Twelve - Gone Fishin'

I have come to the conclusion that Ernest Hemingway likes fishing. This is one of the nicest, most peaceful chapters in the book, and I doubt it's a coincidence that it focuses primarily on fishing. This is also possibly the first chapter in which the characters do not actually get straight-up staggering-home drunk. A little buzzed perhaps, but not that bad. It's kind of nice (although I must admit that generally on a fishing trip, the opposite is supposed to happen;. Perhaps that's some kind of paradox?). It has really been the first time that Jake has been able to relax throughout the course of the entire novel. Usually, he's running around from bar to bar, always moving, always talking to people, dancing on occasion, always up and active. However, when he goes fishing with his good buddy Bill, he seems extremely chilled out. I think this is particularly well-portrayed through his personal choice of fishing method. Rather than partaking in the mildly more active fly fishing method like Bill, he just drops some worms in the water and sits around until he gets a bite. I personally find it intriguing that Jake also catches more fish through the chilled-out method than Bill catches through the active "I'm gonna lasso a fish" method (note: fly fishing does not actually involve lassoing fish. It just looks like it sometimes). I think Hemingway is saying that in life, sometimes it's more effective to sit down, chill out, and just let things happen, as opposed to chasing issues down and solving them by any means necessary. Enough about fishing, let's discuss that deep ManTalk Jake and Bill share.

Bill and Jake are able to talk more openly with each other than any other two characters in the novel. The brief discussion of Jake's accident serves as essentially the basis for the whole "Jake-can't-do-the-nasty" theory that resonates throughout the course of the novel. So it's kind of important. Bill starts taking cracks at him, saying "another group claims you're impotent" (p. 120). Jake naturally denies this, but then starts to worry that Bill might feel bad about that last little jive. I think that there really wouldn't be any point for Jake to feel bad if there wasn't any truth to the joke. So he tries to salvage the conversation and make a little running joke out of it, leading into some fun stories about a fellow on a horse. Or maybe it was a tricycle. Anyway, the point is that the subject of impotence pops up way too many times in this book for it not to apply to Jake. Hemingway isn't the sort of person to just drop something like that and not have any meaning behind it. He never outright says it, but at this point, I'd say it's undeniable. However, Bill, being the nice guy that he is, decides to try to salvage his buddy's masculinity. He tells him he's a "hell of a good guy" (p. 121). I interpret this to essentially mean "I still think you're a man, even if your parts don't work." What a good friend. Then the conversation rolls into homosexuality causing the Civil War. Not true in the slightest, obviously, but I think that Bill mentions this to sort of reinforce that earlier theme of losing sight of what's masculine. Essentially, I think Bill is just trying to say that he loves Jake, but in a purely heterosexual and bromantic fashion. Long story short, Bill and Jake are best buddies, but they're not gay, no matter what those folks in New York might say.

This sign says it all