After lots class
discussion, I was flooded with additional thoughts about the change in scenery
(from Paris to Spain). There is no doubt that Paris contributed a large amount
of stress to Jake’s life. It represented the ungraspable – Brett and full expression of his sexuality
being the basis for Jake’s pining. While it is taken slightly out of context,
Jake at one point remarks: “You can’t get away from yourself by
moving one place to another”.
Jake says this
because unlike the others, he acknowledges that the dissatisfaction with the
lost generation and their lives is not with geography but with psychology.
However, we noted in class the obvious shift in his demeanor and character when
left the chaotic scenes of Paris. Based on the philosophy that Jake shared
earlier in the book, it supports the alternative idea that while Spain was a beautiful
and much ore calming place, perhaps the idea of Spain being “pastoral” was by
the removal of himself from the crew, if you will. By separating the people
that he has in a way blocked out of his true life (by not sharing his largest
source of insecurity) he is able to let loose and not constantly focus on his
short comings.
However, on the
flip side you could argue that this move was a way to better connect with
himself. Like he points out you can’t escape yourself when you move from one
place to another, but you can better embrace yourself. In Paris Jake is
displaying a character that isn’t fully himself. He internalizes a lot of his
identity issues as well as the things that he thinks about the people
circulating around him.
I’m undecided about the way that this statement plays out in Jake’s life and the way his character morphs based on the place that he is in. If Jake believes that his real character is the one that we see when he’s in Paris, then he seemingly separates himself from his truest form in Spain. Inversely, if Spain is where his truer form lies (which is what I believe) – he affirms the statement that he made earlier in the book. He uses a place not to get away from himself, but closer to it.
This is very interesting. I think that I agree with you that Jake's truest self is the one in Spain, because of the way he opens up there. I also think that Brett is the only one who's "truest" self is in Paris, and most of the rest of the people in the story find Paris kind of toxic. It might be possible that his Paris personality is a result of his injury and that his Spain personality is how he was before the war.
ReplyDeleteI think that the more "pastoral" environment of Spain may open up Jake to be more lighthearted than in Paris, however, I feel like he's still putting on an act in Spain-- most notably we see it with his interactions with Montoya, and his inability to call out Cohn for following Brett.
ReplyDeleteYou make some pretty interesting points. I think that Jake's truer self is in Spain. He views it as one of the only stable things in his life that make him actually happy. He is a passionate aficionado and knows whats really going on in Spain, vs. his moving along with the flow in Paris. In general I feel that he always appears neutral in a group with the crew (Brett, Cohn, Mike, Bill), but when he is alone with Bill at the fishing resort he is a lot calmer and we get to see him actually take a breather which I thought was pretty nice. With Brett he is open, but he starts losing how much he reveals to her towards the end and just stays lower on the emotional outburst side.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, so much of the social life in Paris revolves around sex that it seems Jake wouldn't be able to escape constant reminders of his status as an outsider even if Brett were to vanish. I thought maybe the calm that came to Jake as a result of being in Spain had to do with the fact that there was interesting stuff to think and talk about that didn't involve hook-ups; namely the bullfights. Jake is an outsider when it comes to Parisian one-night-stand culture, but he can be an 'aficionado' in the world of bullfighting, which gives him a level of security he seems to crave.
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