see? reading benefits everyone - TTTC

"... I guess it's like being inside a book that nobody's reading...an old one. It's up on the library shelf, so you're safe and everything, but the book hasn't been checked out for a long, long time. All you can do is wait. Just hope somebody'll pick it up and start reading."

(p. 232)

I've always had this sort of thought about things. I've had this idea that memories are what really keep people alive. especially after death. we're always told not to dwell on the past, sure. that's good. that's fantastic, it's silly to dwell on the past and regret things. however, reflecting on memories is not a bad thing. in fact, that's what keeps the spirit of things alive. the respect and memory of someone who is either dead or no longer a part of your life. this person could be a friend, a family member, or just some person you used to see every day. these memories are what keeps life flowing, I think. the more we try to forget the past, the more likely we are to make the same mistakes. so, instead of forgetting the past, just don't dwell on it. reflect from time to time, but don't stay for too long. you've got life in the present to live and that's much more important.

if the world is ending, I'm throwing the party - TTTC

"They proposed toasts. They lifted their canteens and drank to the old man's family and ancestors, his many grandchildren, his newfound life after death. It was more than mockery. There was a formality to it, like a funeral without the sadness."

(p. 215)

this whole piece starts with the platoon stumbling across the body of an old man. each of them shakes the corpse's hand. I know I'm not the only one that found this immensely creepy. I mean, it's a dead body for Christ's sake. as if it couldn't get more creepy, the prop him up and have a conversation with him! I don't blame O'Brien for not wanting to take part in this. there's just something that's not right about this. I'm not sure it's disrespect. I mean, they're not defacing the body in any way, but there's a lack of sincerity, it seems. there's no sadness. there's no respect in that way. for me, a funeral without sadness is kinda like a half-hearted apology: if you're not doing it for the right reasons, you might as well not do it... maybe that's just me.

are "ladies of the night" involved in this? - TTTC

"That was the phrase everyone used: the night life. A language trick. It made things seem tolerable. How's the Nam treating you? one guy would ask, and some other guy would say, Hey, one big party, just living the night life. It was a tense time for everybody..."

(p. 208)

can you say understatement? "it was a tense time for everybody." really? tense? that's the best you've got. how about it was a living hell for everybody? somehow, I don't think that if you asked any one person who was involved in this they would simply say "Eh, it was tense." no. there's no way. I understand using "night life" as a euphemism for whatever it was they were going through. it's a war. it's probable that no one really wanted to talk about what was really happening. understood, but there's no avoiding the understatement.

the things that go bump in the night - TTTC

"Out beyond the wire, the paddies would seem to swirl and sway; the trees would take human form; clumps of grass would glide through the night like sappers."

(p. 199)

here, in the middle of the night, we see a number of things personified. the paddies swirl and sway. the trees take human form (can it get more obvious?). the grass would glide. of course, none of this is really meant to be poetic right here. it's more that it's nighttime, and everything is scarier at night. trees become beings. and everything moves on its own accord. this hypersensitivity is heightened, too, by the fact that O'Brien (with the help of Azar) is exacting his revenge on Jorgenson at this point. even while he's trying to scare Jorgenson, he's being scared himself by the sheer nature of things. how's that for irony? but all of this (which has been previously forshadowed [hah!]) is overcome by the hypersensitivity and personification of everything around.

gangrene is not a weird shade of green - TTTC

"After the rot cleared up, once I could think straight, I devoted a lot of time to figuring ways to get back at him."

(p. 181)

so even in war, there's revenge. or something like it. this little piece is sort of a cliff hanger. I mean, there's a break in the story here, and it doesn't continue forward with the story directly afterward. it gives a little side-note about what you can learn from being shot. but this excerpt seems to be a foreshadowing of something to come. as I continued to read this chapter, it became more and more clear to me that O'Brien was going to do SOMETHING to get Jorgenson back. I was never sure what he was going to do exactly. that's not the point. the main idea here is that something would be done. a lot of devoted time can't go unwasted, I guess. you don't almost let someone die of shock in a war and expect not to get something nasty in return? is that really the lesson here?

Stop there and let me correct it I wanna live a life from a new perspective - TTTC

"As we stared at each other, neither of us moving, I felt something go shut in my heart while something else swung open."

(p. 179)

this reminds me of the whole "when one door shuts another door opens" quote that every person ever has said when something bad happens. but this seems like a doubly positive experience. O'Brien has returned to Vietnam to do... something. sure, technically it's to return Kiowa's moccasins to "his" burial place, but there's something else, it seems. he goes back to try to find closure, I think. I'm not sure he ever finds complete closure. I think after something like that it's nearly impossible to find complete closure, but he gets close. it seems that he's almost waiting for one of the Vietnamese farmers to wave him over to talk to him. he's waiting anxiously. and is probably relieved when nothing happens, but somehow, that solemn raising of the shovel allows O'Brien to find some sense of peace. the negativity that had kept a hold on his heart for so long had been broken. that part shut out, maybe. and then the new part swinging open is a new understanding of what happened to him emotionally, physically, spiritually, and in all other aspects. this trip was way more than returning shoes. it was about gaining new perspective.

story-truth vs. happening-truth - TTTC

It's time to be blunt. I'm forty-three years old, true, and I'm a writer now, and a long time ago I walked through Quang Ngai Province as a foot soldier. Almost everything else is invented. But it's not a game. It's a form."

(p. 171)

In "Good Form", O'Brien wants to make it very clear that what he (or anyone else says) happened and what actually happened are very different. but I'm still left a little confused. how can he honestly say "Yes, I killed a man" and at the same time honestly say "Of course not"? is it because there is that separation between what actually happened and what he remembers? is it because he has purposely forgotten the true event? or is this just more rationalizing on his part?

according to the excerpt, it's really not any of those. it's not a game to see who can create the most elaborate story, it's just how things are done. stories are fabricated. they are re-told. they are warped. and somehow, they become some part of the truth. they become the story-truth. the happening-truth gets hidden. it's a perfectly orchestrated cover-up that no one can or will discover.

mistakes = tragedy in war - TTTC

"A stupid mistake. That's all it was, a mistake, but it had killed Kiowa."

(p. 161)

"In the field though, the causes were immediate. A moment of carelessness or bad judgment or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever."

(p. 170)

wow, if that doesn't make you re- and over-think all of your actions first...
sure, in a war environment every decision has a little bit more gravity, especially if you're in command, but this whole "think before you act" idea has been around since the beginning of time probably. it's still pretty powerful, I think. there's no greater guilt than knowing you could have prevented something, but didn't because you were distracted or not paying attention or lazy. it's a plague that I find especially prevalent in today's society, sadly. if only people were a liiiiittle more tolerant or a liiitle more attentive, proactive, focused... the world could be a better place.

in this chapter, "In The Field", we see the other soldiers talking to one another more. we definitely get a taste of colloquialism in use. sure, it doesn't seem that different from what we use when we speak, but it's still colloquial. for example: "Screw him." (p. 159) and "Man, I got to find it." (p. 165) in formal English are grammatically incorrect and/or inappropriate in formal situations, but given the circumstances are completely okay.

varying degrees of courage - TTTC

"Courage was not always a matter of yes or no. Sometimes it came in degrees, like the cold; sometimes you were very brave up to a point and then beyond that point you were not so brave."

(p. 141)

isn't that true though? I mean, we can't ALL be brave all the time, can we? in "Speaking of Courage" O'Brien uses the post-war life of Norman Bowker as an anecdote. he shares with the reader the terrible stress and emotion and fear that accompanies any given situation during a war. in this particular anecdote, he tells of how Norman almost got his Silver Star (an award that my grandfather is also still hoping to receive). but how something happened in the heat of the moment, and his courage was gone. in this little side story, we are shown that Norman was not a coward. he did not let Kiowa sink into that field on purpose. there was something paralyzing, something uncontrollable about that situation that drained all of his courage. though he was courageous in general, this one instance his courage wasn't strong enough. the "temperature" had fallen too far too quickly, and there was nothing he could do.

so it goes.

dancing. style. respect. - TTTC

"'Why's she dancing?' Azar said, and Henry Dobbins said it didn't matter why, she just was."

(p. 129)

there are many things that I'll never understand. some things are pretty concrete, like how it is that John Steinbeck created the entire storyline for "The Grapes of Wrath" before writing a single word. or quantum physics. stuff like that. pretty concrete. there are other more abstract things, like how people can choose to focus solely on negative aspects of something, rather than finding something positive to work on. I think that's the beauty in this tiny little chapter too. while all these soldiers are taken aback by the horror and tragedy that they've come across, they find this little girl dancing. she's found something positive that she's going to express, and that's all. she doesn't feel a need to mourn outwardly right now, even though all her family is dead. this dance is her release. in some way, she is mourning, but in her own way.

Azar doesn't understand this. Dobbins didn't really either, but he respected it enough that he wasn't about to let someone else disrespect it. it's a basic respect that gets shown. it's a beautiful lesson: just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean you can't respect it.

easier said than done? - TTTC

"Even now I haven't finished sorting it out. Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don't. In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on it."

(p. 128)

in "Ambush", too, O'Brien uses a definite flashback. only in this flashback, he focuses more on his own thoughts and less on the physical aspects. he focuses less on the man he killed and more on the situation. the war, this event, caused him more confusion and made things even more difficult to sort out. he wonders from time to time what would have happened, but still there's no "rewind". the "comforting" words of Kiley (basically, "he'd've been killed anyway") are no consolation for O'Brien, a man who seems to want to be able to tell his daughter that he's never killed anyone.

he seems to rationalize in this flashback. there's more "well, I just wanted to scare him off" and even a "he had warning" to try to justify what happened. this all, of course is absolutely human, but in order to fully forgive himself, he knows he'll have to fully accept whatever did happen on that trail outside My Khe.

"I'm just saying the truth. Like oatmeal" gross... - TTTC

in "The Man I Killed", O'Brien really likes to build the suspense. he paints an extremely vivid picture of exactly what was going on, what the man looked like, and what he was doing. there was nothing to miss and everything left to anticipate. the imagery used here is absolutely impossible to ignore. he describes this man in full once:

"His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole, his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman's, his nose was undamaged, his clean black hair was swept upward into a cowlick at the rear of the skull, his forehead was lightly freckled, his fingernails were clean, the skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips, his right cheek was smooth and hairless, there was a butterfly on his chin, his neck ws open to the spinal cord and the blood there was think and shiny and it was this wound that had killed him."

(p. 118)

wow. I'm not sure it could get much more detailed, but then he goes on! he describes, remorsefully it seems, where the body was positioned and more about his shape, slenderness. he compares him to a woman and a child, both vulnerable images, multiple times. it is quite clear that he feels an immense amount of remorse for this man, but even with Kiowa's prodding ("I'm serious. Nothing anybody could do. Come on, stop staring.")[p. 120], O'Brien can't seem to let this one go. sometimes that happens, I guess. such is war. such is life.

do Wiki facts count, too? - TTTC

"It turned us into a platoon of believers. You don't dispute facts."

(p. 112)

again with the faith references. I can't help but remember a quote I've heard a thousand times when war and faith are mixed: "there are no atheists in foxholes."

in this instance, they're talking about a guy who wears his (ex)girlfriends pantyhose around his neck at all times. it's just one of the many things this particular guy carried with him all the time. they all thought he was nuts for doing it, but when he made it through a number of improbable situations because of them, everyone started believing that maybe there was something to it. as O'Brien put it, they were "believers" now. this faith wasn't necessarily in God, but it was faith in something. that's how I feel a lot of people are, they need to put faith in some higher power, so they turn to religion, any religion, and call themselves a believer, just to have somewhere to turn. and as far as I'm concerned, that's a fine strategy to have. it's not my strategy, but hey, if it works, it works. you don't dispute the facts.

where broken is (not) easily fixed - TTTC

"What happened ... was what happened to all of them. You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterward it's never the same. A question of degree. Some make it intact, some don't make it at all."

(p. 109)

Again, in the chapter "Sweethart of the Song Tra Bong" O'Brien reinforces the theme that war changes people in unspeakable ways. the excerpted quote by Rat Kiley emphasizes this quite simply. the change really does come in degrees, though. it's the same in any situation. once you've experienced something, you're changed in some way. there's no going back, there's no "rewind" button or a "Ctrl + z" function that reverses the effect of something. it's like a statue that breaks: sure, you can glue the pieces back together. maybe it's a quick fix, maybe it takes a little more reconstruction. but no matter what, you're going to be able to see the little crack and glue line that gets left behind. maybe others can't see it right away, but as soon as they know it's there, they can't avoid it either.

this theme of irreversible events and their subsequent effects has shown up many times in the book thus far, and I'm sure it will show up again.

"all smiles", eh? - TTTC

all of "The Dentist" is definitely a flashback for O'Brien, but focusing on that lit term seems to be taking the easy way out. especially since there's a better one to use. so, I'll focus more on the hyperbole being used. firstly, I'm thinking that Lemon is speaking in hyperbole when he says that "in high school he'd had a couple bad experiences with dentists. Real sadism. Torture chamber stuff." (p. 83). there's also another example being used, by Lemon: "...told him he had a monster toothache. A killer - like a nail in his jaw." (p. 84). not only is there no toothache, but even if there were, a simple toothache would not kill. not right away, anyway. not until it gets infected and affects your bloodstream.
the most obvious hyperbole in this chapter though is the final line:

"There was some pain, no doubt, but in the morning Curt Lemon was all smiles."

(p. 84)

there's no way that after yanking a perfectly good tooth out that someone feels just fine in the morning. sure, pride has a role in that. and maybe the "all smiles" is meant to be figurative, but literally speaking, there's no way for that to be possible. take it from a girl who had to wear braces for five years and get "perfectly good" (but in the way) teeth pulled in order to allow for the new ones to grow it. you're not "all smiles" until it's all over with.

just war? - TTTC

the chapter "How To Tell A True War Story" got me thinking a little. instead of merely focusing on how to relate the book to myself, I'll relate it to bigger-picture things. like, is there a "just war"? do they exist? if so, how? personally, I can't ever find a good base to build an argument for a "just war". sure, the church has guidelines, but it's sort of a "yeah, when pigs fly we'll have a 'just war'" (although we did have that H1N1 epidemic...). though O'Brien never really makes an explicit argument against the war, he never finds morality in it. consequently, he never finds morality in any war story that gets told thereafter:

"A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it."

(p. 65)

the other thing that this quote reminds me of is a lyric of a favorite song of mine that goes "the best part of "believe" is the "lie". I think that this especially rings true in this instance. O'Brien tells us that there is no morality in the war stories. if this is so, wouldn't it be the same to say there is no morality in the war itself? I think so.

frenemies? not in the war game - TTTC

"No safe ground: enemies everywhere. No front or rear. At night he had trouble sleeping - a skittish feeling - always on guard, hearing strange noises in the dark, imagining a grenade rolling into his foxhole or the tickle of a knife against his ear. The distinction between good guys and bad guys disappeared for him."

(p. 60)

I've found so far that nearly all of these could be applied easily to my life. I hope that I'm mostly normal in the sense that they could be applied to everyone's life if you look at it objectively. I mean, obviously none of us (the class of 2011) have fought in any wars, but I've got a feeling that almost everyone can relate to a messed up relationship. or a feeling that there's no one to turn to. that's what O'Brien's really focused on here. when you've lost a friend or you've got someone "out to get you", the whole world changes. not literally of course, the world doesn't revolve around you, but that little bit of paranoia can really warp things. especially in a situation where you're completely co-dependent, like in a war, if there's one person that you feel isn't completely with you, there's that fear and doubt that there could be others. the chapter "Enemies" really highlights the devastating mental effects paranoia can have in this sort of situation. the subsequent chapter, "Friends", shows just how foolish that paranoia is sometimes. such is war. such is life.

cowardly irony - TTTC

"The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war."

(p. 58)

I've never associated cowardice with fighting in a war... apparently, O'Brien does. he was too embarrassed NOT to go to the war, so he decides to go. the irony of this though really sticks out to me. you would think that it would be exactly the opposite. you would think that a coward would be the one not to go to the war. I think that he feels like a coward because he does what everyone expects of him. he doesn't feel like he's making the decision for himself, and that makes him a coward. he goes to the war because he's too afraid of what everyone else will think if he doesn't. granted, he went, fought, and came home, but because of this he will never be the same.

ping-pong and peace - TTTC

"On occasions the war was like a Ping-Pong ball. You could put a fancy spin on it, you could make it dance."

(p. 31)

so in a way, the war is whatever you made it out to be. if you decided to make it a positive experience, sometimes you could. other times, there was just too much devastation. too much bad stuff. like when something awful happens in our lives, we can recall that moment at the drop of a hat (recall 9/11: I'm sure you remember where you were and probably how you felt...). this happened in the war too:

"The bad stuff never stops happening: it lives in its own dimension, replaying itself over and over. But the war wasn't all that way."

(p. 31)

but the important thing for this is that not everything was that way. there were some good times. it wasn't all negative. no matter how bleak things seemed at any given moment, there were always going to be that time when there was a small feeling of peace. even in a war.

boy, you've got to carry that weight... - TTTC

"They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak. They carried infections. They carried chess sets, basketballs, Vietnamese-English dictionaries, insignia of rank, Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts, plastic cards imprinted with the Code of Conduct. They carried diseases..."

(p. 14)

just like every other person who ever read this book, I picked up on the anaphora of "the things they carried" that completely dominates the first chapter. nearly every phrase/sentence begins with some form of that phrase. and sure, the repetition gets a little tiresome after a few pages, but each time the point comes together more.

not only are these soldiers carrying physical things (necessities, superstitious trinkets, etc), but they are also carrying other baggage. they're carrying emotional, moral, physical baggage. they're carrying diseases which will probably be later communicated to other people.

all of this repetition further instills the difficulty and incomprehensibility of war. just as we can never know for sure how they felt or how they really were. Jimmy Cross on page 29 asks O'Brien to "make [him] out to be a good guy, okay? Brave and handsome, all that stuff. Best platoon leader ever."

the only thing we can ever know about what these guys stood for is what other people have chosen to say about them. the only way we can ever know about what happened is to listen to what the people were there have to say about it.

TSAR - TSAR

I understand the placement of the separation in this novel, but why call them separate books? it's all the same story; however, each book can be summed up into one basic idea:
a relationship is introduced (Book I)
relationships are broken (Book II)
things are mended or left behind (Book III)

until just now, (literally just now, 11:22 PM on Thursday, 12 August)I never really understood the connection to the title. Why "The Sun Also Rises"? Why "Also"? I never understood why that was important. I mean, "The Sun Rises" was just too plain for Hemingway or something? But no, I've now interpreted it as more of a way to move on. just as relationships, friendships, people, places, things, events, etc, rise and fall, so does the sun. The sun, the source of all life, goes through the same phases as the world as a whole does. the sun goes through the same rise and fall as a human being does. not literally of course, but we never see the Earth move. it's the Sun that moves.

the whole book, in telling the seemingly unimportant tale of this group of friends, creates an extended metaphor, conceit, even, with the sun, the cycle of life. the rise and fall, rage and grace, depression and elation that govern the whole world and the steps taken to either mend or leave behind these pieces. the very last line of the book,

"Yes, isn't it pretty to think so?" (p. 251)

emphasizes this fact in a way that is profound, yet simple. it's human nature to think that everything is fine and will work out well, but the fact is that not everything will happen as planned, but even when things look dark,

the sun also rises.

POV - TSAR

"The three of us sat at the table, and it seemed as though about six people were missing."

p. 228

it's interesting how empty a room can feel when only a handful of people leave. it's like at a party with sixty people, if the ten people you've been hanging out with leave, the party might as well be empty. those other forty-nine may or may not notice that anything has changed, but for the person involved, everything changes.

that's the biggest sense I've gotten with this book. as a separate reader, detached from the story, one can't help but be bored, lost, and confused by it. the story never seems to go anywhere unless one places themselves INTO the story. it's for this reason that a third-person or objective POV would never work in this sort of story. it MUST be in first-person. the reader must be inside the head and mindset of one of the characters and place themselves with all of the others as the story is told. if not for this, nothing ever changes and the whole story means nothing. that emotion is never there, and that emotion is vital to the whole story.

anaphora and atmospheres - TSAR

"oh, rot"

I can't count the number of times that I've read this line from Brett... it's really a catch-all phrase for her. especially on p. 213, it's used as an anaphora. each thing she says begins with or contains this phrase. until I read this book, I had never heard this used, so I've had to come up with my own significance for it.

much like an "oh, man" in today's language, this could really be used in excitement, disappointment, shock, disgust, and just about any other emotion out there. I think the interesting part of this is the "rot" part though. because rot seems to be much stronger than "man" or even a profanity. rot automatically gives a negative connotation. there is no positivity in the word "rot". as such, I find it very fitting for Brett to be the one to use this term so frequently, especially since, according to Mike, "She hasn't had an absolutely happy life, Brett. Damned shame, too. She enjoys things so." (p. 207) Brett's really had a rough way to go. this little "oh, rot" phrase of hers is her way of saying "oh well" it seems. she doesn't stay too focused on any one thing (or person) for too long. it's quite an understatement for her to say simply "oh, rot" in some of the circumstances, but that's her way of dealing with things.

she doesn't let things get to her and she does what she feels like doing. she lives her whole life in a hedonistic mindset, and though I think she takes that to an extreme, I think we all could stand to do the same for a little bit (just ask Ms. Sander...).

wait, so who's a pimp? - TSAR

Cohn basically beats the crap out of Romero, the bullfighter. but first, he beats the crap out of Jake for being a... wait a second, a pimp? because he let Brett leave with Romero? shouldn't Mike be the one angry? not Cohn? but then again, Cohn's the one still "in love" with Brett. Jake's gotten over her ("to hell with you, Brett Ashley" p. 152) and now NO ONE likes Cohn anymore... but then we see some real remorse from Cohn. Jake goes to check on him (p. 198) and he's crying. he's so upset about what he's done and he has this conversation with Jake:

"You were the only friend I had, and I loved Brett so."
"Well, so long."
"I guess it isn't any use. I guess it isn't any damn use."
"What?"
"Everything. Please say you forgive me, Jake."
"Sure, it's all right."
"I felt so terribly. I've been through such hell, Jake. Now everything's gone. Everything."
"Well, so long. I've got to go."

p. 198

I drawn two important things from this: one, Jake doesn't really seem to care much. he doesn't explicitly forgive Cohn which either means that he was never offended by him OR that he can't forgive him yet, if ever.
the second thing, Cohn says he's lost EVERYTHING now... does that mean he's lost his wife, too? is he leaving her, the opposite?

parties and foils (no, this isn't fencing) - TSAR

Jake misses the first running of the bulls in Pamplona because he's sleeping. he's so tired that he doesn't hear the partying going on outside and only wakes up when a rocket explodes to release the bulls. Imagine this for me, dear reader: being in Pamplona during the running of the bulls AND just after Spain's won their first World Cup in HISTORY. it'd be nuts... no one would sleep. I was in a tiny pueblo when I was there and I still couldn't sleep for three days there was so much activity. I didn't even have the running of the bulls to keep me up either. (though those were interesting to watch on TV).

also, how rude is it for Brett to be gushing over Romero ("My God! he's a lovely boy, and how I would love to see him get into those clothes..." p. 181) while her fiancé is sitting right next to her? I mean really, how little tact do you need to do such a thing? her attitude/personality is really starting to bother me. I would definitely call her a foil though. she contrasts Jake (who I would definitely call the main character) in nearly every way. sure, the two are friends, but when it comes to behavior and morals and actions, Brett does without thinking. Jake's more of the thinking type.

payment, metaphor style - TSAR

"I thought I had paid for everything. Not like the woman pays and pays. No idea of retribution or punishment. Just exchange of values. You gave up something and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid some way for everything that was any good... Either you paid by learning about them, or by experience, or by taking chances, or by money. Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it. You could get your money's worth. The world was a good place to buy in. It seemed like a fine philosophy."

Jake, to himself, p. 152

this quote really stuck out to me when I read it. not only is it strikingly beautiful in the simplicity of it, but it's got a lot of truth to it. in this part, the world is metaphorically linked to the stock market or a business endeavor: one has to "buy in" to be a part of it. in order to reap the full benefits of the final product, some part of one's property, be it intellectual or physical or emotional, must be spent in order to really be living. it's so true that in order to be fully living, there are sacrifices that must be made. no person can go through life without sacrificing some small part of themselves. again, Hemingway has presented yet another timeless aspect in life: nothing is free.

(bull)fights and zombies - TSAR

Chapter thirteen is interesting. quite interesting. of course there's drinking, but this time Mike (why is he sometimes Mike and sometimes Michael?) gets a little out of hand and starts verbally attacking Robert for all kinds of things, mostly for hanging around Brett: "Tell me, Robert. Why do you follow Brett around like a bloody steer? Don't you know you're not wanted? ... Why do you follow Brett around? Haven't you any manners? How do you think it makes me feel?" (p. 146,7) which sounds mostly like the alcohol caused him to finally let his jealousy show, but Brett (and almost everyone else) seems to back him or not say anything to stop him except, "you're drunk". However, true to form, when they separate the two and then meet up later, they both pretend that nothing's wrong. reminds me of a Blink-182 song: "...and I'll smile, and you'll wave; we'll pretend it's okay. the charade, it won't last..."
and it really is a charade. almost everything in this book is a charade of some sort. the characters never really fully express themselves and the only one you get a true sense of personality from is Jake (because we're in his head, too, just like zombies. [the Cranberries, anyone?])

and FINALLY, the first bullfight. not that I like 'em, I'm actually very against them, but there was talk of them, and I was waiting for the first one in the book.

character and characterization - TSAR

I'm feeling a little wholesome characterization time. yay!

since this:

"Should we answer it?"
"We might as well, there's no need for us to be snooty." (p. 133)

is the closest we get to direct characterization, I'd say that everything's going by indirect characterization. it hasn't been stated explicitly how a person is, so they're being characterized by their actions, what they say, and by describing them in other ways that aren't character traits.

so far, I'm feeling that Jake's sort of a static character. I'm not seeing him change much. he's basically always the level-headed mediator.
I can't really classify the others because they're not always there like Jake is.
Brett could be round or dynamic, but I'm not sure which. I'm not sure if she's really going to change that much, but she never seems to be the same. at the same time, I'm not positive if she's got multiple dimensions, but she seems pretty real, as in, I can relate to her in some way. not in the (lack of) morals sense, but it's not hard to picture her as a real person.

expatirate = hipster? - TSAR

"You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see? You hang around cafés." p. 120

sounds like the a hipster to me.. haha. let's consult urbandictionary.com, shall we? : hipster, noun: aged indie kids, still maintain the air of snobbery, still shop at salvation army, and still have a completely astonishing array of knowledge when it comes to obscure music, pop-culture non-sequiturs, and political sneers. Absolutely a blast to be friends with, hell to be enemies of, hipsters are the most bi-polar of all the stereotypes when it comes to how they treat you. yep. basically a hipster.

so, Bill thinks that Jake's a hipster (how awful!), but also thinks that the Civil War was about Lincoln being homosexual. also, sex explains everything. how insightful. you're brilliant, Bill. brilliant. not quite an aphorism, seeing as how it's not a general truth that you've shared, but there could be some real symbolism here, if you want to be completely politically incorrect.

irony and pity - TSAR

"Aren't you going to show irony and pity?"
I thumbed my nose.
"That's not irony."

p. 118

this whole "irony and pity" thing really confuses me. it doesn't make sense. I even tried to make sense of it. what is "irony" according to Bill? because I'm pretty sure it's not "a discrepancy between appearances and reality". is it sort of like Alanis Morisset's song "Isn't it Ironic?", a song that contains very few examples of irony and many coincidences?

and, obviously, this gives me a perfect opportunity to address the irony I've come across in this book. the best example I've found I've already discussed a little in a previous post, but not in terms of the irony. the conversation between Jake and Bill about trying to remember what happened on Bill's trip I find to be quite ironic. I mean, Bill was so drunk that he still can't remember what happened. to try to remind him, Jake makes him drink. as far as I'm aware, alcohol doesn't help much with your memory. somehow, in this book drinking is a way to remember things, not a way to forget them. so maybe that's some sort of satire on Hemingway's part? or he just finds it humorous. I'm not sure...

bienvenidos a España! - TSAR

"The first meal in Spain was always a shock with the hors d'oeuvres, an egg course, two meat courses, vegetables, salad, and dessert and fruit. You have to drink plenty of wine to get it all down."

p. 100

okay, SO not the case. sure, they eat a lot in Spain, but it's not THAT much. it's more like: bread, first plate (usually salad or pasta), second plate (meat and/or eggs plus veggies), postre (dessert OR fruit), and café, if you're so inclined. this is only at "lunchtime", which is around two. dinner is basically nothing... it's more like what we would usually eat for an appetizer before dinner here. for the whole meal. now that you've had your lesson in Spanish cuisine...

there's an issue with some of the guys and Cohn's being Jewish. I don't think it's a real issue, I think it just covers up the bigger issue that they think he's pig-headed. which I understand, a little. he seems like a big baby... probably an only child. he argues (and bets) with Bill on whether or not Brett and Michael will arrive the same night or not. Bill was drunk, okay, fine, but Robert wasn't. there's no real reason for this. I'm starting to not like Robert very much.

ah-ha! dos cosas... -TSAR

ah-ha! numero uno:

"I say, is Robert Cohn going on this trip?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Don't you think it will be a bit rough on him?"
"Why should it?"
"Who do you think I went down to San Sebastian with?"
"Congratulations."

p. 89
so Cohn and Brett DID have a thing! ha! and I'm sensing some sarcasm in the "Congratulations" from Jake. it's sort of like, "congratulations, you get around even more than I had initially thought!"

so the group has decided to go to Spain. I'm not exactly sure why other than to see a bull fight and fish. (I was in Spain all summer, they fish ALL the time). I want to go with them! on the train there's no room, Jake charms his way on. there's a bunch of "Goddam Puritans", and Bill gets hungry and...

ah-ha! numero dos: refers to his frustration at not having food as being "enough to make a man join the Klan." (p. 93)(which also attracts the attention of a priest. *awkwardturtle*) helloooooooo allusion. apparently his hunger is enough to make him burn crosses, kill black people, Jews, Catholics, and basically be completely intolerant of varying beliefs...or so it's suggested. a little harsh there, but an allusion nonetheless.

commence drinking.

oh, the wonderful world of dialect... - TSAR

"Tight, Jake. I was tight"
"That's strange. Better have a drink."

conversation between Bill and Jake, p. 76

I'm not gonna lie, it took me a while to realize that "tight" meant "drunk". a long time. actually, I think I had to re-read it a few times to figure it out. I think that in any other circumstance, this would be a little sad. but, I've never heard the word "tight" used in this sense before. I can't say for sure that only this group of people use it, but it certainly isn't something that is used today. at least, not where I'm from. I'm definitely labeling that as dialect.

I also find it hugely amusing that Bill basically says "I was too drunk to remember anything, so I thought it was better than it really is," and Jake's suggestion to jog his memories is "Oh, that's strange, drink some more, maybe you'll remember."

so, Bill gets drunk again. tells everyone what he's going to gift them (he is a taxidermist, after all), meets Brett, and that's about it?
more drinking. more promiscuity from Brett. aaand, not much else? cool.

the values speech, an-/pro- tagonists - TSAR

Brett wants to know all about values. mostly, I think, how people manage to maintain theirs.

"Doesn't anything ever happen to your values?"
"No. Not any more."
"Never fall in love?"
"Always, I'm always in love."
"What does that do to your values?"
"That, too, has got a place in my values."
"You haven't got any values. You're dead, that's all."
"No, my dear. You're not right. I'm not dead at all."

p. 67, 8

how true is this? everything, when properly monitored has place in life. being in love is not an inherent threat, but being recklessly amorous can be. eating icecream is not inherently unhealthy, but eating a pint every day can be.

I'm starting to nail down my people now.
I'm seeing Jake as the protagonist and Brett as an antagonist, but I'm not sure if she's the only one yet.

Mippipopolous - TSAR

is there a more fun name out there than Count Mippipopolous? I think not.

I find it quite interesting what impact a little bit of money can make...
when Brett showed up at Jake's place the night before, the concierge lady was quite put-off by her. but this time, Brett shelled out a few bucks, and the lady LOVES her. she thinks she's one of the greatest people to ever set foot in her hotel! okay, maybe not THAT extreme, but they're polar opposites. also, there's talk of Lady Ashley losing her title when she marries Michael:

"And when you're divorced, Lady Ashley, then you won't have a title."
"No. What a pity."
"No. You don't need a title. You got class all over you."
"Thanks. Awully decent of you."

p. 64, 5
they find it quite shocking that Jake doesn't have a "title", yet lives just fine.

thus, we see the importance that has always been placed on "labels" and money. this sort of thing still exists today in nearly the exact same way. maybe the labels have changed, but it still exists. it's one of those things that, sadly, probably can't ever be removed from society.

chapter five and all I can think about is Harry Potter - TSAR

with names like Krum and Woolsey, I can't help it! I mean, Krum IS a HP character and Woolsey is dangerously close to Weasley (especially when you read it quickly). so this blog is going to be a little scattered. I'm pretty sure these names have no real role in the story though. ha.

Cohn comes into the picture again. and he asks Jake questions about Brett, but they're not the kind of questions one asks just to be curious. it's almost as if he knows something more about her than Jake does and he wants to see what Jake knows about her. Cohn kinda flips when Jake suggests that she's a little bit of a floozy, which makes this idea more apparent to me. (secret looooooovers?!)

Jake thinks that she's married before (oh, yeah, she's already married and waiting for a divorce to marry Michael. not lookin' so good moral-wise, Miss) without love and is about to do it again. does he love her? I'm not sure, still.

here's how the last part of it goes down:

"I don't believe she would marry anybody she didn't love."
"Well, she's done it twice."
"I don't believe it."
"Well, don't ask me a lot of fool questions if you don't like the answers."
"I didn't ask you that."
"You asked me what I knew about Brett Ashley."
"I didn't ask you to insult her."
"Oh, go to hell."
... "You've got to take that back."

p. 47

Cohn and Jake are good friends, I suppose, but Jake doesn't seem to be so keen on this. why not?

the lovely Lady Ashley - TSAR

I had already met Brett when I finished the last post, but figured it would be better to address her in this one. first, who the heck is she? she shows up while Jake is having a drink with Georgette, but we don't really ever find out their relation. it appears to be somewhat romantic, but not exactly. second, I find her to be very contradictory. she says that she finds being in love to be "hell on earth" (p. 35), yet she's engaged. she won't let Jake kiss her when they're in the car because she "can't stand it" because she "turns to jelly" (p. 34), but when she leaves him for the night she kisses him. she seeks Jake out again, despite her having a fiancé, but brings another man with her too.
I'm not seeing her as someone with real high moral standards right now, but I can't quite figure her out beyond that. she definitely can't seem to be tied down to one man. let alone be "in love" with only one.

everybody's sick... - TSAR

when chapter two starts, Jake's by himself at a café. some mystery lady walks up, they have a drink, no big deal. she tries to get Jake to kiss her... no go. and then,

"Everybody's sick. I'm sick too"

(Georgette, p. 23)

this could obviously be treated strictly in a medical sense. as in, everyone has some sort of illness. I don't think that's what is meant by it. this "sickness" is different for each person. it's not like the Spanish Flu that wiped out huge parts of the population during the Great Depression or the Black Death that demolished Europe in the XII century. it could be physical, mental, spiritual, imaginary, or any combination thereof. it could be a sickness that keeps people from enjoying the moment for whatever reason. or a sickness that allows for real problems to appear. or something completely different that no one can explain. it's a timeless sickness - one that people still encounter today.


also, anyone else having trouble following quotes without speaker tags?

restless? - TSAR

"Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn't make any difference. I've tried all that. You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There's nothing to that."

p. 19

Jake seems to be the voice of reason in all of this. he's trying to get the idea that traveling will solve problems out of Cohn's head. I think Jake already realizes that the only way to fix things is to work from the inside first. sure, you can travel all over the place and meet new friends. you can have experiences that are unique to you that no one else can relate to, but in reality that only hurts you more. when you stop being able to relate to other people, you stop being able to relate to yourself. I'm probably taking that a liiiittle bit further than it was intended. I can definitely understand how the thought of traveling would seem like a good way to get away from all the stress and challenges of life at "home" (heck, I do the same thing sometimes. my brain tells me that going back to Spain would solve all the stress I've got here dealing with this AP work!) but you've got to come back eventually. when you do, THAT'S when the real trouble starts. you can't run away forever.

graceful exits in the newspaper business -TSAR

I literally just started The Sun Also Rises, and two things came to mind when I finished the first page (11). The first, "hey, that's kind of like me. I take comfort in knowing that I could out-argue nearly everyone I meet, but I find no reason to, generally speaking." The second, "If no one remembers him, why is he important?". But then I remembered that this is Hemingway. I'm sure I'm in for it.

"As he had been thinking for months about leaving his wife and had not done it because it would be too cruel to deprive her of himself, her departure was a very healthful shock." p. 12

The thing I find most strange is that this "frank and simple" person, Cohn, wouldn't leave his wife because he couldn't "deprive her of himself". This character, who is seemingly non-confrontational and likes to stay in the background also has a superiority complex? He felt that his wife would be devastated without him, but then she leaves him instead. And he's (seemingly) fine with it? The wording of that phrase seems like it's a coping method of some sort, but then the divorce is described as "arranged", not "settled", suggesting that there really are no hard feelings between the two... the next wife then seems to be completely controlling and "led him [Cohn] quite a life", suggesting that he doesn't actually do much on his own free will.

but now... he's going to start living his own life? maybe?

also, that talk of "idea planting" on page 20... Inception, anyone?