Upon finishing up The Sun Also Rises, there seems to be considerable reason for sympathy Brett. Perhaps it comes from her relative pathetic-ness in the last section; having to telegram Jake to bail her out of the Hotel Montana, which stands in contrast with her usual on-top-of-the-world vibe. Perhaps the final scene forces us to contemplate the tragedy that is Brett and Jake's eternally unrealized romantic relationship.
Speaking of which, was it really a tragedy? My reading of the last scene had bitter, not wistful undertones. Brett and Jake's relationship is anomalous in the sense that it seems to be much more enduring than any other (particularly any other of Brett's). On the surface, this seems to be a testament to that there is more to Jake and Brett than sexual desire, and if only it wasn't for Jake's wound, Jake and Brett would be able to have this beautiful and whole relationship. Isn't their doomed love the reason behind Jake's lack of self-confidence and withdrawl and Brett's philandering (a search for a surrogate Jake)?
I don't buy that painfully tragic, romanticized take on it. I acknowledge that Jake is in love with Brett. But I don't think that if Jake and Brett had been able to fully realize their desire for each other -- if Jake hadn't been sexually incapacitated -- their relationship would have even progressed to its current point. Paradoxically, Jake's inability to love Brett has been what has kept Brett interested in him.
We know that Brett was truly in love with some man who died in the war. While Jake's reliability when we receive that information may be somewhat questionable, as he is attempting to dissuade Cohn from getting involved with her, I am inclined to believe him because Jake isn't one to poetically or ironically (remember how bad he is at irony?) refer to himself in such cryptic terms. So I actually believe that there was a guy before Jake who Brett was actually in love with.
This means that there's a large possibility that Jake isn't intrinsically more attractive to Brett than any of the other men she gets involved with. The one thing separating Jake from the rest of Brett's lovers is the fact that Jake is physically incapable of being her lover, and thus, incapable of the post-sex letdown that seems to come with a relationship that is only founded on lust. So while perhaps Brett was originally attracted to Jake in a similar manner that she was attracted to Romero's green matador pants, she never experienced that letdown, allowing her and Jake's relationship to continue to grow.
Cruelly, the only reason Brett and Jake could have had the romance of a lifetime is that they couldn't have had the romance of a lifetime. If Brett and Jake were able consummate their relationship, they never would have developed their true, deeper love for each other, because Brett's tendency to flit from man-to-man would have gotten in the way.
This theory about why Brett finds Jake so attractive is quite interesting, and I would add that part of it is that Jake is somewhat similar to the "Forbidden Fruit." She can have a relationship with pretty much any man she wants, whenever she wants, and so achieving such a relationship does not mean that much to her. With Jake, on the other hand, she can't have it, and as a result, she wants it more and more.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is especially indicative of the kind of hedonistic lifestyle she leads, that the only way to achieve a thrill in a relationship anymore is to circle back around to the first stages. Her values are inverted from the sheer volume of "experience" and the timid opening moments become precious.
DeleteAnshul brings up a good point. It is like "Ode on a Grecian Urn", how they are locked in a perpetual state of happiness right before the kiss. Brett and Jake are similar. I believe they are more happy the way they are, before they can act on their love for each other. They want to love each other and are almost there, but they can't and their relationship just grows and develops.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that there's no way Brett and Jake would have had the same relationship if they had actually been able to be together as lovers. The reason that their friendship developed the way it did was because Jake essentially resigned himself to being a wingman for Brett, though I still think there's something to be said just wanting something you can't have. It's easy for them to say at the end of the novel what could have been, but I definitely think they aren't considering anything that could have happened when, like you said, lust is added to the equation.
ReplyDeleteThe nature of their relationship definitely has a forbidden fruit sense to it. If Brett had been able to be with Jake from the start, I feel that it would have ended like the rest of her past relationships. She would move on to find some other man and Jake would be left behind. I think Jake may have some clue to this based on his last line of the book "Isn't it pretty to think so.", much makes me think that him warning Cohn to avoid a relationship with her was based off of this knowledge.
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