Robert Cohn is the villain of The Sun Also Rises. Everyone in the book hates him. He is a bit sympathetic, but in the end, he is an unlikeable character. There are many things that make Cohn obnoxious. He acts childish, is obsessed with Brett, can’t take a hint, and just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the characters in the book. Cohn’s inability to take a joke or insult and his instinct to fight when faced with someone who doesn’t like him makes him childish. Cohn is also a hopeless romantic. He becomes obsessed with Brett, even though he is in a relationship with Frances when he first meets her, and he doesn’t realize he never had a chance with Brett. Jake tells Cohn right away that Brett doesn’t like him, and that she is engaged. Jake implies with his description of Brett that she doesn’t really stick to one man or relationship, so the possibility of Cohn and Brett ending up together is very slim. Still, Cohn acts as if he and Brett are already together when the group is in Spain. He gets jealous a lot and acts as if he has a right to Brett based on their time together in San Sebastian. Jake is jealous of Brett’s other relationships, but he never vocalizes his emotions because he knows his history with Brett gives him no right over her future relationships. Mike is the only character who would have a reason to be jealous, but even he never tries to tell Brett what to do. Mike never even reads the letters Cohn wrote Brett even though she offered. Cohn has the least romantic history with Brett, considering she never loved him and they never dated, but he acts as if he is entitled to Brett. Although Mike never gets too upset with Brett, he has a lot of anger targeted toward Cohn. Mike insults and makes fun of Cohn a lot, which Cohn really hates. His first instinct is to fight it out, which is a pretty toxic trait.
Cohn just doesn’t fit in with the group. Their whole dynamic is based on the fact that none of them take life seriously, they are always drunk, and they are always joking with each other. Cohn never drinks, he is unable to say anything ironic or funny to the group, and he takes everything way too seriously. Cohn is seen as a joke by everyone. The book is written from Jake’s perspective, so the reader sees Cohn as annoying as Jake frames him. If the book were written from Cohn’s perspective, or from the perspective of someone with the same outlook on life as Cohn, maybe he would be more sympathetic and relatable.
The book starts with a description of Robert Cohn. At first, I thought he would be the main character, which made me want to root for him. As the book went on, it was evident that it was about Jake and Brett, that Cohn was the story's villain, and Jake was the hero. I think Hemingway started the book off with a description of Cohn to emphasize the book's pessimistic theme. The book ended not much different than it started, with Brett and Jake still in love, but not together. The whole book is kind of pessimistic and realistic. It begins with Cohn, the villain, starting off the book the same way it ends, with a dark undertone. Although, I do feel bad for the amount of anti-semitism he faces in the book. I understand everyone’s hatred for Cohn, and although they unfairly use the fact that he is Jewish against him, Cohn is still the villain. Most of the characters are antisemitic, and people believe that Hemingway was too. I think Hemingway wrote Cohn as the villain and added being Jewish to his identity because in his mind the two made sense together.
I agree with all of these reasons of why Cohn was the antagonist of the novel. As you stated, the part of Cohn that I REALLY hated was that he acted as if he was entitled to Brett's love and affection. As he was really just a fling for her, and she literally had a fiance, this made no sense! It was almost as if he viewed her as his possession, which is wrong for SO MANY REASONS. I think that this main reason, along with his many... shortcomings made him such an annoying character.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see what you mean. Cohn was my least favorite character and I think you said it well in your second paragraph. He sort of causes friction in their group and is the root of many problems. In a book without a black and white goal, I think you did a good job looking at the social relationships between people allowing this idea to fit in well!
ReplyDeleteI tried to describe this in class, but there's a unique dynamic with Cohn whereby he manages to actively annoy the *reader*--Jake is so effective at presenting him as irritating and obtuse and awkward that he starts to bug US as we read the book. Jake is a pretty effective narrator in this way, but a more critical eye can show how he's setting us up to dismiss Cohn from the first paragraph, and there are all kinds of psychological reasons and motives for him to deflect attention from his OWN potential deficiencies as a man. So it's hard to tell what Cohn is "really" like, and it's possible to view him with sympathy--he seems totally unware of Jake's contempt for him, calling him his "best friend" at one point. We chuckle at the joke when Jake narrates "God help you," as we "know" that Jake has all kinds of issues with Cohn.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely possible to push back on Jake's narration, though--or to consider how all of this might look from Cohn's perspective.
You make a lot of really good points about the ways Cohn is set up to be an irritating outsider in Jake's group! The novel's ending definitely feels like it comes pessimistically full-circle, but I think you could argue that Cohn's actually the one who changes most throughout the story—the romantic ideals that make him so annoying and naive are shattered when he finally realizes he doesn't mean anything to Brett.
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