hope the sun also rises, Book_Reports, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - Book Reports

hope the sun also rises

hope the sun also rises WWI consumed the lives of millions. Those who lived through the war may have had only minor physical injuries or perhaps they were lucky enough to get away unharmed, but all of those who went home in the 1920s had lost an important feature in their life which was the importance of hope. The lack of hope hurt all the characters who experience the war in one way or another. Which, led to love being an empty word to the affected characters. These affected characters search for happiness in sex and in drunkenness and in superficial human relationships for the fulfillment that they were missing. Robert Cohn was about the only one who showed some kind of hope, but this hope seemed to bother the other characters. Of course the hope that Cohn demonstrated was that of hoping for some kind of respond from Brett. Robert Cohn was probably not even capable of truly being in love. He had severe self-esteem problems in college. "He took it out in boxing, and he came out of Princeton with painful self-consciousness and the flattened nose, and was married to the first girl who was nice to him."(4) Cohn was looking for love and thought he could find it in a girl who would care for him. All of the characters seem to be dealing with this same issue. Cohn, however, dealt with his problems in a different way. "He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton."(3) Cohn was willing to work and suffer physically to try to gain back some of what he wanted, which was acceptance and love. The others tried to simply escape their problems in sex, alcohol, work, or fishing. Cohn believed that true love existed, but he had never known it. "For four years his horizon had been absolutely limited to his wife. For three years, or almost three years, he had never seen beyond Frances. I am sure he had never been in love in his life."(8) Robert Cohn had two rather lengthy relationships, both three years or longer. He did not fall in and out of love as quickly as the others. Brett thought she was in love with Romero only after seeing him from afar in the ring two or three times. Cohn, however, fell in love with Brett or so he thought and was willing to follow her around like a puppy as long as it would take to get her back. Even though she was married and engaged to get married again, he continued to pursue her. The others could not understand this willingness to wait, and could not get used to or rather were affected by the hope he showed. Mike expressed what they thought of it in an offensive manner. "Tell me, Robert. Why do you follow Brett around like a poor bloody steer? Don't you know you're not wanted? I know when I'm not wanted. Why don't you know when you're not wanted? You came down to San Sebastian where you weren't wanted, and followed Brett around like a bloody steer. Do you think that's right?"(142) Cohn only responded by saying, "Shut up. You're drunk.", (142) and then going to his hotel room to calm down and think. Again Robert Cohn was rejected for his romantic ideals and driven away. This time he was hurt physically as well as emotionally. The others reacted as if they were annoyed and angry at him because they couldn't really feel any sense of loss. Robert Cohn was almost always referred to by his full name, "Robert Cohn" or simply by his last name, "Cohn." He was rarely called by his first name, although almost every other character was almost always named or called by their first names. Even though Robert Cohn, was seen throughout the book, he still remained a stranger and a outcast. Even Frances, his fiancée, of whom we know even less, deserved only a first name. Cohn is simply emotionally distanced and kept out of the group. Most of it had to do to the fact that he was a Jew and also because he was not a veteran. But the most important point is that the other characters couldn’t get used to the fact that Robert Cohn was different in the way that he showed some kind of hope, which they were missing. So the others found it easier to exclude him rather than trying to learn from him. The other character found it easier to exclude him because all of their hope had been damage from the experiences of the Great War. Robert Cohn was one of the most exciting characters in the novel. Not only did he seem to actually care about things that happened in the story, but he also showed some kind of hope. Robert Cohn may not have been able to love really, but he believed that he could. Deep down, he may not have felt as separated from other people as Jake and Mike and Bill and Brett. But this shred of hope that he held on to was enough to disgust those around him that had lost theirs, and then Robert Cohn became the outcast for all others to exclude and spit upon to somehow feel superior because they were at that time a group all excluding Robert Cohn. Cohn wasn't like the others in the way that he did not look in sex or alcohol for his happiness. Cohn hoped, for the possibility of real love, so he kept on persisting for what he was hoping for, the love of Brett. But no one could understand. Bibliography:

Word Count: 963