Should we sympathize with Jake?
The narrator of The Sun Also Rises, Jake, is a very hot topic during our class discussions. Throughout the book, we see Jake's perspective on other people, but there is a lot to learn about Jake himself. It seems that the class is confused on whether or not we should sympathize with Jake so here is my case for both:
The case against Jake
As soon as we open the front page of The Sun Also Rises the book is narrated by a man named Jake. The first few pages are Jake’s narration of his so-called “friend” Robert Cohn. His narration starts off pretty negative saying that Cohn being the middleweight champion of Princeton is not impressive. He also makes an Anti-Semitic joke by saying that Cohn’s nose looks better after it got flattened. A few pages later we see Jake go to a club with a prostitute named Georgette and lies to everyone that she is his fiancé, which indicates that Jake is a liar. Later on in the book, we get introduced to Brett. When Brett enters with a group of men Jake gets very disturbed. It is unclear whether it is because he is homophobic or because he is jealous of the men spending time with Brett. What we do know is that Jake has negative feelings toward the men. Although Jake’s description of Brett is supposed to be taken as a compliment it is very objectifying. He compared Brett to a racing yacht and only talked about her beauty, and when Jake told Cohn about her, he basically called her a slut. Through all these observations we see that Jake can be anti-Semitic, Homophobic, a potential liar and objectifies women.
The case for Jake
Even though Jake has many faults I still find it hard not sympathize with him. During his “date” with Georgette, the reader finds out that he got injured during the war. As the book goes on we realize that this injury resulted in him not being able to have sex. This can be used as an explanation of why Jake cares so much about his masculinity, and why he gets so defensive. This also results in him and Brett not being able to have the relationship that he and her desire. Yes, he may be a tad anti-Semitic and homophobic, but we have to keep in mind that this book does not take place in 2017. Many people during that time had the same opinions as Jake and were not gay or Jew-friendly. The seen that had the biggest impact on me was the scene where Jake was all alone in his room. In that scene, we discover a new side of Jake. All of a sudden Jake is not the manly man we had seen throughout the book. Memories of war and Brett fill his head and he becomes overwhelmed with emotions to the point where he can’t fall asleep and begins to cry. This scene opened up a new perspective that shows that maybe Jake is not that bad after all.
What do you think? Should we give Jake a chance to prove himself, or should we continue looking at him as a bad person? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Reading the book right now in the present, Jake doesn't seem to be a very sympathetic character with his homophobia and blatant sexualization of women as you mentioned. However, perhaps Hemingway meant for us to be sympathetic towards Jake. Hemingway himself was homophobic, and objectification of women was more accepted at the time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a complicated topic you bring up. You make a valid point that we see some good qualities and a kinder side of Jake's when he is in his room alone. We see that there is a lot more to his character than just his interactions with others. Although this did change my initial perception of Jake, it does not make up for his behavior, and views in general, when he is around others. It does interest me though how Hemingway is going to explore his character further throughout the novel and we might learn more things about him that will redeem him as a person.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Jake would be the one friend who you enjoy their company but after a while it exceeds a limit of oppressiveness and you have to make them leave. All of his snide comments or his backhand objectification or Anti-Semitism leave me feeling slightly sore and disappointment in him as a person.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post once again. I'm going to have to go with sympathizing with Jake. How down would you be if you couldn't be with the person you love because of a war injury? That would suck. You're fighting for your own country and doing a good deed. I think as the book progresses, we'll have a more open look for Jake. Right now, he seems a bit edgy. But now that this injury part is coming through, things are going to get a lot interesting. Will Brett and Jake be together in the end even with this injury? What do you think Ethan?
ReplyDeleteNicely put, Ethan! I agree with you. At first, I felt that Jake was a arrogant, a little too crude, and kind of fake. But when I saw him alone in his room, I couldn't help but sympathize with him. Going through the war, and having to deal with Brett and not being with her, it sounds pretty tough, and I realized I had a newfound respect for him. Even though he went through a lot and his ideas of others can be quite controversial, I don't fully blame him for the time he is in and his situation, and I find that it's pretty impressive how he just puts his feelings aside and keeps going on with his life. He is the only one out of his friends with a work ethic, and he doesn't rant about his sadness to anyone else. He just accepts his crying for a bit, then moves on and accepts reality (although it might not be healthy to pent up your feelings like that..?).
ReplyDeleteI like how you laid out things about Jake objectively, I think that you captured a lot of points about Jake very well. I agree with you that while we may see many many flaws in Jake, we have to remember that we are holding Jake up to 2017 standards, and some of his behavior would have been seen as pretty typical, even if is harmful and objectively bad. The complication of Jake's character that we have been looking into in latest chapters has filled out some of the edges of Jake's initially unlikable and abrasive character. We as well see how while Jake may be homophobic, misogynistic, etc, we also have begun to see how Jake too lives in a world that tells him that he is wrong. He has been made to view that masculinity is incredibly important, and as well very hard to attain. I find him both super hard to like and super hard to completely dismiss as unlikable. Nice post on a complicated topic!
ReplyDeleteI think that Jake is definitely a sympathetic character. To me, Jake is a character that is struggling mentally and emotionally with the trauma of his past. The way that he deals with and interacts with other people reflect this struggle, and us as readers are shown the 'real' side of Jake, when the facade is stripped away. Therefore, it's really hard not to empathize with the character, as we go through his pain with him.
ReplyDeleteNow does this make Jake a good human being? From the standards set in 2017... Meh. I agree with a lot of the people in the previous comments in that his views don't match up to ours, and therefore it's hard not to condemn him for the kind crappy things he does. And so, my point is that just because he may be not the friendliest person doesn't mean that people can't empathize and feel bad for him.
Great post btw lol. Laying it out that way made it easier to understand and think about.
DeleteI can't help but feel bad for Jake. Although he is a homophobe and an anti-Semite, his infatuation for Brett can really never be fully reciprocated because of his malfunctioning penis. It seems that no matter how hard he tries, he will never get Brett's full commitment (despite their apparent love for each other) and for that, I feel sorry for Jake that he will never happiness.
ReplyDeleteI like this post! it makes great points for both sides. At the beginning of the story I was definitely very against Jake, I didn't like him at all. By the end however, I really started to sympathize with him. He has his faults, as you said, and in 2017 there would be no excuse but seeing how ong ago this is set I feel like we as readers can kind of let it slide.
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