Thirteen - Loaded

I do declare, this is a violation of Man Law. Jake is having a perfectly good time up in the middle of nowhere with his best buddy Bill and a quaint fellow by the name of Harris. He's having a good old time knocking back a couple bottles of wine and going fishing with The Boys, and then he just up and bails because Brett is in Pamplona. Major party foul, Mr. Barnes, I'm going to need to see your Man Card. I guess what Hemingway is saying with Jake's readiness to abandon fishing and fun to go see Brett is that he really does have strong feelings for her. Although I think we already knew that. It's not like he's in it for the sex, amiright? *drum sounds*

I apologize for that. Okay, next, I've got a bone to pick with you, Hemingway. That's right, YOU *epic point* Afición definitely has an accent over the o. You accent every single usage of the word "café" in the entire novel, but in the case of "afición," you just got lazy? alt+162, it's not that hard, I promise.

I feel better. Next, let's see...we've got Mike's war story. Although...that's not much of a war story. I suppose it sort of has to do with the war, but it essentially takes place outside of it entirely. So I guess that's just another example of the members of the Lost Generation being uncomfortable actually talking about the war, so they tell cute little jokes and short funny stories in order to talk about it without really talking about it.

Right, so moving right along, Mike is a jerk. He keeps up with the whole "let's make fun of Cohn" deal that everyone else subscribes to. However, he at least goes right on out and says "Why do you follow Brett around like a poor bloody steer? Don't you know you're not wanted?" (p. 146). From this we can clearly see that Mike has adopted the more direct "Harvey Stone" method, as opposed to the more subtle "Jake Barnes" approach. Which naturally leads us into our Cohn equals Steer metaphor. This is turning out to be a loaded chapter.

Why is everyone so mean to little Cohn? Yeah, we know he's the only Jew, and he's the only nonveteran, but those are really just shallow coverings to hide the true cause of resentment throughout the entire group. Cohn acts sort of like the scapegoat, the target that receives the full force of resentment that is circulating throughout the entire group. Everyone picks on Cohn, and therefore nobody else seems to get mad at anyone else. Think about it, Jake and Mike have never had a tussle, even though they both love the same lady. Bill and Brett have never had an argument, even though Bill is literally the only guy in the group who hasn't had a saucy weekend affair with her. All this resentment and anger that should be floating around the group just sort of gets directed at Cohn, who bears the full fury of the entire group as a whole and is "gored" if you will. That's what makes him a steer. He takes on the entire group's aggression so that the group doesn't tear itself apart. Cohn is a steer not because he follows Brett around like Mike says; that's a job generally reserved for sheep. No, Cohn is a steer because he is the one who is sacrificed to the bulls.

It's just been revoked, Jake