The Sun Also Rises Chapter 17 Analysis

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Chapter 17 of The Sun Also Rises stands out to be the most violent chapter in the novel. The chapter begins with Bill and Mike being kicked out of a bar. Both men are with a young lady named Eda, who is a friend of Bill. Bill and Mike got into an altercation between English and American tourists in the bar. Bill becomes upset because he believes the English tourists insulted Mike because he was bankrupt and owed them money. Robert Cohn shows up and the same bar as the others and Cohn’s mood is very agitated and he demands to know where Lady Brett Ashley is. Jake is very secretive and makes it clear that he will not tell Cohn where Brett is. Cohn then ends the conversation by calling Jake a damned pimp. Jake becomes furious and takes a swing at Cohn, but Cohn is able to duck. The one swing quickly turns into many and a full fistfight is executed between Jake and Cohn. Eda believed that Cohn must have been a boxer by …show more content…

In the heat of an argument, Cohn decides to refer to Jake as a damned pimp. Hemingway then decided to possibly have Jake come back with calling Cohn a damned panderer, but it was never put in the novel (Stoneback 259). If Cohn was called a panderer, it would suggest that he is a male prostitute or someone who caters to sexual desires and exploits their weaknesses (259). Jake may have also said something along the lines of Cohn being a man whore and exploiting Brett’s weaknesses. Cohn calling Jake a pimp does not match up to how Jake is portrayed throughout the novel. Scenes throughout the novel so Jake convincing Brett against going with Romero, which would show that Jake is not a pimp (260). Due Cohn’s charge at Jake, it makes it seem the reader has to accept Cohn as a judge of conduct, not Jake (260). This would make it seem that one must resort to violence if someone does not agree or goes against them (260). Cohn is not an example, and Jake is not a pimp

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