I am going to attempt to counter the Brett-Bashers, as I feel that she is no worse than any other character in the novel. I'm not a huge Hemingway fan for his style, but i can appreciate the picture he paints of average people interacting. There is no real hero in this novel, and i feel that that can sometimes be the situation in real life. Not many people ever actually get a chance to be noble or heroic and Hemingway illustrates this by simply showing everyday people each complete with their own set of sins.
Brett is not a hussy, as has been stated before. We have all known women like this, those that have some invisible magnetism affecting all the men they come in contact with. For the most part, these types of women don't even notice it, they simply pay the same attention they're given to all of these men. In my opinion, Brett is simply taking advantage of her situation and the men are as much to blame for being mistreated. Saying that it is Brett's fault that all of these men are being used is not giving men any credit to think for themselves. She is nothing if not honest, and each man knows what he is getting when becoming involved with her. If he chooses to continue, it's at his own risk.
Thank you, Kyla, for this post! Now let's see folks respond to it!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I started to feel guilty about Brett's lack of responsibility with people's feelings in this final reading. I feel like Hemingway thematically sets us up for that though when Jake takes his coffee on the morning of the fight and finds out that a man was gored to death that morning.
ReplyDelete"Dead. No fun in that for me."
In the interest of wanting everyone to get along and have a good time, or at least an un-awkward time, Brett gets to be the good cop to Mike and Jake's bad cop with Robert. Ironically, Brett's role is the same passivity of character that gets Robert so much crap in the dynamic of these friendships. You're either a bull-runner or a bull-fighter, I guess, but either way someone eventually gets hurt.