The Purpose of Robert Cohn

As I was considering response paper topics, I thought seriously for a while about discussing our first impression of Brett and how that affects our perception of the story. Then, I realized that our first impression of another character--Robert Cohn--holds just as much, if not more, importance in The Sun Also Rises. Why does the story begin with Robert Cohn? Why does Jake tell us about him in the voice of a narrator who has far too much ironic distance from him? Initially, when I was reading, I expected this to be a story narrated by a sarcastic narrator about the life of Robert Cohn. It reminded me of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, from Coming of Age, because the narrator did seem to understand Cohn, but was also very obviously critical of and distant from Cohn.

When I began this book, I felt sorry for Cohn, because of the way Jake described him as being weak, dorky, dull, and extremely forgettable. He sounded like the kid who is socially awkward for some reason out of his control. However, as the book progressed, I quickly began to dislike Cohn with a passion. He was annoying, inexcusably oblivious to all social cues, and overall very easy to hate.

BUT the book still begins with him. The book begins as though it will be about his life. Cohn must have some important role other than just being a scapegoat in every situation. It is not unlikely that Jake is actually jealous of Cohn--in fact, it is very likely. Jake is clearly angry when Cohn runs off with Brett, and he seems to be much more pissed off with Cohn than with Brett. Even though Jake keeps his feelings from showing while the group is in Spain, he gets just as annoyed, if not more annoyed, with Cohn as everybody else does. Jake really hates Cohn, which is understandable because he loves Brett and Cohn is stupidly attempting to "take care of" her, but Jake doesn't hate Romero, or the Count, or even Mike, who has plans to marry Brett. Why do Jake's feelings of hatred and jealousy make themselves most apparent when concerning Cohn?

This definitely goes back to Jake's war injury. Jake sees Cohn as not being masculine enough, and therefore is extremely bitter that Cohn still has his "masculinity," whereas he does not. Brett's other suitors are definitely masculine enough; they are deserving of their masculinity. Jake cannot understand why fate has played such a cruel joke on him, and that joke is much worse when he much consider the fact that someone like Cohn, who does not act masculine, still technically has his masculinity. We also see this same dynamic when Jake reacts to Brett hanging out with the group of gay men, and feels unhappy because Brett is spending time with these men who he does not view as properly expressing their masculinity. He sees their technical possession of masculinity as wasted, because they do not act masculine enough to his standards.

What does masculinity mean to Jake anyway? Take Cohn for example: even though Cohn takes Jake's advice and basically tells Frances to go to hell, but then does not extend this "masculine" behavior as far as he should. For one thing, he tells her to go to hell in the most cowardly way possible. It's like he's really just hinting at her that he wants to get rid of her, rather than coming our and saying it, which is what would be the "masculine" thing to do. Furthermore, he allows Frances to verbally assault him in front of Jake, and just sits there and takes it like a puppy with its tail between its legs. Jake doesn't think Cohn is masculine because he knows that Cohn can't ever stand up for himself or be sure of himself in any situation. A huge part of masculinity for Jake is self-confidence, and that is an area in which Cohn is severely lacking.

It seems to me like Cohn serves as Jake's double in a way: while Cohn technically has his masculinity but doesn't act masculine, Jake acts masculine and knows what it means to be masculine, but doesn't technically have his masculinity. Jake is definitely jealous of Cohn, because he realizes that if he could have the one thing Cohn has, he would actually know how to use it. Jake thinks that if he technically had his masculinity, he would be able to woo Brett in the same way Cohn wishes he could woo her. This is the biggest indication of the similarities between Cohn and Jake. Both of them believe that they could (and should) be the man to finally woo and marry Brett, making an honest woman of her. Both of them are wrong. Cohn doesn't understand that Brett doesn't actually like him, because he is so incredibly socially awkward and foolish (in Jake's mind, this makes him less of a man), and Jake doesn't understand that he would probably never be with Brett, even if he hadn't suffered his war injury. Even though Brett loves Jake now, and wishes she could be with him, if Jake had his technical masculinity, he would lose his appeal of being something that Brett can never have. Their entire relationship is based around Jake's injury. Brett has always known him as injured Jake, and so for her, that is an essential part of who he is. It is what keeps their relationship so pure and longstanding. Because they can never completely have each other, they will always want each other, and will never be able to let go of each other. Of course, they have a deep emotional connection as well, but if they could have a sexual relationship, their emotional one would probably lose meaning, simply because of the way Brett is.

Jake is delusional to think that if he was uninjured, he and Brett could be happy together, in the same way that Cohn is delusional to think that he could have any sort of chance with Brett if only he could prove himself by fighting for her (literally, as he does with Romero). The truth is, the best Jake can hope for is to be Brett's closest and most important friend, and the best Cohn can hope for is to avoid infuriating Brett to the point that she stomps completely mercilessly all over his heart.