I now see how the whole bullfighting analogy fits with the story in The Sun Also Rises. What comes to mind when I think about this are the brilliant analogies that Joey came up with in the third period class. From what I remembered, Joey said something along the lines of the bullfight representing what is happening to the main characters. Both Cohn and Michael are bulls who are charging for Brett, who represents the matador. Both Jake and Bill are just steers that draw the "bulls" closer to the "matador". When Cohn falls for Brett, she sticks a metaphorical sword in Cohn's shoulder. Everything revolves around Brett, who is of course the Matador. I couldn't have said it any better myself.
I think this analogy can go beyond the book itself. I believe that reading this book is like a bullfight, where the reader is the bull and Hemingway is the clever Matador that steers and goads the reader the way he wants. His whole writing style seems to steer the reader towards certain thoughts like a Matador steers a bull into a certain position. One way Hemingway does this is with his Ezra Pound-inspired Imagism, which is a literary sleight of hand where the writer writes about one thing and then writes about a different thing, thus blending the two together. This can be seen when Hemingway quickly goes from describing the bullfight to describing Michael and Cohn's little quarrel in the stands, or from when Hemingway goes from visually describes the gay men in the bar to talking about Jake's thoughts. Much like a Matador swiftly moves his cape from one position to another to maneuver a bull, Hemingway swiftly moves the focus of the book from one event to another to maneuver the reader's thoughts.
Another way that Hemingway steers the reader like a Matador is with his whole iceberg effect that hints at things under the surface. Since Hemingway rarely spells these subtle happenings out loud, the reader's mind naturally fills in the blanks. But this isn't purely random. Hemingway uses subtle hints to steer the reader's mind in a certain direction. For example, when Bill says something along the lines of "Why doesn't she go with you-- I mean me...", it implies that Bill knows about Jake's condition because he spoke without thinking and tries to correct it so he doesn't offend his friend. Or when Jake talks to Montoya and calls himself a "Descojonado" (Spanish for "one without genitals"), it implies that Montoya knows as well (Chapter 11). It's all one big bullfight.
Oh and I want to take a fun little poll: if you were making a movie version of The Sun Also Rises, who would cast to play who? (They don't have to be actors). My poll:
Jake: Sam Worthington/Daniel Craig
Cohn: Keanu Reeves
Bill: Charlie Sheen
Brett: Kesha/Charlize Theron
Michael: John Travolta
Pedro: Ramon Rodriguez
1 comment:
The Montoya scene I've never noticed before--it makes the gesture, where he puts his hand on Jake's shoulder, as though they share a "very special" and "shocking" secret between them--make a little more sense. Good eye!
The whole conversation about how the social dynamics resemble a bullfight (which Joey sketched out very well, but there are plenty of other angles to explore in this analogy, also) makes me think of the waiter who doesn't get all the excitement over the bulls: he reminds Jake that sometimes people get hurt, or killed, in all this "fun"--"No fun in that for me," he says. It makes for an interesting novel, to see these people destroy each other like this, but for a book that's supposedly all about reckless Left Bank Paris partying, it doesn't look like so much fun . . .
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