BOOk 1 Jake and Cohn

Jakes relationship is one based on mutual insecurity. Jake has insecurity created by his injury and Cohn has insecurity based on his being a Jew. Jake while he portrays Cohn in a weak manner he regardless remains friends with him but insults him. Jake is aware of the false friendship shown through his “god help you” reaction when Cohn confides in him. Jake is aware of the false friendship but he is not necessarily aware of why he stays friends with Cohn. Jakes friendships are mainly to pass time. And while there is a notion of mutual insecurity and codependence with the relationship it is Jake that listens to Cohn and narrates about Cohn. Jakes doesn’t share his emotions with people in order to make them dependent on him for emotional support. Whilst he prevents himself from caring and becoming emotional attached to Cohn, his role as the listener gives him self a sense of usefulness which compensates for his injury. But his emotional stifled emotional connection is shown through Cohn’s description. I found an article by Arthur Scott called "In defense of Robert Cohn"(http://www.jstor.org/pss/372053) and he says that part of the reason why people tend to dislike cohn is becuase he is an "out of step outsider" who no one likes, and readers are embarrassed to like him. i think that is understandable Cohn is certianly more sentimental than jake their clearly not on the same page. But all of the characters are sort of "outsiders" they dont really connect with one another, sentimentality is what they are missing and it is what cohn has plenty of, regardless if it is foolish or not. Cohn tries really hard to get into Jake's inner circle but really there isnt much friendship in this exclusive ring. In our class discussion we tried to look at which characters are stronger than others. I’m not sure which character has a stronger character Jake or Cohn, but I'm not sure if that’s really a necessary judgment or an accurate one. They both mirror each other they both have masculinity issues and poor relations with others. I don’t think this book is a bout whose the stronger character, all of them are the lost generation and all of them are miserable in some way or another. There doesn’t seem to be one totally dominant successful character in the book, there isn’t a “Rosalind or Orlando” no heroes in this novel, no character is really better than or victorious over another, the characters are just in stalemate. Think whilst portraying Cohn as a manipulated insecure man he reveals his own cynical nature that masks his own sense of masculinity. His emotional angst and sense of uselessness come out in his relations with other people he cant separate his social relations from his emotions. He like all the other characters is part of the lost generation, they are all swamped with notions of insecurity and inadequacy and this causes them to be aimless and afraid to connect with one another. Part of belonging to the lost generation means not being connected to those around you because you despite being in the same situation. Because of the fear and insecurity you constantly compare yourselves to others and see your own issues thus you cast your self out of every one else but still are afraid to confront yourselves. It’s almost a platonic relationship with your self and others. You float in between your self and real relationships with others but, never really arrive in either, no clarity.