Why begin with Cohn?

By beginning the novel with Jake’s perception of Robert Cohn, Hemingway establishes Jake’s status as a passive narrator and, through this fact, conveys a theme and feeling of hopelessness derived from an inability to take action. In the second line of the story we see the word “I,” indicating right away that the story is told from the first person. This bizarre fact—that there is a first person narrator but that the story does not begin with anything about him—really emphasizes Jake’s status as a narrator, a passive re-teller, rather than as a character. This idea is furthered throughout the book, beginning in Chapter II with his indifferent refusal to go to South America. We especially see it in regards to Brett, first in Chapter III but really throughout the story. Furthermore, the vague allusions to Jake’s impotence are a physical manifestation of this theme of inaction leading to misery. Overall, throughout the story Jake Barnes, despite being the narrator, never seems to do anything of consequence, and this is emphasized by beginning the book with a description of Robert Cohn.

Another reason for opening The Sun Also Rises with Robert Cohn—but also having a first person narrator—is that it causes the reader to pay attention to Cohn throughout the story and to draw parallels between Cohn and Jake. Cohn is constantly described as weak and passive, and yet, as I stated above, Cohn is just as guilty of these attributes. This is really highlighted by the fact that both characters have an obsessive, pathetic relationship with Brett. Neither character will, in the kind words of Mike, “Go away” (195). This fact is not as apparent in regards to Jake because the narration stems from him, but by linking Cohn and Jake together from the beginning, the similarities are made more obvious to the reader. If anything, the fact that Cohn successfully sleeps with Brett while Jake physically cannot makes Jake even more pathetic than Cohn.

Both of these factors contribute to the book’s overall sense of hopelessness. It truly is the novel of the Lost Generation. In the final scene of the story, Brett laments to Jake, “We could have had such a damned good time together” and Jake replies, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” (251). This dialogue is the epitome of passiveness, of a would-have, could-have, should-have type of attitude. Cohn, Jake, and even Brett fail to take action in their lives that leads to happiness. People are always “miserable” and really never having fun unless they’re drunk. Cohn and Jake encapsulate this hopelessness, and by highlighting the two of them at the novel’s beginning Hemingway makes this fact more clear.