in Jake into her problems. I feel that Jake deserves better than the path of destruction she creates, and I am not really sure what he is thinking throughout most of the time with Brett. From what I saw, it seemed he was most happy when he and Bill were fishing together without the external "noise" of Brett and her problems. As you title says it is time for Jake to move on.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it seems weird for Jake to be helping Brett in her endeavor to have a romantic relationship with every guy on the planet, but I think it boils down to the fact that Jake does not waste time worrying about things that cannot be. He is a pragmatist, and if he can't have a relationship with Brett, he accepts that. He treats her as a good friend, even though he loves her. Of course, this may be oversimplifying things a bit, and there are a few scenes in the book where Jake's emotions break through, such as in the beginning when Cohn is talking about Brett and is completely oblivious to her relationship with Jake, but Jake's suppression of his emotions is definitely a theme in the book, and plays a major role in his relationship with Brett.
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of the novel, it seems that Jake starts to accept the fact that he is never going to be able to be with Brett, and I think that his setting Brett up with Romero is a result of this Jake's passion for bullfighting is certainly strong, he is an aficionado after all, but just as strong, or maybe even stronger is his relationship with Brett. It is hard to classify their relationship, but we know that they are very close to each other, so perhaps it is for this reason Jake decides to aid Brett by introducing her to Romero, as a combination of acceptance and a strong relationship with Brett. In conjunction with this idea of Jake's acceptance, it is possible that Jake set up Brett with Romero simply thinking that he would just be another man that she would "love" for a few days a move on from. Either way though, it doesn't seem to really matter as Jake's injury is always going to keep the two apart, and so Jake skews towards the idea of acceptance that he is never going to be with Brett.
ReplyDeleteBut what would it mean for Jake to "move on"? He and Brett don't--and both agree they can't--have a romantic or sexual relationship, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that she's not actually cheating on him, or betraying him. It hurts him, perhaps, when she goes with other men, but at the same time he seems more okay with Romero than with Cohn, and there's this sense that they've settled into a unique kind of arrangement, where Jake "approves" certain paramours for Brett. In a way, it's like he's proud to have such a great matador stand in for him as a lover. Brett still "loves" him, in the way they love each other, and Jake decides, somewhat bitterly, to keep being there for her as well. He's not bitter at her personally, though, but at the circumstances that put him in this absurd position.
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