"It's funny," I said. "it's very funny. And it's a lot of fun, too, to be in love."
"Do you think so?" her eyes looked flat again.
"I don't mean fun that way. In a way it's an enjoyable feeling."
"No," she said. "I think it's hell on earth." [page 35]
That's quite a contradictory view on love, especially coming from a woman who usually holds the optimistic view on love while the man is pessimistic. Lady Brett Ashley is obviously a very independent woman who does not appreciate weakness in herself. I think her weakness is that she is in love with this man [Jake Barnes] who she is telling herself that she cannot have.
After I finished the book, I wanted to reread the chapter summaries for certain things I did not immediately understand. One of the things I paid close attention to was Brett's love for Jake. She is such a sex-crazed, independent woman, but she is also very selfish. She refuses to allow herself to be in relationship with Jake because his injury from the war prevents him from having sex. If that's what is holding her back from marrying him...well I think that's a lame excuse. She is struggling with this internal conflict constantly, and the audience becomes aware of this at the end of chapter 2.
While this is her internal conflict, I also believe there is an external conflict between Lady Brett, Jake, and Lady Brett's lovers. There is an obvious uncertainty at whom Lady Brett actually "loves" because she has been married and divorced and now engaged to Michael, but she has all these lovers and "men on the side," and then of course Jake is a complicated situation. The relationship problems along with alcoholism definitely comes up as the big elephant in the room.
"Do you think so?" her eyes looked flat again.
"I don't mean fun that way. In a way it's an enjoyable feeling."
"No," she said. "I think it's hell on earth." [page 35]
That's quite a contradictory view on love, especially coming from a woman who usually holds the optimistic view on love while the man is pessimistic. Lady Brett Ashley is obviously a very independent woman who does not appreciate weakness in herself. I think her weakness is that she is in love with this man [Jake Barnes] who she is telling herself that she cannot have.
After I finished the book, I wanted to reread the chapter summaries for certain things I did not immediately understand. One of the things I paid close attention to was Brett's love for Jake. She is such a sex-crazed, independent woman, but she is also very selfish. She refuses to allow herself to be in relationship with Jake because his injury from the war prevents him from having sex. If that's what is holding her back from marrying him...well I think that's a lame excuse. She is struggling with this internal conflict constantly, and the audience becomes aware of this at the end of chapter 2.
While this is her internal conflict, I also believe there is an external conflict between Lady Brett, Jake, and Lady Brett's lovers. There is an obvious uncertainty at whom Lady Brett actually "loves" because she has been married and divorced and now engaged to Michael, but she has all these lovers and "men on the side," and then of course Jake is a complicated situation. The relationship problems along with alcoholism definitely comes up as the big elephant in the room.
August 22, 2010 at 11:00 PM
word.