aks her involvement with him because of her fear for his life, and her reluctance to savage his manhood, perhaps because of his youth.To me, the point of view is mostly one survival and self-indulgence. Not only indulgence in sex and drinking, but also in the dwelling of the mind to eradicate memories, longings, dreams unfulfilled, and love. As even today, how much of our life is spent in the search for love? How much is lost in the quest for dreams be they useless or divine?Hemmingway tries to touch the core of human thought and emotion. Strong sexual tension, anger, and frustration are very evident in the interplay between all the characters. Love and Masculinity? I believe the main conflict is the love between Lady Brett and Jake. This to me is the central focus. The ins and outs, the ups and downs of their continuing relationship. The unfulfilled passions in both hearts are the mist and miseries that tend to haunt all our dreams.The Subjects of anti-Semitism also play a part in the story. Conflict could be interpreted as mostly internal as in ones self. External is the effect in such others as Cohn and Jake. There seems to be an underlying sense of fear and loneliness flowing through almost everyone. The fight for survival in all characters is very strong. They all have a central fear. Taking the other down makes you the strong/dominate person in the relationship. Like in most of Hemmingway’s work, the tone is somber and time seems to drift through almost a fog or mist. There was conflict between almost every character over Brett ‘s changing moods and her ever-changing cast of lovers. The “Gay” friends she seemed to attract even became a certain worry and fear in Jake, Robert, and Mike’s sense of masculinity. Brett would lift them up, then cut them down above the knees, one at a time or all at once. Cohn was the point of numerous ‘sidebar’ humors and direct insulting Jew jokes. So numer...
