And The Sun Is Still Rising...

Ahh, the wonders of summer reading...at the beach. It's not as cool as it sounds. I promise. I figured I ought to focus on a literary term for blog numero dos and try my hand at a different kind of analysis, so here goes nothing. Hemingway chooses to teach the reader about Robert Cohn through indirect characterization. Throughout the entire novel, other characters' thoughts and conversations about Cohn lead the reader to believe that he is an annoyance to his companions. Cohn's interactions with Brett show that he is relentless and oblivious. He clearly is not wanted and refuses to accept that fact which almost makes him seem oblivious to it. He also seems very impulsive, and he has quite the temper. When he hits Jake and attacks Pedro Romero, he immediately apologizes and wants to shake hands like on page 205 when Mike tells Jake "Then Cohn broke down and cried, and wanted to shake hands with the bull-fighter fellow. He wanted to shake hands with Brett too." This leads the reader to believe that he often acts upon his anger without thinking. He seems desperate for affection and acceptance, and both evade him. I can't tell if Hemingway wants the reader to pity Cohn or be annoyed with him. I'm definitely going the annoyed route. He bugs the living daylights out of me, and I don't feel any pity for him. He creates his own problems and then whines about it to everyone when he can't fix/deal with them. And so ends blog two.