As we well know at this point, the
narrator of The Sun Also Rises is Jake, who I greatly hesitate to call a
reliable narrator as shown by his many biases. The first aspect of Jake’s
narration I want to look at is his “reporter” narration. At times, Jake seems
to be a vessel for the story as he recounts scenes where he was there but not
really participating with him saying only one or two words. It’s like he is
there to report to us who is doing what and what was said instead of actually
being a part of the scene it’s. However, this reporting that he does not remain
an unbiased one, as he can’t resist including some snide comments or letting a
little bitterness show through (especially on the topic of Cohn). And so while
he is kind of acting like a reporter at times, Jake does not seem successful in
presenting them transparently.
We
also see a different kind of reporter mode when he is alone like on page 38,
where he reports in great detail his bank statements. There was a sort of
emotionless feel to it, just stating the facts. I mean just reading it sounds
very abrupt with the short observations:
“One was a bank statement. It showed
a balance of $2432.60. I got out my check-book and deducted four checks drawn
since the first of the month, and discovered I had a balance of $1832.60. I
wrote this on the back of the statement.”
It feels like he is trying to force
himself to focus on plain basic facts, anything that wouldn’t cause some sort
of an emotional response. We see that he ends up failing when his train of
thought on that same page arrives on the topic of Brett (“To hell with you,
Lady Ashley”). It seems like from scenes like this one that Jake may have
trouble not thinking about Brett, whether positively or negatively. Either way,
his emotions always seem to be very strong. Is this reporter way of thinking Jake’s
way of trying to avoid thinking about Brett? As shown in this scene, it doesn’t
exactly work since his thoughts still made its way to her but it was a way to
try and to at least postpone it. And from what we can tell from their very
complex relationship, it probably really pains Jake that they can’t be together
and so he has to deal with the situation of not being in a relationship with
Brett while still (at least that I can tell) loves her. Because of this, it
makes sense that he would try to not focus on Brett because that would take a
toll on him emotionally.
So those are the two reporter modes
that I saw, with one being much more biased (not the best for being a reporter)
but actually is recounting events and the other stating much simpler, basic
facts as a way for Jake to cope. It will be interesting to see how Jake’s
reporting changes over the course of the story. I have a feeling he will become
much more involved in the story than just a reporter.
I completely agree with the hypothesis of this being Jake's way of not thinking about Brett. So far it seems like Brett is the only thing in life that Jake actually enjoys, despite the fact that Brett is someone he cannot have. It's like he doesn't want to show anyone, perhaps even the reader, his interest in Brett.
ReplyDeleteYes. I agree with you. However, I don't think these two modes are entirely that different. In both Jake is reporting what happened without really being present in the moment. Although in one he's focusing on other people and in the other he's focusing on himself, he's acting kind of like a robot in both. He gives automatic one word answers when talking to other people, and he works with money without truly thinking. However, his time reporting at home when he's by himself is more emotionally difficult for him since he struggles to keep himself in this robotic pace of life.
ReplyDeleteAgreed - I think these modes are quite similar at least in the way that Jake tries to make the latter function in the same way as the former - allowing him to be emotionless and observant - and they both often fail as his emotions and biases interrupt the dry reporting.
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