Brett, Jake and Bull fighting

During the bullfight passage in chapter 15 a lot is revealed about the relationship between Brett and Jake.  Jake is the most passionate about Bull fighting and explains it to Brett, and that sort of contributes to her admiration for Romero. Why does Jake do this? Why would he encourage Brett to admire another man despite his love for her? Jake is very knowledgeable about Bullfighting and he could be showing of a bit for her showing her how he knows so much about this masculine activity, but still why focus so much on Romero. This situation is where Brett actually listens to Jake and his knowledge of bullfighting creates a sense of power and masculinity in their conversation, but ironically this knowledge only sends Brett into the arms of Romero. I think it is possible that Jake told Brett so much about Romero and why he later helps her find Romero because he wanted to mess up her relationship with mike regardless of whether he gets her or not. I don’t think that he schemes this but it is definitely possible, that he feels that if he cant tie her down himself than nobody should be able to that way he wouldn’t feel like less of a man. He could be helping her find Romero so for less selfish reasons, that he loves her so he helps her regardless of his own desire for her. This idea sounds of sacrificing ones own happiness for love sounds romantic, noble and self-less, but really its just pathetic, those old ideals of nobility are dead. There isn’t really love in that relationship, Brett has an emotional connection with Jake but she wont let him be more than a friend. She tries to separate her emotional relationship from her sexual relationships as most of the lost generation looks at sentimentality as a destructive thing, but ironically it’s her sexual relationships, which lead to destruction. Jake loves Brett but he knows that he cant have her; she emasculates him in her denial of a relationship. He doesn’t necessarily pursue her but he still wants her and destroys himself wanting her when he is stuck in the “friend zone” and whether he helps Brett out of love or out of subconscious selfishness I'm not entirely sure, perhaps both.

As for the bullfighting I don’t necessarily think it stands for one thing, but I think it mainly focuses around sexuality and masculine warfare. I read a jstor article on bullfighting,(http://www.jstor.org/pss/778863) and they discussed the notions of it to be a mostly aesthetic activity more of an art form, than a typical sport. Which I think is interesting, becuase sport provokes more typical notions of masculinity, that the hemingway hero posses. The Jstor article mentioned that while more than a spectator sport, it is not entirely like to a ballet or other performance art either. Bullfighting is unique becuase of its tradgedy and closeness to death. The near death is important, it seems to increase notions of masculinity and risk. But this isnt necesarily true. Jake probably had a near death expierience when he got wounded in war, certainly closer to death than Mike expierienced, but he wound up completely immasculated. this wasnt becuase he was unskilled as a fighter, he just had bad luck and got hit. I think while Romero is the code hero that Jake aspires to I dont think those heroic notions would be attainable for him in the modern world.  The diction describing it is clearly relative to seduction words like “suave” and “smooth” create notions of seductively and sexually skilled. But unlike the detached sex life of Brett and the others the bullfight has connotations of passion mixed with its sensual connotations. Also there are lots of mentions of “purity” in this passage which might contradict the sexuality and provoke notions of sin vs. purity, which might relate to the religious allusions in the book, but I don’t think that’s what purity means hear. I think it implies simple and honest relationship, both sexually and emotionally. This reminds me of the line where Jake asks Brett “couldn’t we just live together?” But we know from that the relationships between the characters is just not that simple. There are also Romantic connotations of war provoked by the bullfighting. It’s a very romantic process and makes the Bullfighter look very skilled and masculine. A bullfight is essentially a battle but unlike the World War I atrocious trench warfare the soldier comes out looking and feeling honorable. The fact that Romero uses the dangerous old bullfighting technique which doesn’t create fake emotion provokes this notion of the old notion of Romanticized war fare. The mixing of sexual connotations with battle connotations foreshadows how, sex will create conflict later in the book. The Bullfight is something so contradictory to the lifestyles and values of the lost generation, its nostalgia and an escape from the painful reality that is. The groups of friends sort of try to attain this nostalgia by watching it and talking to Romero but in the process they only destroy it and corrupt it with their own insecurity. Jake talked in the beginning to Cohn about how one cant escape themselves and their reality, and he is considered one of the more aware characters of the book, but why is he such an aficionado of bullfighting which is only a dream?