Fifteen - Bullfighting

Pedro Romero is an intriguing fellow. Like the good Count Mippi-something, whose existence everyone seems to doubt, Romero seems to act as a foil to the entire Lost Generation. He seems to act as a symbol for everything that is pure and genuine and real in the world. "Romero never made an contortions, always it was straight and pure and natural in line....Romero's bull-fighting gave real emotion" (p. 171). Other people must rely on cheap fakeries like money, but Romero is the real deal, able to create actual genuine emotion in the people who watch him. Also worth noting is the fact that people seem to refer to him as "Romero-the-bullfighter." His occupation is as much a part of him as his name. You don't see that in other characters. We don't primarily think of Jake as a journalist, or Cohn as an author, or Brett as a...does she even have a job? The Lost Generation seems to collectively hold a job simply for the purpose of having money to get wasted. Romero, on the other hand, takes pride in what he does. His occupation is his identity, and it gives him an aim, a goal in life. I also find it worth noting that during the bullfighting session, Hemingway's writing style seems to reflect Romero's fighting style. Hemingway adopts short sentences without frills, metaphors, and clever wordplay. Rather, he just tells what happened. It seems to resemble Romero's style, in that he doesn't waste time with flashy flourishes, but simply moves straight and purely, not a movement wasted.

This is bullfighting. It doesn't look so hard to me.