Characterization

I have currently read to page 151 in The Sun Also Rises. At this point in the novel, Hemingway has described both Jake and Cohn's romantic involvement with Lady Brett Ashley. Through the description of each characters relationship, Hemingway has created a foil characterization. When Bill asked Jake how long he loved Brett he replied, "Off and on for a hell of a long time." Then later he made a comment to himself, "...you had to be in love with a woman to have a basis of friendship. I had been having Brett for a friend. I had not been thinking about her side of it." Jake's inner dialogue shows the reader that he truly cares for Brett. Even though they cannot have a physical relationship he loves her and accepts her for who she really is. Whereas Cohn is the opposite. He relationship with Brett is just an affair without any emotional attachment. His feelings for her are purely physical. This just shows Hemingway's interpretation of the ingenuity of each character. Robert Cohn was always refusing women because he was fearful of rejection but Jake remains yearning for unrequited love, another theme within the novel, regardless of his masculine inadequacy.